Crafts in celebration are within our walls! The artisans are expected on December 11 and 12 at Laboule 12. Where are the artisans of Noailles? Are they ready yet? On the morning of Thursday, December 9, 2021, we went to meet them.
It is 9 o’clock in the morning when I arrived in this small village, veined with alleys, with earthy and low houses. Noailles looks like a small isolated village. Isolated to the end of the world. As soon as I have arrived in the small square, in waves, the sound of scrap iron comes to me from the craftsmen hammering the metal. Ko w ko w kow. It’s like a noise party. In Noailles, for there to be creation, noise is needed. The pungent smell of metal varnish permeates the air. The comings and goings of apprentices, the gleaming of the pieces on the walls of the workshops are all proof that artists never stop working.
“It is with a feeling of celebration and love that I participate in Artisanat en fête this year. This large-scale activity allows me to create. Create for the happiness of the participants. Create for the happiness of my art. Even if sometimes I don’t sell enough, thanks to Artisanat en fête I found customers. I don’t stop working. My workshop is crammed with parts. This year I bring new products. I bring tables, screens, drums, original lampshades, ”praises the craftsman Ronald Jeudy.
Accustomed to festive craftsmanship, Ronald Jeudy is the glory of the art of cut metal from the village. He grew up in this town where he built his house and his workshop (which can be visited). For 12 years, Ronald has been a designer. He grew up in noise, in the atmosphere of his father’s craftsmanship, which he adores above all. Craftsman by day, thinker by night, he is a quick, direct and efficient craftsman. He devotes his life to training several generations of craftsmen.
“If Artisanat en fête is today, I am already ready. I really like this job. I don’t feel good elsewhere. I have a brotherly attachment to metal and Artisanat en fête ”, underlines the craftsman.
For him, cut metal is life. “The cut metal is a durable work, resistant to the passage of decades,” he recalls.
Insecurity, kidnapping, fuel shortage. Do these factors not push back the craftsman? Ronald Jeudi is not too worried. He can already be seen in the freshness of Tara’s alongside his peers and a public attentive to the aesthetic side of the products on display.
A few months ago, when he was in Canada, he wondered if he would one day have enough orders to continue the adventure. Here he is at the end of the year in Haiti to exhibit the art objects worked with patience for days and nights.
Handicrafts and aesthetic side
“Crafts in celebration is a joy. And this is a great opportunity! This activity highlights me nationally and internationally. I always sell my parts; I don’t know if this year will be good. I will bring a lot of originality, trees of life, animals and rooms to decorate gardens and walls ”, announces David Soulouque triumphantly.
In his workshop, the pieces produced at different times evoke a colorful past. David is a gifted craftsman. He cut his teeth in the village. He continues to exercise, according to him, this profession in order to put color in people’s daily lives but also to earn a living.
For his part, Jean Billy Soulouque welcomes us to his workshop where his pieces are scattered all over the place. From the outset, he welcomes the initiative of the Institute for Research and Promotion of Haitian Art (IRPAH) and Le Nouvelliste and proclaims his great joy to participate in the great festival of artisans. “I’m participating this year to show clients that we’re still here. We never stop working. I will exhibit beautiful things. I know that it is difficult for lovers of my art to come here because of the insecurity but I would like to tell them that I will come to meet them, ”says the craftsman. And to add: “My time does not pass like that of the others. I’m still at work. I prepare the event throughout the year. I wish there were a lot of people… ”
As for Jean Billy Soulouque, his works reveal an aesthetic side that does not leave you indifferent: mirrors, queen sun, a whole bestiary, furniture as tables and armchairs. Its craftsmanship is a feast for the eye.
In the village of Noailles, the craftsmen are already ready; let’s push now the glass door of their universe on December 11 and 12, 2021 at Tara’s.
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