Retour à la Terre: Jean-Louis Ralison-Yon.

After graduating from the Tours School of Fine Arts (DNSEP), I went on to train in engraving at the School of Decorative Arts before working for several years as an engraver and intaglio printer at the Lacourière-Frélaut workshop in Paris. Having become a farmer with my wife in 2002 in Loire-Atlantique, I never gave up artistic creation. If anything, it simply became more low-key. Thus, I have engraved on wood texts gleaned from my dreams or my memories, from my reading or simply from my life as a farmer. This work has enabled me to stay in touch with my creative side. We handed over our farm four years ago. I still remember the scents of my fields, more distinct in the hollows of the land or beneath the cover of the hedgerows, especially in autumn when the earth is being tilled. Now, having settled in Mayenne, I have returned fully to my first love – my work as an artist – shaping the earth in a different way. This life as an artist, fully rediscovered, is at the very heart of my daily existence. It is a total commitment, my primary concern. The company of my soulmate and a good number of habits set the rhythm. But, thanks to the changing weather and my capricious moods, I plunge into a different world every day. In this new world, and so as not to get my brushes mixed up, I return to my simple gestures and cling to the blue of the sky.