Revel, the larger town five minutes from us, has been a center of fine woodworking since the Middle Ages. The woodworkers here made much of the furniture for Versailles. And it continues to this day to be a place of fantastic ebinistes (fine furniture and cabinet makers).
In Revel is a museum called Musee du Bois. For years I walked by it assuming it was a boring museum. One day I finally went in
and what a surprise. The museum, yes does have the history of the Revel furniture artisans. They were known for the quality of their marquetry for one thing. There are beautiful examples of this throughout the museum as well as exhibits showing how this exacting technique is done.
Also within the museum are temporary exhibits (they change about every three months) of contemporary wood workers. And these exhibits have been superb. Whether its your cup of tea or not, they are always interesting.
Here is some of the art of of the
contemporary artist showing there right now: the artist Francois Lacoste.