Category Archives: Business of Art

Above the Fold

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Herault regional newspaper

Herault regional newspaper interview.

The arts scene in Roujan and region is well supported by the regional newspaper, Midi-Libre. Their local arts and events correspondent, Victor Morales,  came to the GalleriMSF to interview me, with expert translation assistance by Jessie Jones, the gallery curator. The interview was a lively three-way discussion in two languages. The attached article captures the essence of the exposition and the travel journal workshop.

The piece was published in the Saturday paper, with my name in the headline displayed in a startlingly large font. As they say in the trade, “it’s better to be above the fold”.

As the newspaper web site is a curated blog, and doesn’t publish every article online,  I include a pdf of the news item below for downloading for those who read French. Or want to try.

MIDI LIBRE ARTICLE MAY18

After Jessie departed, Victor and I continued our discussions – using hand gestures to overcome our linguistic barriers.  Turns out he has vivid memories of bookbinding as a youth, and expressed great interest in my sketch of the Alexander woodshed at Sakinah Lake, wanting to know if it was a typical example of regional architecture!

I enjoyed interviewing the interviewer.

Le Vernissage complet

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Guests from the Languedoc region attended the vernissage May 3

Guests from the Languedoc region attended the vernissage May 3.

My ‘Reconfiguré‘ show opened in Roujan the evening of Friday, May 3rd. It was a wonderful experience. The Centre International et Regional des Arts, GaleriMSF  is housed in a 18th C former ‘barn’, complete with stone rubble walls, ancient crooked beams and a tile roof punctuated by small skylights, which admit narrow streams of intense Languedoc light.
Bright blue shutters on the street side provide a distinctive look along the Avenue Henri Mas.

The opening capped 4 days of on-site work, and many months of preparation. Chuck and I unpacked the boxes of art shipped from Canada, bought frames, assembled the works, ‘mounted’ the exhibition, created labels, and a guest signing board. Gary, our host, made his own preparations, rehearsing with his jazz trio, and organizing our wine sponsor, Domain de Cadablès.  While Jessie Jones, the resident artist and curator, ensured that patrons, supporters and neighbours were invited.

The principal gallery space displays  my ‘Slat Series’ – a group of 15 large ‘reconfigured’ paintings that explore the theme of human intervention in the landscape, as well as several smaller works.  The back room features my travel ‘Plein Air’ sketches, with over 100 reproductions strung like laundry!   (Chuck added a few socks and shirts for effect.)

At 6:30pm, the doors opened, the wine flowed, and there was lots of lively interest and discussion in English & French. The jazz was sublime.  Chuck presented my brief speech en français sparing me the challenge. I wore the beautiful jacket made by my sister Nicky for the occasion. One young guest drew me a charming picture of a tank as a gift. Parfait.

Enjoy this gallery of photos from the evening. Thank you all who helped, and attended.

On the street
Blue shutters define the street wall
Le Jazz Trio performs
A crowd fills the gallery
Margot describes her process
Viewing travel sketches
Colleen, Margot & Jessie
Folk songs by Yvonne and Gary
The team assembles
Rare moment to sit down
Beatrice, Andy and their kids
Chuck practising his French
Well thumbed journals
Colleen is the first to sign

Art from a Vending Machine

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Art Surprise vending machine

Art Surprise vending machine – contemporary art for less than the cost of a deck of smokes!

In one of those serendipitous moments that can often happen while travelling, I met artists Juan Petry (above, right) and Sonia Eva Domenech (not shown) in Barcelona.  Juan initiated a contemporary art project, “Art Surprise” in 2011 which involves selling of contemporary European art using re-purposed cigarette vending machines. At 5 euros per ‘box’ an art lover can sample diverse artists working in a range of mediums. In just 18 months, over 10,000 works have been created by more than 100 artists and sold at these locations across Europe.  As a Canadian artist working in France for the summer, I am delighted to be invited to participate, and will soon be creating my first series of 100 artworks, sized 5cm x 8cm x 1.6cm (which fits nicely inside their elegant custom box). Fabulous idea which could make its way to Vancouver before long….

Art Surprise

Art Surprise