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Information:
Prince Edward Island, Canada
In 1980, after a winter of cleaning bottles, a retired fisherman named Édouard T. Arsenault, began construction on the first of his Bottle Houses. He built two more in 1982 and 1983. Maritime winters eroded the structures and they were rebuilt in the mid-1990's, using the same bottles and design.
The Bottle Houses were built in Cap-Egmont on Prince Edward Island, off the Atlantic coast of Canada. This area of the Island is predominantly Acadian, French-speaking, and based on the fishery and agriculture. Arsenault's work brings visitors to this windswept part of the island, which is less quaint and commercially managed than other parts. Geographically removed from the main centres of activity, the work engages the viewer through an independent approach.
The choice of subjects - the bar, the home and the chapel - reiterates the social foundations of many rural communities. There is the sense that these stout, heavy bottomed bottles were part of the passing of many momentous and offhand local gatherings, and may have detained stragglers left alone in their presence. It has the effect of uniting the events of lifetimes of possible experience.
The Bottle Houses and surrounding gardens continue to be maintained by his family. -Joan Rzadkiewicz
Please visit the web site for more images and info.
Joan Rzadkiewicz , Valence: The Bottle Houses.
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