I didn’t really realize it until yesterday… Poor little
Gracie has been inundated with art and antiquities nearly every day of her life
since the day she was born. Let me set the stage for you… A week after Gracie
was born I took her to an antique show. Don’t worry, I covered up her little
carriage so no gross antique people would breathe their germs all over her. For
the first year of Gracie’s life before she could walk, I would put Gracie on
her blanket in the middle of the room and I would make a circle around her of
art books so that everywhere she looked she would see beautiful art.
Gracie started working at an antique shop when she was in
kindergarten. I swear to God she did. My mother’s best friend, Kathy, opened a
shop in Newport Beach filled French imported antiquities and I worked there
alongside my mother and Kathy. We would also take Gracie to our Chinese
importer where she learned about altar fruit, lacquering and blue and white
porcelain. After school, we always brought Gracie to the shop and she would
stay with me until closing time. Gracie helped unpacking shipments and watched
my mother arrange vignettes. I’m pretty sure we taught Gracie how to move an
armoire easily with the help of a Persian rug by her 5th birthday.
Gracie has been to every antique show, fleamarket, estate sale, museum and
exhibit on the face of the earth from Paris, London, Spain, Los Angeles, North
Carolina, Atlanta, Italy, New York and beyond. My proudest moment was when I
took Gracie to the Louvre for the first time and we were rushing and rushing
inside of the museum to get to the Mona Lisa and when we finally got there
Gracie stopped dead in her tracks, not a word came out of her mouth and she
looked up at the painting with her big blue wide eyes and a little tear of joy
trickled out. Be still my proud heart.
Throughout junior high and high school, Gracie helped with
my antique shop every day after school. She was a professional by this time.
Now that Gracie is in college in Paris, her art history classes are coupled with
museums and exhibits on the weekends.
And, my influence is not all that she has coming at her.
Gracie’s father, Dylan, is the president of Walla Walla Foundry. The foundry
helps super famous artists like Jim Dine, Richard Prince, Maya Lin, Kiki Smith,
Matthew Barney and Paul McCarthy facilitate their artwork. The artist Paul
McCarthy is controversial right now in Paris as he put up rather obscene
sculpture in the middle of the most hoity-toity square in Paris, the Place
Vendôme. Apparently the artist was physically assaulted by a not so art loving
villain and the offending artwork was vandalized as well and eventually taken
down. You can read the whole article HERE. Gracie’s father flew to Paris over
the weekend to take Gracie to a dinner party with Paul McCarthy himself and
after a talk at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Gracie and her father also attended the Fiac, Foire International d'Art Contemporain. According to the
official site the Fiac is “held
under the soaring glass roof of the Grand Palais, where seasoned collectors and
first time visitors come from all over the world to look at and invest in the
work of important modern and contemporary artists. Top international galleries from
all over the world present work by up-and-coming artists at this prestigious
event.
Everyone who's anyone in the art world will be present, as this is a true tastemaker's event, a place to spot the next greatest talent and perhaps invest in some artwork.”
Everyone who's anyone in the art world will be present, as this is a true tastemaker's event, a place to spot the next greatest talent and perhaps invest in some artwork.”
Poor Gracie. All she probably wants to do is go to the
movies and get a hamburger but no such luck in this family. This evening, poor
little Gracie, will be forced to look at photos of her mother’s artful weekend
in Paris as well. As much as I wanted to take Gracie on our excursion outside
of Paris this weekend to Château Chantilly, I relinquished her to her father
because I know how to share. This is more than I can say for some people (mother
of my husband’s children.) David and I popped up early Sunday morning to head
out to the château. But first, I made my French husband drive our car to
McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin and to Starbucks for a latte. This takes about
two hours in Paris. I can’t even describe well enough the intense eye rolls and
look of disgust on his face as I happily ate my American smorgasbord on the way
to the French château.
I decided after visiting Château Chantilly, that châteaux
are not all purpose. Some châteaux are better in the spring, some chateaux are
better for the winter and this château, Château Chantilly, was perfect for
fall. It definitely had an autumnal theme running throughout. Think hunting
lodge or should I say hunting Château…Hundreds of oak trees, hunting
tapestries, roaring fireplaces, hunting trophies of elk and even a
centuries-old tiger, dog statues guarding the entry, and acres and acres of
forests. All I could think was, “This is the perfect château for Thanksgiving.”
More eye rolls from my husband (Has he not realized by now that he married a
snob?)
Château Chantilly is known for its insane collection of
artwork. We were thoroughly impressed. We would walk through a great salon and
Boom! A Delacroix. Then around the corner Boom! A Rafael. Out of the corner of
my eye I noticed an Ingres! It was crazy. Crazy wonderful!
We decided to tour the grounds in a golf cart that we rented
because I’m fat and lazy. Just kidding, I have ALS. By the way, don’t you hate
when people are in a wheelchair because they are fat. I just want to kick them.
Anyway, we toured the grounds which was technically a forest for hours. In the
middle of the forest we saw statues, little chapels, a Hamlet, an Anglo-Chinese
garden, an orangerie, and even a kangaroo enclosure. I love rich people and
their eccentricities, don’t you?
At the end of our day, my husband always likes to visit the
gift shop. We bought a beautiful book on our favorite room of the château, Les
Singeries de Chantilly. The room nearly took my breath away. As you know, I
love anything chinoiserie and this little room did not disappoint. It was an
animal themed chinoiserie petite salon. I almost had a decorating heart attack.
The painted panels date back to the 1700s and depict little animals doing
everyday tasks. There were little monkeys, bunnies, swans, flamingos etc. The
colors were so rich… Blues and yellows and greens and golds. I was ready to put
an offer on the château as soon as I saw the ceiling because remember whenever
I go castle visiting I pretend I am castle shopping. Take a look…
To top off our marvelous day we decided to have tea and
dessert in the forest in the little hamlet. So, in case you don't know, crème
Chantilly is what we Americans refer to as whipping cream. But, this ain’t no
regular whipping cream. Not to be crude, but this was the best thing I’ve ever
put in my mouth. It was so delicious my husband and I talked about it the
entire ride home. The entire ride! Château Chantilly is famous for this cream.
We had a moist spice cake with a big plop of crème Chantilly. When my ALS
specialist neurologist suggested that I fatten my little body up, I am pretty
sure he was referring to crème Chantilly. We ate so much crème Chantilly that
we basically rolled out of the Hamlet like fat royalty stuffed on foie gras and
cream. It was obscene, deliciously obscene.
So that was our artful weekend. Gracie and her father with
Paul McCarthy and his controversial artwork and David and I with our
Delacroix’s and crème Chantilly. Not a bad weekend. Stay tuned to the next blog
post because on Wednesday we are going to the Salon du Chocolat!
*Something you don’t know about me? I decided that the best
person to replace me if I pass away and to take care of Gracie would be… A gay interior
decorator married to a gay fashion designer who is having a lifelong affair
with a gay museum curator. Don’t you agree?
