Ode to the draft Horse

Ode to the draft horse is a homage to the faithful companion in the labors of man.

For hundreds of years , the horse has been man's partner in tilling the land, in clearing the forest... it is man's friend.

Ode to the draft horse is a work by Karola Pezarro et Aris de Bakker (NL) , built as part of the Fête de Mai 2015 and visible in Haltinne on the loop of the year 2015.

Karola Pezarro was trained as a sculptor at the Architectural Design and Environmental Design departments of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Pezarro's work can be seen in several Dutch municipalities. Her work is regularly exhibited at home and abroad.

Aris de Bakker makes sculptures and temporary work. His work mainly consists of short-term projects. These projects are about the transience of life. Experience and forget, build and disappear. Depicting the process of change or disappearance is an important part of his artwork.

Since 2014 Aris has been working with Karola Pezarro under the name AKUNZO on site specific art-nature projects.

La fete de mai

In the beginning, says the legend elaborated by the artist Byoung-Tak Moon , a dragon inhabited the bowels of the earth . He is the mythological figure of Asian legends who symbolizes the forces of nature and its riches , appearing at every moment to remind people of the respect they owe to their environment, their traditions and their history. Similarly, every year the Fête de Mai invites artists and visitors to meet in the heart of the Namur Condroz to pay tribute to art and nature. In barely 15 years, dozens of international artists, sometimes from other continents, have been able to express themselves in our forests and landscapes in Gesves.

More than a hundred works, mostly made of natural materials, almost half of which are still visible , have found their place there. Hundreds of visitors have discovered them, freely and for free, by taking the walking routes designed for them. In passing, they crossed the paths, valleys, nature reserves and sumptuous landscapes (45 minutes from Brussels and Liège) of the Namur Condroz.

La fête de mai was founded in 2001 in the municipality of Gesves and is organized by the non-profit organization Vagabond'Art.

Les sentiers d'art

The Sentier d'Art en Condroz-Famenne is an attractive and unique walking route in Wallonia, which extends over 141 km in the Vallée des Saveurs (Ciney, Gesves, Hamois, Havelange, Ohey, Somme-Leuze) and along which 42 works of art can be seen in located in nature.

These works of art belong to the Land Art movement that emerged in the 1960s. The artist directly intervenes in the space and the components of landscape and nature. To work in harmony with the environment that welcomes her, the artist works with natural materials (branches, rocks, foliage, hay, etc.) and the installation evolves over time until it is finally biodegradable. They are therefore often fleeting works. At the Sentiers d'Art they have to stay for a few years. Whether the work is simple or complex, Land Art integrates with nature.

Sentiers d'Art is accessible all year round free of charge to all non-motorized users.

The 140 km circuit is signposted (red rectangle marked "Sentiers d'Art"). Some small family routes offer the opportunity to discover different works of art over a distance of 6 to 16 km and are not marked. However, these small loops are detailed on the map (on sale for 3 €).

Note: The large loop is only marked in one direction and the small loop is not marked

Willem Vandenameele