Originally published February 8, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified February 12, 2007 at 12:33 PM
Postcards from Paris
Meeting a sculptress in Montmartre
I'm always on the lookout for different ways to get beyond the monuments and museums and get a feel for real Paris. Reading through the free section...
Seattle Times travel writer
I'm always on the lookout for different ways to get beyond the monuments and museums and get a feel for real Paris.
Reading through the free section of www.bonjourparis.com, a subscription newsletter for people who love Paris, I noticed news of a program called "Meeting the French," (www.meetingthefrench.com) organized by Laurence Monclard, once a university student in Pennsylvania.
Monclard arranges B&B stays and dinners in Parisian homes; works with the tourist board to set up visits to butcher shops, bakeries and chocolate makers; and arranges visits with local artists.
This is how I happened to spend an hour and half one afternoon talking with Sophie du Buisson, 36, a sculptress who works in bronze, stone, clay and paper-mache in her studio and home in the hilltop artists' quarter of Montmartre.
I picked Buisson from a list of English-speaking artists who welcome visitors and sent a credit card payment of $6.50 over the Internet to Meeting the French to set up the appointment. Then I followed instructions to take the Metro to Montmontre, find the address, punch in a door code and "ring at the brown door at the end of the corridor on the first floor."
From the archive
Buisson welcomed me into her studio, and over espresso and almonds at her kitchen table, we talked about her work, Paris, her husband's restaurant, her seven-month-old son, my work and our families.
She specializes in figurative art - sculptures of women, men and children- that lately has become more abstract as she strives to work social messages into her pieces and do "public art," such as a fountain she is making that evokes the struggle of people with rare muscular diseases.
Everything she makes starts with a found object like a pole lamp, a scooter or the piece of wire she bent in the form of a Christmas tree.
"I just look in the street at what I can find for free," she said.
"How long does it take to complete a piece?" I asked.
The real work is thinking through the design and the message she wants to convey. The fountain took a year of thinking and planning.
"To actually build something - nothing. Maybe two weeks, once you have it in your mind."
![]()
Buisson displays her pieces in Paris galleries and at her husband's restaurant, Les Artistes, 60 rue Didot in the 14th district.
Getting wired
No need to leave your laptop at home when traveling to Paris. Wi-Fi (pronounced Wee-Fee in France) hotspots are everywhere, although I've found that finding an unlocked connection isn't always easy. Paris has plans to have 80 percent of the city wired by 2010.
Otherwise, McDonald's is the easiest place to find accessible and free Wi-Fi. The one on the high-rent Boulevard des Capucines near the old Paris opera house is especially nice, with cozy booths and the French version of MTV at the tables.
The Starbucks two blocks away charges $2.60 a half hour, whether or not you buy a $4.50 latte to sip while sitting on a purple velvet chair under cut-glass chandeliers hanging from a gilded and frescoed ceiling. This is Paris after all. Buy a coffee and the table is your office for as long as you like. Cheap wooden tables and molded plastic chairs just wouldn't do.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Washington's best: Five top towns for outdoor jocks and nature lovers
Pix From My Weekend: Dining down under (squirrel style)
High-tech treasure hunt in Issaquah
Birders' Top Spots: Sea birds, owls and scenic byway at Larrabee State Park

Mourners gather at KeyArena for slain officer's memorial
Mourners gathered at KeyArena for the memorial service of Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton on November 6, 2009.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- Flags were key link to cop slaying, bombings
- Suspect shot as city mourns slain officer
- Briefs | Soccer: New Mexico suspends hair-pulling player Elizabeth Lambert
- Bombs, guns found at home of suspect in Officer Brenton's slaying
- Huskies suffer another heartbreaking loss to UCLA
- How an underdog named Mike McGinn took City Hall
- McGinn pulling away as late ballots come in
- 3 Cascade Mountain passes close due to snow; more rain, wind expected Sunday
- Using anti-shooter tactics, civilian Army police officer brought down gunman
- Heavy snow in Cascades shuts down roads
- UCLA game thread
940 - Weapons, bomb-making materials found in suspect's apartment
336 - U.S. House passes health plan
302 - Bombs, guns found at home of suspect in Officer Brenton's slaying
222 - Decision day for health care in the House
204 - Grading the game
138 - Referendum 71 show's Washington's strategy for marriage equality is working
129 - Huskies suffer another heartbreaking loss to UCLA
108 - How an underdog named Mike McGinn took City Hall
72 - Sounders FC-Dynamo playoff Game 2 thread
63
- Suspect shot as city mourns slain officer
- Flags were key link to cop slaying, bombings
- The birth of 'Grunge,' in photos by Michael Lavine
- 10 investing missteps to avoid
- How do innovators think?
- 10 ways to take control of your health
- Bombs, guns found at home of suspect in Officer Brenton's slaying
- Danny Westneat | Lee the Horse Logger found slow wagon shrank tumor
- How an underdog named Mike McGinn took City Hall
- Tlingit heritage helps glass artist Preston Singletary break new ground









