Autumn Years Spring 2024

bride. “That was a good wedding,” says Anne, and Jacky adds “That memory is etched in my head.” Jacky’s family did not speak English, and Anne did not speak French, so they connected over food. Jacky tells about how his mother taught Anne a Charlotte Russe recipe in bits and pieces because there was not a written recipe. The wedding led to a family. Anne raised their two children and chaperoned them when they went to band camp in the Catskills. She returned to the workforce as an event planner. She did pharmaceutical education until about 2022; then she joined their business, Maître Jacques. It

Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France. This guild, a mentoring program dating from the Middle Ages, trains people in traditional and technical skills. So he learned different techniques and ways of working by traveling to places such as Bordeaux, Lyon, Reims and the Coubertin Foundation. He worked in a multi-trade environment, which included the official foundry of the Rodin Museum in Paris. Ironically, he did not at first understand the concept of immigration to the United States, which is immortalized in Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus,” again, because that is not part of the European experience. One of their unique experiences was getting married in France. Many of the 800 people in Jacky’s home village came out to see the wedding and the American

PHOTO: LISA KACHAJIAN

Maître Jacques (MJ) wine chiller.

and from requests.

was formed by Jacky in 2017 and named after the patron saint of the guild. Etching with harsh acid yields the graceful designs that enhance their bronze products, which include tissue boxes, planters, trivets and wine coolers that are kept in the freezer. And there is the whimsical—

“We do juried art shows and take suggestions and do works on commission,” Anne says. They sell works in Brooklyn, Canada, Colorado and Texas, where they get supplies. They have exhibited at Artrider shows, the Lyndhurst Craft Show in New York (and will be there again this

year) and have been accepted to Paradise City Arts Festivals in Massachusetts, where this year’s shows are planned in late March in Marlborough and in May in Northhampton.

they show a Lucite box containing yo yos that are decorated with green and blue stones the size of marbles. Anne’s specialty includes etched menorahs. They get ideas from the creative “flow”

SPRING 2024 I AUTUMN YEARS 31