Chantal Colleu-Dumond: Garden Festival Director

Chantal Colleu-Dumond started her work with Chaumont-sur-Loire in 2007, and her goal was to help bring contemporary art to the gardens. She wanted to showcase pieces that depicted the relationship between people and nature, such as a Giuseppe Penone sculpture of a hand embracing a tree. 

Her relationship with plants didn’t begin there, however. Some of Chantal’s earliest memories are of helping her horticulturist grandmother in her greenhouses. Those moments were extremely significant to Chantal, because she got to experience the eternal nature of plants. 

“Plants are infinite, they are eternal. This constant multiplication is an incredible life lesson for a little girl. So, in my early childhood, it was where the infinite was within my reach.”

Art and gardens both bring a sense of meditation to their visitors. Chantal loves how immersed you can get while walking through the gardens and believes that they offer a place of reflection that is vital to our busy lives. 

“You have the scents, the sound, the ability to touch, etc. All the senses are engaged in the garden. That’s why I often say the garden is a superior art.”

A film by Leslie Askew.

Take a walk through the gardens with us by watching our FIELDTRIP to Chaumont-sur-Loire.