Testimonials

“I had no specific goals or expectations when I signed up for a contemporary book arts workshop at Chateau du Pin, but felt certain that it would be a creative and culturally enriching interlude in a part of France I knew nothing about. It was that and much more, starting with Peg Gignoux’s enthusiastic welcome to her family’s estate.

The studio in a centuries-old stable with uneven cobblestone floors was a perfect setting in which to learn the patient joy of hand-binding books. Drawing from her wealth of professional knowledge, Peg led workshop participants through surprisingly numerous ways to construct books with innovative hand-made covers. Those in our group were thrilled with how much we’d learned in such a short time.

Having chosen the “open studio” option, my husband Willy roamed the grounds of the estate and the surrounding countryside, capturing structures and textures with sketchbook and pen.

The chateau itself is a treasure, an unself-conscious layering of old and new. You enter the building and face a dramatic stone staircase spiraling upward in a tower; you sense the layers of generations it has carried to the second floor. But in the upstairs hall you find a desk with an internet connection. The warm ambience of the grande salon and spacious dining room helped establish camaraderie within the diverse group of workshop participants from different parts of the United States and other countries. (Getting to know Margaret Scanlan and her students, as well as eavesdropping on their watercolor classes, was a special bonus.) But even as we started to feel at home there, it was always magical to step out into the splendor of the topiary garden, a living sculpture museum. Sustaining us through it all was the soul- and body-satisfying cuisine served up in style by Peg’s husband David Summer and his team in the kitchen.

Part of the “more” was encountering an authentic French sensibility in nearby Angers, a city small enough to walk through while discovering its various museums and significant sites. In another direction were charming villages, each with its own historic church, colorful shops, and everywhere flowers. The proliferation of small blossoms in large arrangements reminded me of millefleurs (thousand flowers) patterns in historic French tapestries.

Our stay at Chateau du Pin combined the best of two worlds, that of a working studio and that of the vibrant everyday life in a place gracefully wearing the patina of time. Beyond that, the experience was made extraordinary by the generous spirit with which Peg and David shared this magnificent monument. ”

-Patricia Malarcher, Editior of Surface Design Journal