Courtesy photo Nashua artist Dominique Boutaud was photographed in 2014 in a lobby of the InterContinental Paris le Grand, the five-star hotel in which the annual Academic Society of Arts-Sciences-Letters awards ceremony takes place. Boutaud is receiving the Diploma of Silver Medal at this year's ceremony, which is in early June.

Imagine finding yourself in the running for one of the most prestigious awards the world has to offer to people who stand above all others for their exceptional contributions to the arts, sciences and literature, and perhaps most importantly, to society in general?

Then, imagine your next step is to begin assembling a detailed biography that covers the past several years – and ends up being nearly 200 pages long?

Fortunately, Nashua resident, artist extraordinare and tireless societal contributor and advocate Dominique Boutaud had plenty of material to work with.

“This is a huge recognition. … I am proud to (receive) it after providing more than 180 pages documenting what I have done during the past four years of my life,” Boutaud wrote in a recent email.

She has every right to be proud. For the recognition to which she refers is her selection as a recipient of an award called the Diploma of Silver Medal, one of the highest honors bestowed each year by the Paris-based Academic Society of Arts-Sciences-Letters upon a distinguished few with biographies like Boutaud’s.

Already having been honored with two other Society awards – the medaille d’etain (tin medal), which she received in 2014, and the medaille de bronze (bronze medal) in 2005 – Boutard is no doubt among the society’s most decorated honorees.

I visited Boutard at her Nashua condo last week, my goal to learn more about the society, the award and what it’s like to be honored, for the third time, by folks in your native country.

She was scheduled to arrive in Paris this weekend, having brought along, I’m quite sure, a full itinerary of plans for not only the awards ceremonies but personal “must-do’s.”

The big event itself is scheduled for June 2 at the five-star InterContinental Paris le Grand, the interior of which Boutaud captured in photos and video during her 2014 trip.

“When you enter … “ she began, cueing up a video. “It’s incredible … the glass ceilings,” she added as the video rolled. “Incredible” is an understatement, I mused as the video panned what must be a giant lobby or function room, replete with accoutrements at once historic and dazzling.

Not to wax materialistic, mind you, but it’s quite a sight, if only on video, for a guy whose idea of splended accommodations is getting a clean room with cable TV and small fridge for less than 100 bucks a night.

Back to the purpose of Boutaud’s visit: While the award recognizes her as an artist, it also takes into account Boutaud’s deep, longtime involvement in advocating for the arts and her dedication to advancing arts-related and other causes.

The medal recipients are considered “men and women of value,” according to the description, and, if I’m close in my French translation, the eventual honorees must be introduced, perhaps “sponsored,” by someone who knows them extremely well, knows about their life, “who you are.”

Once your name is submitted, it goes to a jury, and that’s the point at which the nominee must start putting together his or her bio. Then there are the business and personal references to collect.

Then it’s about waiting. “I provided my curriculum in January,” Boutaud said. “I got word at the end of April.”

So just what does this impossibly active, seemingly tireless, refreshingly upbeat woman do to catch the attention of such an esteemed entity as La Societe Academique Arts-Sciences-Lettres – the Academic Society of Arts-Sciences-Letters?

Well, pretty much everything that has to do with art, the arts in general, integrating the arts into communities and society, promoting and advocating for the arts as not just a hobby or a cottage industry but as a component of life as a whole.

When she teaches art, like she’s doing at Nashua’s Nature of Things private academy, for instance, “I bring more than art … I teach about making good life decisions,” she said.

Consider also how much time and effort Boutaud has put into the city’s annual Francophonie celebration – the month-long celebration of Nashua’s French-Canadian-heritage. Boutaud figured prominently in the celebration’s Nashua debut nearly a decade ago, and has been organizing the event since.

Name a city or regional art-related organization or cause, and you’ll almost certainly find Boutaud’s name on it somewhere. City Arts Nashua and Great American Downtown are, of course, among them.

Born and raised in Nice, in coastal southern France, Boutaud was living in Belmont, Mass., when she first heard of City Arts Nashua’s annual Art Walk.

“A woman came from Nashua to Belmont to tell me about it,” she said of the Art Walk. The following year, 2009, Boutaud put together an exhibit and took part in Art Walk.

Then she saw the Picker Building, the historic mill building-turned-artists’-collaborative that has since relocated.

“I decided I wanted a studio there, so I moved to Nashua,” she said.

Meanwhile, one of the more interesting events Boutaud has planned apart from the awards ceremony is meeting up with a longtime friend in a small southern village called Aubrac, not far from her native Nice.

For there takes place a “treasured ritual” of spring called, appropriately enough, the Festival of Aubrac. The interesting part lies in the details.

“We walk with the cows … as they come back from the meadows, where they graze on the good grass every year.

“Many artists go, to see (the cows’) unique faces … they look like they’re wearing makeup,” Boutaud said, beginning to laugh at her visitor’s quizzical expression.

But the photos confirm it: Their eyes really do look like they spent some time in front of a mirror before heading out to the pastures.

Locals, visitors and tourists alike can walk as far as 20 kilometers – about 12 1/2 miles – alongside these unique bovines, which by grazing on “the good grass” produce the top-notch beef for which they are raised, Boutaud said.

At the end of their journey awaits a festival of celebration, Boutaud said, where food and merriment take center stage.

Boutaud is scheduled to return home June 4. We’ll check in with her shortly after she arrives for a follow-up story.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears Sundays in The Telegraph. He can be reached at 594-1256, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com or@Telegraph_DeanS.

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