The Sitting Room is a cozy community free library that was conceived as a unique response to the Women’s Movement 40 years ago and is open to all interested in women’s achievements in the arts and in literature. Currently located in a house surrounded by redwood trees just blocks from Sonoma State University, it provides a destination of books by and about women, with rooms to read and write and converse, accented (pre-pandemic) with workshops and events. This privately funded special library has collected over 6000 publications from donors, its main source.
During a major renovation undertaken amidst the 2020/2021 Pandemic, I was recruited to design new bookshelves for the front room where the fireplace and old carpeting were removed. While the new shelves were being constructed, I offered to exhibit My Self Portrait and three carpets from my series Paying Attention on the open wall designated for the new Bertrand Bookcases.
For people wanting to know more about The Sitting Room, contact J.J. Wilson at her email, boxcar@sonic.net
Architect Diane Chehab contacted Wendy Bertrand after reading Enamored With Place:As Woman + As Architect, which lead to an afternoon discussion in San Francisco with her and her husband Epee Ellong and invited guests to talk about Cameroon architecture, African/American relations, and beyond.Wendy Bertrand, Diane Chehad, Epee Ellong
http://padoukdesign.com
De La Case A La Villa
The book, De La Case A La Villa
This book attempts to answer the African architect’s constant professional dilemma—respecting the concept of “modern African” architecture, whereas Africans do not wish to live in traditional-style huts any longer.
Epée Ellong, with Diane Chehab, follow traditional African architecture through various historical phases to today’s African architecture, so as to highlight contradictions through a societal and technical lens.
The illustrations and images that accompany the text show the construction phases of traditional and contemporary architecture, as well as everyday objects. Many historical and linguistic references are used in order to better explain the changes on both a human and architectural level.
Subjects covered in the book include:
Historical migrations in Africa
Traditional architecture in Cameroon
Colonial architecture
The consequences of social changes on architecture and construction
The evolution of housing in Cameroon
Thoughts on the future of African architecture
Why was this book written? There are few books that explain the relationship between history, colonization, sociology and architecture in Africa.
The authors:
Epée Ellong is a native of Douala, Cameroon. He is an architect trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France. In 1983, he founded an architectural firm, CAEE, with his spouse, Diane Chehab, an American-born architect. The philosophy behind CAEE was to reincarnate African traditional architecture into modern design. A home whose basic materials are bamboo and palm fronds, and no electricity or running water, can’t be automatically transformed into a contemporary dwelling. Epée drew upon traditional symbolism and masks to “Africanize” CAEE’s architecture. The firm designed projects in Cameroon, Guinea, and Ivory Coast.
CAEE’s projects brought Epee to many parts of Cameroon, where he was familiarized with the country’s ethnic, cultural and geographic diversity. He met many regional traditional chiefs who provided him with the background of the architectural and social upheavals brought on by the arrival of Europeans. Together with these chiefs, he put together a nomenclature of the typological elements of traditional construction.
Epée has been practicing architecture in the United States since 1995. He has also taught Afro-centric architecture within specialized workshops, and speaks at American universities and at the Museum for African Art in New York.
Diane Chehab was born in the United States, lived in several countries and continentbads, and studied architecture at the Lebanese University in Beirut and at the Beaux Arts in Paris, France. She married her colleague, Epée Ellong, and moved to Cameroon to manage their architectural firm. She learned Duala, her spouse’s language, to better understand the culture. She currently shares her time between the United States and Cameroon.
The book is published by Riveneuve Editions, Paris. It can be purchased on Amazon.com in the United States.
The English edition is not out yet, but the French edition is bursting with photos and sketches and one learns, again, the importance of culture in architecture.
New blog by Virginia Tech special collections of the International Archive of Women Architects archivist Winn about the lived experiences of Women Architects includes Wendy Bertrand’s memoir Enamored with Place: As Woman + As Architect and Inge Horton, local author … Continue reading →
October 28,2016 at Auto Desk, Wendy Bertrand donates copies of her memoir :Enamored with Place:As Woman+As Architect to support theme of opening event encouraging AIA Equity by Design Conference goers to tell their stories.
Books for Equity by Design attendees
Wendy Bertrand third from left with jacket by Lola of SF
Wendy Bertrand, Diane Chehad, Epee Ellong
