Artist as Traveler, Part 1
Noyers shopfront, photo by Gail Rieke.
Our week long workshop, Artist as Traveler, began in Noyers, where everyone gathered in a house rented in the middle of town. There were four participants, since two others that had planned to come, dropped out due to illness. It made for an intimate group. Each one, I must say, had something special and wonderful to contribute. We all seemed to bond quickly and easily.
Happy chatting at our first meeting with one another. Holly, Chris and Gail, photo by Valerie Fahey.
Gail asked us to come prepared to place a small item onto a “shrine”. The idea was to focus our attention through an object which would express an aspect of our personal experience. The theme of the week was “this one moment,” or “in the blink of an eye.” So, we were invited to remain open, observe, register, and report. We made a daily practice of this shrine which was meant to sum up the day we had passed through.
The first night each arranged an article which represented the beginning of our adventure or the anticipation of the week ahead, or the tale of a past event of significance. Some of the stories were heart-felt, others funny or hopeful.
Shrine, Photo by Gail Rieke.
After our first meeting and a walk about town, we headed towards the Belle Epocque where dinner was awaiting us, all prepared and served by Vianney.
Sign outside the Belle Epoque announcing our private soirée.
Dinner was quite lovely, beginning with a salad featuring fresh garden tomatoes and shrimp, followed by a delicious fish in cream sauce. risotto and vegetables, finishing with fresh fruit from their orchard and garden. All made by hand and served to us graciously and single handedly.
Vianney serving dinner to Zack, Gail's husband, who joined our adventure.
Our first day in the garden room studio went well. Each found their place and began a project they had pondered before arriving. Each of the participants is an artist in their own right. Chris is a retired architect from Los Angeles, who now leads tours of significant buildings in downtown LA. Tobi, who was his colleague during their career is now a full time artist in Santa Fe. Holly is a retired paper conservator for the Library of Congress. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia and does art photography. Valerie retired from teaching Spanish in Saudi Arabia to become a full time artist, traveler and free spirit. She lives in Buffalo, New York. All four, from hither and yon, were full of ideas, experience and knowledge.
My old art table at Maison Conti was a bit bigger, but we made the farm table work for us.
Gail brought us a couple of sample books, including one with a long spine with various sizes and shapes of pages, or pockets attached, a charming and unusual but uncomplicated form. The various items can either be attached with brads or sewn onto the spine.
Gail shows the group her sample book.
Gail doesn’t teach her workshops with any particular final object in mind. She offers ideas and demonstrates techniques, but prefers for each person to find their own way. I’ve always appreciated this about her. It also makes each person in the group a kind of collaborator in the creative process which takes place. We all learned from one another and all ended up doing very different things.
Tobi is a paper maker and made some very beautiful and interesting books while here. This handmade Indian paper she hand-dyed with indigo before she arrived.
Book making is only one of the artistic expressions that Gail pursues. She also enjoys doing rubbings, a wonderful way to capture the real tactile sense of a place. I rarely do it myself, but each time she comes, her practice reminds me what a immediate and expressive tool it can be and a very meaningful addition to a journal.
Rubbings of surfaces from around the house, photo by Gail Rieke.
The week brought a variety of weather, as is usual in this part of the world. Of course when the sun is shinning, as it was on the first couple of days, it certainly makes for a most pleasant environment. We ate lunch together out of doors several times.
Chris and Holly in the back yard.
We took a kind of field trip almost every day. We wanted to offer an experience and then follow it up with work in the atelier to reflect and react to that adventure. The first day we visited the Grottes d’Arcy, the second oldest prehistoric caves in France, which just happen to be down the road from us.
The walk through the cave took an hour and a half. It is a vast underground environment.
We had a very charming guide who spoke some English. The major attraction was the cave itself, as it was quite vast and full of stalagmites and stalactites. There were a few cave paintings as well, but nothing like Lascaux or Chauvet. The environment was remarkable. This cave has been known of for centuries and so been damaged in various ways by public use since at least the 1600s, unlike some of the others which were discovered more recently and quickly protected.
The calcium "growth" is incredibly slow, about 1mm a century, so it is amazing to imagine how old these formations are.
Within the largest space of the cave, called “the cathedral,” they have discovered remnants of wind, stringed and percussion instruments. The “room” itself had amazing acoustics. One is bemused to imagine music being created here about 30,000 years ago.
Cave architecture in black and white, photo by Gail Rieke.
Of course driving through the Burgundy countryside offers glimpses of interesting villages, all made of stone. On one stop we made, meant to enjoy a charming village church, we all became fascinated instead by an appendage to it, an enormous wasp’s nest, looking for all the world like some kind of stone embellishment.
Wasp nest, photo by Holly Krueger.
As long as I have worked with Gail on workshops, there have always been window photographs. I think I have at least one iconic window photo from each time. She loves reflections and in this one moment, she pointed out a particularly nice window to us in the same village. We all pointed our cameras in the appropriate direction. Great textures!
Beautiful old window in the village of Sacy.
Although it was certainly convenient for workshop participants at the Maison Conti to have a bedroom upstairs, and never really need to leave the house, I think being in Noyers was an advantage this time. The town offers so much history, charm and whimsey.
Holly and Valerie enjoy tea at the Painted Door in Noyers.
Rick and I prepared some dinners for the group, as well as lunch. I was very impressed when Rick used his sometimes secret artistic talents to create a very beautiful Caprese salad using our own garden tomatoes.
Rick's artistry at work.
There were many adventures during the week, so my blog report will continue over the next couple of Sundays. The group left on Wednesday. Gail and Zack are already back at home in Santa Fe, but the rest are exploring other parts of France and Europe.
Gail made several bundles over the week, using plants from the garden. Photo by Gail Rieke.