A magical Elephant and contemporary art biennal.

Last week we went to Nantes for a few days with friends.

Where the old shipbuilding yards used to be there are two companies 

that design and make the most amazing machines.

We were lucky enough to see the elephant 

that was made by La Machine,  www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/

The elephant is able to carry many people and trumpets and sprays water from its trunk to the delight 

of everyone who sees it, especially the children.

The elephant has a lovely face, its eyes open and close complete with eyelashes.

It can flap its ears and raise its trunk - a wonderful, magical thing to see.

Some of you will remember seeing a special event in Liverpool, England where they were celebrating the link of the Titanic with the city.

Royal de Luxe, www.royal-de-luxe.com  another company based in Nantes had made a wonderful puppet of a little girl with her dog who were going to meet up with her uncle who had a letter to give her from her father who had drowned when the Titanic sank 100 years ago.

The reason for going to Nantes was to visit a huge contemporary art biennial.

We spent three days seeing the most amazing pieces of art and architecture

even going by boat to visit the huge submarine sheds at St Nazaire which were built by Germany in the second world war.

Art installations were inside the enormous sheds and one landscape artist has started to plant gardens on the top of these huge buildings, nature has continued his work with the help of the birds and the elements.

Next I've posted some photographs of pieces of work we saw in Nantes.

I city to be visited again for certain.

A row of these rings ran alongside the river and were illuminated at night.

This pot of blue paint was visited by tiny radio controlled
helicopters with brushes attached who then painted onto white boards.

This reminded me of a Salavador Dali painting.

The cat was painted onto a huge wall.

Later down the same road as the cat there was the dog.

A wonderful piece of architecture.

This figure was NOT real but amazingly lifelike.

This house was in the river.

A village from another world by the side of the river Loire.

I just loved this exhibition - all made from odd bits and pieces of metal.

Two huge arches made form concrete bricks.

This facade of a house just floated above a square in the city.

This piece of sculpture wove its way in tree and was lit up at night.