 |
| all images (August 2025) courtesy of Dominique Clement; as on Facebook |
The many images in this post give an idea of a walking trail in a forest, which is lined with 24 sculptures.
The forest, known for a large, isolated monolith of hard limestone and classified as Natura 2000 for its rare flora, is located in the commune of Sollières-Sardières, in the Rhône-Alpes region of France.
Life and works
The sculptures along the walking path were created by Serge Couvert, born and raised in the village of Aussois, a community with approximately 680 inhabitants (2008), located in southwestern France.
As was customary in his family, he initially worked as a furniture maker, but upon closer inspection, his true interest turned to making sculptures.
Since virtually no biographical information about him is available on the internet, it is unclear whether his artistry is based on an academic education.
His family of furniture makers had permission to use a section of the forest for collecting timber, and in 2014, Couvert, armed with his sculpture tools, went into the forest to reduce a spruce tree to a height of three meters and transform it in a sculpture.
That was the beginning of a sculpture trail he would create in the following years, likely with the approval of the forest authorities
It became a project that Serge Couvert would work on for years. In the first four years of the project, he created some fourteen sculptures.
In total he would transform 24 trees into sculptures. The sculptures along the trail are unmistakably made in the artist's own personal style.
The images in this post show that Couvert could follow a complex formative approach, for example by creating a sculpture of two people embracing each other, or transforming a single ttree into a configuration of two interlocking parts.
Couvert also had to be a road builder, because all the sculptures he created had to be connected by a walking path.
As is the case with all sculpture trails in Europe presented in this blog, Couvert's creations are free to access.
The fact that he realized his project with the approval of the local authorities is also evident from the advertising the tourist office initiated for his sculpture trail.
Serge Couvert accompanied his project by making drawings or even models of the sculpture's configuration as he envisioned it.
Each original creation also features a copper plaque with the name of the creation or a text by a well-known author.
Documentation
* Pages with practical info about visiting the sculpture trail by the Aussois Townhal
* Article (2017) on the website of Bernard Robert, with a variety of illustrations
* Entry on the website of the municipality of Aussois
Videos
* Video by LaHautTv (2022, YouTube,3'40")
* Video by Maurienne TV (2021, Facebook, 4'44")
Serge Couvert
Sculpture trall in the Vanoise National Park
Sardieres, dept Savoie, region Rhône-Alpes, France
the sculpture trail is freely accessible
No comments:
Post a Comment