For the second year in a row, the commune of Loctudy participates in the national event May by bike at the invitation of the community of communes of the south bigouden country. On this occasion, the museum's cultural mediator has designed a cycle route to discover the heritage buildings in the town centre and its surroundings. Discover the map of the route by clicking on the button opposite.
To take part in the Mai à vélo challenge in Loctudy, it is here.
On this weekend of the European Heritage Days 2022, the theme of "Sustainable Heritage and the challenges facing the sector in terms of climate change and the accelerated degradation of the environment, we wanted to share with you an initiative by the Loctudy town council to maintain biodiversity in the cannery as part of the museum project.
This is a little known fact in the history of the Loctudy cannery. Before the restoration of the factory in autumn 2019, the building housed a colony of about fifteen bats (Great Rhinolophus). The latter had taken up residence in the cellar of the factory which they accessed through a hole in the roof of the factory, which was badly damaged at the time.
During the first phase of consultation of companies, in the framework of the public calls for tender relating to the restoration project of the building, the former finance representative in charge of the project, Jean Laouénan, had discovered the presence of bats in the cellar of the factory. He then asked Jean-Jacques Chever, an active member of the Loctudy ornithology association and Christian Lioto of the Finistère section of the Mammological group of Brittany (CMB) to discuss the future of the colony within the cannery as part of the museum project.
Protected in France since 1981, the Great Rhinolophus is listed in the European Fauna and Flora DirectiveThis is why the municipal team decided to take into account the presence of this colony in the layout of the future museum. This is why the municipal team decided to take into account the presence of this colony in the layout of the future museum, thus combining the preservation of the built heritage with the protection of the natural heritage. This integration of the habitat issues of the bat colony into the restoration work on the factory was manifested in several ways.
From the point of view of scenographicIt was decided that the cellar would not be included in the area made accessible to the public as part of the visit, in order to preserve the tranquillity of the colony. On the other hand, a reflection on how to make the presence of this colony known to the general public was set up. The team worked on setting up a video equipment in the cellar with a live broadcasting system visible in the museum space, so that visitors can observe the daily life of the colony from a safe distance.
From a technical point of view, a major problem had to be resolved. Before the work was carried out, the bats accessed the factory cellar through a hole in the roof. As part of the roof restoration, a new access for the colony to its habitat had to be considered. The window in the lower part of the eastern façade of the building, which opens directly onto the cellar, was therefore unblocked to provide a new external access.
From a proactive point of view, the municipal team has taken into account the advice of Christian Lioto of the Finistère section of the Groupement mammologique de Bretagne (CMB) to install a nursery (or breeding site) under the roof of the 4e The work involved treating the existing openings to prevent predators from entering the building. The work envisaged concerned the treatment of existing openings to prevent the penetration of predators. The window of the 4e The east side of the factory was fitted with a suitable opening.
In the interest of preventionThe municipal team, in consultation with the companies working on the site, also ensured that the materials used to restore the roof and framework of the factory's attic did not contain no harmful treatment products. The installation of nesting boxes for swallows, as well as wooden cottages and plaster bricks to facilitate the establishment of other species of chiropterans, was envisaged in consultation with the Loctudy ornithology association.
Sources: report by Christian Lioto of the Finistère GMB following his visit to the cannery in 2019 and article in the Telegram written a few months later.
The magazine "La sardine du Croisic. Petit poisson, grande histoire", as well as the magazine published in 2004 by the Institut CGT d'histoire sociale de la Bretagne on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the strike of the Douarnenez sardine workers, were given to us by a kind Mrs Béatrice Verney, president of the Société des Amis du Croisic. This magazine was published last September, at the same time as the Musée de la conserverie de Loctudy officially opened its doors to the general public. An exhibition on the theme of the magazine opens today at the Maison du Patrimoine in Le Croisic and will be open to the public free of charge on Wednesdays and Sundays from 4 to 6.30pm until 4 September 2022.
The magazine on the 80th anniversary of the Douarnenez sardine workers' strike was offered to the association of the Friends of the Loctudy cannery by Robert Salaun, departmental president of the CGT Institute of Local History of Brittany, and Gaston Balliot, a Loctudist passionate about social history. This review was published in the context of the symposium devoted in November 2004 to the 80th anniversary of the victorious struggle of the Douarnenez sardine workers.
Many thanks to our generous donors. Their donations will be used to enrich the museum's archival collection.
During the summer months of July and August, we will have the pleasure of welcoming the artist Eddy Dumont to the museum. Originally from Normandy, this photography and intaglio print enthusiast moved to Loctudy three years ago with the intention of opening his own intaglio printmaking workshop. He discovered rotogravure in 2014 with Phillipe Martin, who was teaching printing techniques at the Rouen School of Fine Arts. The artist was very quickly seduced by the complexity of this ancient photographic reproduction technique, which allows him to apprehend his shots differently, both in terms of nuances and textures. His search for new exploitable materials led him to try intaglio engraving. Simple, fast and accessible to all, it is this technique that the artist proposes to make discover to the families, this summer, in the enclosure of the Museum of the Cannery around a workshop of initiation to the engraving on lid of sardine cans.
To discover Eddy's work, go to his account Facebook @EddyDumontHélioFecltrois or on its account Instagram @atelier.obraz
Introduction to sardine can engraving workshop by Eddy Dumont
Target group: families (mixed adults & children from 6 years old)
Duration: 2 hours
Number of places limited to 8 participants
Price: 3€/child and 13€/adult
This ceramic plate was made in the artistic earthenware workshop of Georges Dreyfus in Moret-sur-Loing (Seine-et-Marne department, Île-de-France region), which operated from 1890 to 1936.
Georges Dreyfus was a professional in tableware and ceramic arts. From his workshop came a varied production, carefully decorated by a wide variety of artists whom the art dealer called upon for artistic collaborations.
Many pieces from the workshop were intended for table service, such as dishes, plates and tureens that Georges Dreyfus sold in his Parisian shop on rue du Paradis.
Commissioned by the Amieux brothers, two famous canners from Nantes known for their pioneering and ingenious advertising strategies, this polychromatic earthenware plate was made using the barbotine technique.
The slip decoration consists in adding relief on a pottery. Here this relief takes the form of four elegant sardines which frame the emblematic poem of the Amieux Frères company.
The marli, i.e. the peripheral part of the plate constituting the slightly inclined crown, is here carefully decorated with Breton landscapes (lighthouse, boat, biniou player, couple of dancing Bretons) as well as the slogans of the Amieux Frères company written in phylactery, i.e. in the spirit of medieval calligraphy.
The copy we now have was donated by Pierre Quillivic, former technical director of the Paul Chacun cannery and technical and production manager of the Cobreco (Arok) cannery, and current municipal councillor in charge of issues relating to the Loctudy cannery museum. We thank him warmly for this donation.
On the windowsill of the dining room, you will have the opportunity to admire the sculpture Oceano nox of the self-taught artist Jean-Pierre Gendra. Since his first encounter with the material in 1989 through clay modelling, the artist has tried his hand at several of them. In particular, he tested direct carving on wood before falling in love with bronze, which he successfully cast for the first time in 1993. He describes this experience as follows: "Bronze is living a journey with creation, leading to all the stages of the work, from conception to technical realisation, especially the fascinating moment of the fusion of the metal".
For his sculpture Oceano nox created in July 2013, the artist wanted to convey the harshness and danger of the fisherman's job. With this work, he also aims to make the public think about ecological issues such as the dangers of overfishing and the importance of having a reasoned approach in the use that Man makes of natural resources.
To discover the artist's other works, visit her website at click here.
In the hall of the former seaside villa of the Le Gall family hangs on the wall a Bigouden doily made from Irish lace using the technique known as "picot piqué". This work, which was made in the 1950s, was generously given to us by Lucile Chever, lacemaker and active member of the cultural association "Dame Picot" which aims to promote this traditional skill.
This doily is made up of a network of motifs inspired by Irish coins: oak leaves, farandoles of leaves, ears of corn, bunches of grapes, double roses, eglantines, helices, etc. The motifs were made using a steel hook, DMC wire and cordonnet (linen thread). They are laid out harmoniously on a canvas before being firmly woven. The network is then consolidated with a picot stitch.
Irish lace was the main subsistence activity of the workers in the canneries of the Breton coast during the great sardine shortage of 1902 to 1908. During this period of great famine in Brittany, religious congregations as well as wealthy aristocrats mobilised to finance the teaching of this craft to factory workers in order to offer them a source of income in these difficult times. The finished works were then sent to Paris and sold to elegant ladies in department stores.
In the office window, a beautiful model of a sardine fishing boat from the 1860s-1900s is proudly displayed. This model was made in the 2010s by the former fisherman's master Patrick Chever. Since he started modelling his first ship, a trawler from Concarneau, in 1967, his collection has grown to include around a hundred models of old ships from all over the world.
Patrick Chever works on his models from photographs, frescos and drawings. From these elements, he reconstitutes the plans of the ship, focusing on the details. His quest for authenticity continues in the search for the original wood in order to stick as closely as possible to the original ship. For this sardine boat, he used oak for the hull and chestnut for the ribs and floor. The yards are made of northern fir.
Everything is meticulously reproduced, including small parts of 3 to 4 millimetres. The model maker doesn't count the hours he works. He has created his own tools to work better and collects materials from shipyards.
The hull is painted black as a reminder of the use of tar as an exterior coating to make the ship watertight. This tar was commonly referred to as 'coltard'. The model also has two sails, a foresail in the front and a windvane in the middle. The rudder and centreboard are also in place.
The large boats shown in this model were generally 9 to 10 metres long. They were used in the spring for sardine and mackerel fishing from April to November. They then spent the winter stranded at the back of the port.
In the dining room of the former seaside villa of the Le Gall family, you will be able to admire two engravings in lino lost by the artist Guy Cosnard. The latter was the first president of the Friends of the Cannery Association from 2017 to 2019.
Retired from the hospital environment since 2014, he has been devoting his time to the plastic arts and engraving following a diploma obtained from the evening classes of the Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles in the early 2010s.
The artist's studio is based in Loctudy. He has installed a press there in order to make prints of his engravings. His favourite technique is linocut engraving, and more particularly the technique known as "lost lino" which consists of printing an engraving in several colours by keeping the same plate, hollowed out a little more after each successive printing.
Guy Cosnard's artistic universe is inhabited by ports, people and animals of the seaside. His works are the graphic translation of his emotions, and above all of his passion for the coastline and his adopted town: Loctudy. The two engravings that he offered to the association of the friends of the cannery and which are now exhibited in the museum represent the maritime and industrial universe of Loctudy of which the cannery is the main symbol.
The artist reproduces his works in small series of about ten prints. In 2015, he won the public prize at the Manoir de Kérazan, and in 2017, the jury prize at the Cap Caval exhibition in Penmarc'h.
To discover the other engravings of the artist, go to his website in click here.
