pictures (around 2011) courtesy of Marion Hanna
In the small community of Lézardrieux, on the north coast of Brittany, France, mr and mrs Pellé almost twenty year ago began decorating the garden around their house.
Life and works
Beacuse of the 1994 festivities of Quatorze Juillet, René Pellé. who was a carpenter, constructed a mill, he subseqently put in his garden.
This was the beginning of a lifetime project for René and his wife Huguette. In the course of the years René has made all kinds of wooden constructs, such as cabins, light houses and carriots, but also two- and three-dimensional animals and various other large and small items..
Huguette's share in the project is to paint the constructs, which she often does in blue, a color she likes, and then she will also provide the costumes for the life-sized puppets that animate the wooden constructs..
These puppets have been made in a rather simple way by using straw or a comparable easy to manipulate material to give shape to the body, a mask as a face and used clothes to dress them. Neighbours will help the couple in gathering sufficient material.
In the course of the years the garden has grown into a colorful, charming and alternate assembly of creative constructs.
I couldn't trace information about the data of birth of mrs and mr Pellé, but I suppose they are from the thirties, so they now (2013) may be approaching or be in their eighties.
Documentation, more pictures
* Paskal Larsen, "Art brut, art du bord des routes en Bretagne" in: webmagazine Foutraque, 26-3-2006
* More pictures on the Art Insolite website
René & Huguette Pellé
7 rue Saint Jean
22740 Lézardrieux
can be seen from the street