TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2007

French proverbs echo from past

French proverbs echo from past

Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Today's Top Headlines
from the Morning Sentinel
French proverbs echo from past

Waterville Library
displays memories
of childhood
in city's South End

By CRAIG LYONS
Correspondent

WATERVILLE -- Hiding under a table with her siblings, Rhea Cote Robbins would hear proverbs echoing from across the room.

"Les murs ont des oreilles," Rita St. Germain Cote, Robbins' mother, would say to her children in French. Translation: The walls have ears.

Robbins, who grew up in Waterville, has compiled her mother's proverbs and created a modern art exhibit, "Maman Disait" (What Mama said.)

The collection, made up of 39 representations of her mother's favorite sayings, is on display at the Waterville Public Library. The library is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. "Maman Disait" will be displayed until the end of the week before going to the Franco-American Heritage Center in Manchester, N.H.

"I wanted others to see these and to think about their own interactions with proverbs in their lives and to incorporate them in their daily living storytelling situations to revive this important tradition," said Robbins, who now lives in Brewer.

When starting research for the project, Robbins said she was surprised to find how many proverbs her mother knew and would spout casually.

A statement from Robbins accompanies the exhibit.

"Something would happen, she'd walk by and in rapid-fire French express a proverb in response," said Robbins in her artist's statement. "I'd know something special, something different had just been said."

Robbins said, growing up, these sayings were a part of everyday life, and they helped to explain, understand, sympathize and observe the passing of daily events.

"It was a phenomenon in my life," said Robbins.

The proverbs she heard growing up have now largely disappeared from daily life, said Robbins.

"This show is not simply an exercise in nostalgia," wrote Robbins in her artist's statement. "But how I choose to reclaim for myself the proverbs, and give meaning to them as I see them -- part of the everyday magic of life."

Reincorporating these proverbs into everyday life was part of the concept of the design of the 39 pieces. Each panel not only displays the proverb, but also a visual interpretation of the saying using everyday material -- whether photographs, advertisements or stamps.

"It was important bringing in French elements to expand the process," said Robbins.

Robbins also wanted to have her mother represented in each piece. A strip of lace that belonged to her mother is included in each frame.

Also, hidden somewhere in each frame is an inspection sticker. This also represents her mother, who worked in final inspection at the Hathaway Shirt Co., said Robbins.

Robbins said she tried to use visual puns as well as different levels of meaning for each proverb.

One example is a piece with photographs of old mills that reads, "There is none so deaf as those who will not hear."

That has two meanings, said Robbins: first, a pun on what the machinery in the mills would do to workers' hearing; and, the failure of mill management to listen to what workers said about conditions in the mills.

Robbins said she hopes people pull meaning in the pieces from their own experiences.

"Proverbs cross cultures," said Robbins. "There are comparable ones in different languages."

She said these sayings are knowledge that is co-owned between cultures.

Sarah Sugden, director of the Waterville Public Library, said it is great to have this exhibit in the library where different ages can view and learn from the exhibit.

"It's great to share this important piece of Waterville's identity," said Sugden.

She said people view the pieces and recognize the phrases people use in their own lives.

"What libraries do really well is preserve the memory of a community," said Sugden, adding it is great to have this exhibit in the library.

In addition to the exhibit, Robbins has developed a curriculum plan for schools.

She assembled a Web site with links to proverb sites, noting that it can serve as a language lesson, and a creative activity for students.

The creativity aspects of the exhibit and the curriculum are dear to Robbins' heart.

"[My mother] always encouraged us to daydream," said Robbins. "She was a daydreamer."

Robbins said another saying she often thinks of is "When life asks a question, you answer in creativity."

Standing and looking at the exhibit, Robbins spoke of her mother. "She would be thrilled about this."

Just as her mother always said: "Things always work out in the end."

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4082997.html

Info for teachers:
http://www.fawi.net/proverbes/MamanDisait.htmla