I often write about refined design. I like it – anything which is clean, crisp and understated immediately gets my attention and keeps it. Kind of like Anne Cote – the design director at the French magazine called Maisons et Demeures (the Quebec version of Canadian House and Home). I first met Anne when she was scouting for a shoot she was organizing. She knew precisely what she wanted, when she wanted it, and how she wanted it to look. I like people who are determined and decisive, and Anne definitely is both of those things. And interesting – her background with Montreal’s own Cirque de Soleil often goes unmentioned, but shouldn’t: she worked with them for years in set design and on some of their most audacious undertakings. Anne and I have become friends, and I asked her to submit to the posterromance questionnaire. Here are her answers:

 

The Poster Romance Questionnaire (with apologies to Proust and Vanity Fair):

 1. Where is it that you best express your creativity – the boardroom, the classroom, the bedroom or the kitchen?

 Anywhere or more precisely in an tired House or a bare Stage

2. An alien arrives on your doorstep. In a limited amount of time, you would like to introduce him to our culture and way of life. Which three places would you take him to, and why?

Grocery store to show on what we fuel. Human performance (any show) to share our Emotional capacity and to a Political debate to demonstrate our distorted world structure.

3. How would you describe your present state of mind?

Full throttle of Creation

4. Six words that best describe you…

Love Love Love Love Love and  Love

5. Your new extra-terrestrial buddy asks for a definition of ‘happiness’ (a concept which does not exist on his planet). What would your definition be?

Happiness is a state of Non-Judgment, a Neutral Space where all is in Equilibrium

6. If you were going to be confined to a space with four blank walls for a period of time, which kind of artwork would you like to bring with you?

Picture of the Sun

7.The alien wins $10 million in the lottery and asks for advice on what to do with it. What would you suggest?

Connect to Land, grow Food , bring People together, built Community Strength

8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

 Wanting to change is expecting something and that brings usually deception.  I don’t go there. I trust that I am all that I have to be right now and that I create myself as I go along.

9. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

 Being born on this intense Planet

10. Before returning to his planet – having decided Earth was no place for a sane extra-terrestrial – the alien asks one final question: how do you find peace on a place like Earth?

 Quiet the Mind let the Heart come forth. Breath in Breath out…Peace In Peace Out