ART IS BEAUTY

Art expresses itself in various forms and Erik A. Frandsen born in 1957, in Randers, has been exploring many of them conveying a message full of novelty and beauty.

Photocredit @ErikFrandsen FB profile.

ALDO’S STORY

I was 11 and I had just finished elementary school, when one morning, walking through the streets of Valdicastello, my country that had just come out, like all the countries of our Italy, tormented and wounded, from the great war that had seen mine childhood studded with privations, fear and pain, I ran into Lino, who was a worker in a company in Pietrasanta, and who sitting on the stairs of the monument, evaluating me at a glance, asked me: "O boy, but would you like to learn how to make mosaic? My company is looking for an apprentice, but one who wants to work " I looked at him, smiled and said: "Yes, I wish, a lot of desire, but I feel the father and mother and then I will let you know." At the time, you were still giving yourself to older people, as a sign of respect and deference, and it came naturally, without thinking about it too much. I ran away, as fast as I could, to tell my mother about this offer, so wonderful, so bigger than me, that it made me feel already a man, already an adult and, the next morning, I got up with the first cockcrow and, with my heart pounding, I walked towards Pietrasanta with a bag, big, bigger than me, which touched almost on the ground and which contained my lunch. The walk, that morning, as for all the following mornings, was short, because on the way I met Napoleone dell'Erné, who gave me a ride on a bicycle, so that I arrived early in front of the gate by the Ferrari & Bacci company. I went in, started looking around and discovered a world made of colors, shapes, figures, tiny pieces of colored glazes, large wooden counters on which the workers were bent with a hammer in hand, whistling a song, in joy. There were 6 workers and when you think about it today, they weren't much more adults than me, since they were between 18 and 20 years old, but to me, that day, they seemed like men ... I remember that the greatest of all was only 30 years old, but at the time at 30 we were adults, with family and children. At the time we had other responsibilities: we had to rebuild a nation. After a short visit, short because, the job was so long and there was no time to waste, Ferrari, so we called him and so I called him for the rest of our lives together, he gave me a pair of scissors and said: "Copy them on a sheet and then fill the shape with mosaics", reaching out a box full of chunks of multicolored glazes.

CLERGY & LAITY

Leaving my country always provides me with a mixture of excitement and sadness: I am ready for new adventures and sorry to leave behind me my family, my company and my daily routine.

This is what I was thinking, while waiting for my Pisa-Rome flight on a wonderful and sunny July day, when the telephone rang.

It was Barbara, my blogger, who, knowing I was about to leave for a week, wanted to catch up with me and update me with the blog progress.

It was her idea that I would keep a diary where to jot down what would happen during my stay in Boston. I liked the idea and agreed with her I’d do it.

After the usual long and boring wait, that I made fruitful with several other phone calls about a new project I am working on, off I went flying over the magical Mediterranean sea, that I love so much, with a sight I never get tired of, especially when I have a window seat, like in this short and enjoyable flight.

I am flying to Boston to participate in a conference about mosaics and this makes me nervous and excited, since it is going to be the first time that I do a public speech on the topic.

To people like me, it is easier do things than talk about them, but this time I feel it is time to prove myself on this and I take advantage of the long flying hours to prepare a schedule of topics I will expose to the audience: the creation of a mosaic, its installation, its maintenance... topics that are common to me but still unknown to the mass.

I land on a lovely summer night under a sky covered with fireworks… what a welcome!!

I could have done with less