Artsy Fartsy Weekend

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 5^th 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.”

 

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?