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all pictures courtesy of Sophie Lepetit
as on Facebook |
La Robustinie is a rather special garden in the commune of Pont Audemer in France, which is cared for and includes creations by sculptor and visual artist Robuste Odin and engraver and painter Erolf Totort.
Both are artists by profession, but they act from their own perspective and way of working, independent of prevailing trends in the art world, an approach similar to that of Chomo in France and Karl Junker in Germany.
The art environment is situated near a building, as shown in the image above.
This building was in the past a modest farm, which guarded the access to a former tannery, a company that used to dump its waste in a pond in the water-rich area located in the western part of the city of Pont Audemer.
This form of industry has now disappeared and has been replaced by an area with many houses near a variety of lakes and ponds.
In the early years of the 21st century the former farm was taken into use by Robuste Odin, who set up a studio in one of the rooms in the interior.
From the beginning, the development of the terrain near the former farm also had his attention. He was assisted in this by the female engraver and painter Erolf Totort, who lived in Paris.
Robuste Odin was born in Paris in 1964, and studied at the University of Rouen in Normandy. If he studied at an art academy is unclear, but anyhow he developed into a sculptor and metalworker, who as he himself once said "makes strange things with strange things".
Using all kinds of leftover material from the metal industry, he makes garden furniture for sale and also colorful sculptures, which are placed in the terrain near the house to be further shaped by nature.
Over the years, this area has grown into an extensive, colorful art environment.
In this development of the area near hus house Robuste Odin was assisted by Erolf Totort. who lives in Paris and travels regularly to Pont Audemer.
Born in Paris, Erolf Totort is a pure Parisienne, a child of the left bank of the Seine, an activist who creates decorative work as an engraver, with a passion for prehistory. She studied at the École nationale supérieure des arts d;ecoratives and art science at the Université Paris VIII.
Robuste and Erolf have invested a lot of time and energy in the design of the art environment near the former farm.
They focus not only on enriching the site with sculptures, but also pay a lot of attention to sowing and maintaining all kinds of plants that have a beautiful bloom, and also plants that have medicinal properties.
They themselves say that they cannot be surpassed when it comes to giving names to plants that itch or even make you sick.
Over the past twenty years, La Robustinie has grown into an atypical sculpture park that is popular with walkers, school classes, children's classes and lovers of water features in the nearby landscape.
Open days where visitors are welcome are regularly organised.
Documentation* Article (May 2025) in French newspaper
l'Éveil, focussing on the open days in June 2025
*
Publication (May 2025) entitled
Fête de la Nature, with a series of images of the art environment
* A
series of photos by Sophie Lepetit on
Facebook.
Robuste Odin & Erolf Totort
La Robustinie
Chemin de Haut-Ëtui
27500 Pont Audemer, dept Eure, region Normandy, France
can be visited during open days
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