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Pont du Gard

$175.00

Nimes, France

In doing research for the Fun Facts below, I was shocked to read that cars were allowed on the bridge as late as the 1990's, and that tourist shops lined the river banks.  I was there in the fall of 2010, and I remember it being quiet and serene - I can't imagine what I must have been like just 15 years earlier!

We walked along the rocky shoreline for a bit, and then hiked up to the west end of the aqueduct, level with the water conduit at the top.  Most of the tourists were down on the bridge along side the aqueduct, so we had the area pretty much to ourselves.

 

Fun Facts:

  • Believed to have been built between 40 and 60 AD
  • 161 ft tall at the center, and 899 ft long
  • No mortar was used to build the arches - the pieces of limestone, some weighing 6 tons, were carefully cut and balanced in place
  • The Roman aqueduct was built to carry water to the city of Nimes
  • It fell into disrepair and the conduit became blocked with deposits of dirt and organic matter, and most likely went out of use in the 6th century
  • A bridge was built along the top of the lowest level, which allowed pedestrians and cars to cross the Gardon river 
  • In 1996, the French government began a program to improve the area.  Cars were prohibited from crossing the bridge, and the illegally built structures and tourist shops were removed from the banks of the river, returning the area to a more natural state

 

More photos coming soon!

Process And Size Guidelines

I handcraft each piece in my home studio, located just outside of Kansas City, MO.

Most of the photos I use were taken by me on my travels near and far.    I review each photo, looking for striking colors and strong structural elements.    If you think of the entire design as a pie, I am looking for a perfect “slice” of pie within the picture.  Once I find it, the slice is mirrored and repeated in a circular fashion to create the whole pie, i.e. the kaleidoscopic design.

 

The design then is printed multiple times onto photo paper and I hand cut different elements from each copy of the design with scissors (yes, scissors!). After the cutting is done, I reassemble the pieces into tiered layers separated by foam core, creating the unique three-dimensional kaleidoscopic effect.  Finally, I mount the piece onto mat board and frame it in a shadow box, adding a small copy of the original photo to the piece.

 

 

Each design is available in multiple sizes.  The larger the piece, the more layers the design will have, which gives you even greater depth and dimension.  The larger size also allows for more intricate cutting, providing more texture and more "wow"!

 

 Size
Outside Dimensions Inside Dimensions Frame Color
10x10
9.75" x 9.75" x 2" 9" x 9" x 1.5" Black
13x13
13.5" x 13.5" x 2.75" 12" x 12" x 2.25" Black
16x16
18.5" x 18.5" x 4" 16" x 16" x 3" Custom made reclaimed cedar with museum quality plexiglass front