Artist as Traveler, Part 2
Piles of seasonal, local mushrooms, gathered in the surrounding forests this time of year, were too hard to resist. Valerie makes her choices.
On Sunday morning we visited the renowned Chablis farmers market. Everyone bought something to offer for the evening’s dinner, which was a cooperative cooking event. Fall produce, pears, apples, figs and mushrooms were displayed on tables in abundance. Artisanal bread, cheese, olives and sweets were on offer. We almost intuitively each went for different vendors and products. Without too much coordination, we managed to pull together a meal plan with variety and balance.
Tobi checks out the olive, dried fruit and nut table, one of my favorite stops at the market. Photo by Valerie Fahey.
On the way home we stopped by the river and had a picnic. It was a pleasant interlude. We had the place completely to ourselves.
Chris and Zack cutting the fresh baguette.
The weeks before and after the workshop were quite chilly, so I thank the weather gods were watching out for us.
Enjoying a picnic beside the river.
Back in the atelier people got to work on their various projects. Holly had several she was working on. She does cyanotypes at home and had brought some very beautiful little discs that she had made using dried orange rounds.
All of us made little envelopes as we had several templates for making different sizes and shapes.
Holly made some beautiful envelopes to paste into her notebook to hold her cyanotypes.
I thought that Chris had a really wonderful project. He had come prepared to make a box to hold memorabilia from his journey through Europe. It had a couple of layers inside and he managed to use so many little bits and pieces gathered each day to really capture his experience. I was impressed by his clever integration of various items. It seemed to me that he left nothing out in the retelling of the story of his travels. I imagine him looking back into his box several years in the future and being transported back in time.
Chris validates the idea that a journal need not be a flat book with nothing but pages inside.
Gail, who certainly has a broad definition of a journal, made “bundles” each day. Some of the plants in the garden were turning red or gold, and she enjoyed weaving leaves, stems. string and other bits together to create little daily packets.
Gail winding a bundle.
Tobi came with a great deal of very attractive paper. She made several little books for various purposes, using different binding techniques. After leaving Moulins she and Chris were on their way south to see the oldest and most spectacular cave paintings of all in Chauvet. This book she made to capture those impressions.
I found this to be a very fun and attractive little book.
Our collective dinner was super successful. No one had to do too much as we kept it rather simple, but I found it enjoyable to have the group in the kitchen throwing together the things that had pleased them at the market. The meal turned out to be excellent as well. Tobi made a delicious pasta dish with a blue cheese sauce. Chris barbecued some vegetables and made a delicious aioli to go with them. Valerie and Holly created a gorgeous and enormous green salad filled with fresh vegetables. Gail made a plate of figs and peaches, while we offered out favorite artisanal sheep cheese and fresh bread.
People worked well together in both the atelier and the kitchen!
There were fresh forest mushrooms, paté, wine and special cookies for dessert. It was an art installation in itself!
Our table.