french delights

Add caption

French delights around Provence to share with you.............

Snow snow and more blooming snow ........

February 5th 2012
I realize I have turned the page on my calendar and I have been here a month! And I realize we are nearly half way through in a blink of an eye!

The time has shot past important British artists, Paul Cox and Chris Brown have visited imparting knowledge and time to all the students, we have traveled ten hours in a bus to Angouleme for the 39th festival of comic novels, 250,000 people from the age of 4 to 84 all enjoying Spiegleman and Maus. Telling us the story of the holocaust, it spans the life of two generations, a piece of brilliant pictorial story telling. I am listening to him, speaking about the story telling on Radio 4 today on book club with James Naughtie.

What an extraordinary experience for all of us it is difficult to describe the pleasure of the cobblestones, the delights of the cafeteria, the pleasure of the locals and the bar and the need every once in a while to escape down the mountain to find the real world. My French has improved somewhat; the accent fits in with the South!
We have had snow for the past week, it was a romantic morning last week, blanketed in white and is slowly disappearing, luckily no bones broken for any of us just many people suffering from la Grippe or excessive sneezing.

We have had to improvise for our travel portfolio classes, which in fact produced some exquisite results; they became small theatrical backdrops for plays written in our heads around Angouleme, I was so excited at the scenes students managed to create.
Chris Brown went beyond the call of duty in his week with us; he instigated a great lino project Twelve Snow Scenes in Lacoste. My print class has produced an editioned set of twelve abstract snow scenes in black and white, Chris is printing the cover and sending us each a signed print. Both Chris and Paul have been fabulous to be around, I have felt like a student myself sucking up so much knowledge! Students have appreciated their feedback enthusiasm and intelligence.
Thoughts for the month:
We are in a dream and we will wake up back in Portsmouth
The Queen will have been on the throne for sixty years tomorrow
We have great students with great ideas.
I let the stray cat into my book class he fell asleep on the life model’s bed.
I love Aix en Provence more in winter.
There is not enough time to do anything for me.
I am still looking for more depot ventes!

Epiphany in Lacoste

Our next adventure has commenced we are off for eight weeks to Provence to teach at SCAD Lacoste France for the Illustration department. I have three classes and am excited as to how the the term will unravel. We have trips around the countryside sketching, travelling to Paris and Angouleme and having an ideal opportunity to speak French and be in love with just being here. Epiphany the celebration of the three kings was acknowledged with arriving at Lacoste, in the Luberon valley, previous abode of the Marquis de Sade. We eventually made it in spite of cancelled ferry crossings, high winds and Mike’s fear that he would not get to Megeve for his skiing trip on Saturday morning! Eleanor Twiford the Director of SCAD Lacoste and her husband greeted us into Apartment no 2 a simple apartment with a farrow and ball touch. We love it !

After unloading and putting the little objects brought from St Ursula it starts to feel like home. Why can’t I stop myself buying toys? A little BP delivery van probably made in China, there were twenty different lorries all painted in green BP colours which needed a home, twenty would be fabulous but one was enough for Mike to raise an eyebrow over! It sits proudly on the mantelpiece with a handmade house by Victor Stuart Graham commencing its journey along with mine. We toasted the achievement of actually getting here and for the next stage of this incredibly exciting adventure!
It is bright cold and breathtaking, the view from our window can only be described as a child's perfect rendition of what should be in the landscape: a house, trees, a bonfire, animals, mountains and a horizon that goes on beyond the for ever. It cannot be captured photographically as a geometric framework, we all see it differently and our associations give each aspect a personal importance and size. I wave Mike goodbye and wander around the village and realise there are very few people here, where is anyone ? is it because its winter or has Pierre Cardin after buying the chateau pushed them all out? SCAD must help boost the numbers.
The church bell rings every half hour next to my house it is my dream come true

Pictures I love .........

Scarf from exhibition Beauty as Duty MFA Boston

Rice package in our local indian store

Christmas wrapped building Boston

Professor Drummond awards Malina Omut MFA at West Duffy !!



More beautiful type in Charleston it looks fresh out of my mum's 1950's Good Housekeeping

Marcus Kenney Sculpture I took my undergraduate class to the 1704 Gallery Savannah such inspirational work for all of us

Home for Christmas !

We did it ! what were we thinking of ! we drove 2010 miles for thanksgiving, through rain storms and the three largest cities in the USA to spend a wonderful few days in Boston Mass. with our old friend Lynn and her extended family of fourteen. My what an epic trip to get there and have turkey! It was so enormous Mike found inventive ways to cook the left overs shepherds pie with turkey, turkey curry and rice ............. We are hoping that christmas in St Ursula will not be turkey ! We are not sure we would do that drive again highway 95 is not pretty enough and speed limits really curtail time, but we did enjoy the sense of a place travelled by road and are planning a road trip to Nashville when we come back in the spring.
Christmas spirit has struck, jingle bells , the salvation army jangling outside every shop , Savannah wreaths are everywhere it feels strange to see when temperatures are still in the high 60's. Our house is packed up, days of cleaning and clearing for rentals while we are away, home for Christmas to see friends and getting ready for the next adventure. I am very excited about working back at the University for a couple of days on an installation of sorts in the Eldon Gallery, a collaboration with Sarah Turner about being here and over there and back again. We have fun in mind. Soooooo Christmas Greetings to everyone and Happy New Year and reporting out until news from Lacoste in January 2012.

Rough and Ready

I have had such great students this quarter, my graduate class set up an exchange project "rough and ready" via Face book with Bucharest School of Art, Romania, nine students from each school worked around a theme of the Mysterious Stranger we swapped sketches and completed each others vision, it was interesting to see personal work being developed by someone else and visa versa. I loved the outcome! I swapped with the Professor from Bucharest . I spent a very happy five hours cutting and collaging and made a piece I really connected with . Scissors are my pencil. We are hoping to make a small publication when the dust settles from the end of term. Collaboration is always a positive way to connect with the world. Much good work has been completed , work that makes your heart sing and some so moving it makes you cry, comments which make you feel you have done something a little right and teaching is worth it. I am just looking forward to a little more me time , reading and drawing without having to worry that assignments are to be written and the deadlines are only mine.

Where did the weeks go?

SCAD Museum of Art re-opened with a new multi million dollar rebuild and opened its door for a preview night for students and staff , it had a real WOW factor once home to the Savannh railway it has been redesigned and houses some incredible pieces.have a peek on http://www.scadmoa.org/. Students were in love with the largest touch screen I have ever seen.
I am astounded that the ten weeks has passed so quickly and I am assessing work and submitting final grades to finish the autumn quarter. Where did all those weeks go? The school is quiet , I have packed all the sketchbooks up filed them on to my desk for collection and realise a little sadly I will not be back here until Spring 2012 as I leave for Lacoste France to teach there for a term. I have an exhibition in Morris Hall where I teach, twenty pieces made over the last ten years I hope to get to see it before we pack and leave for home. As my students here say “Hey Professor we are done !” Yes end of my second quarter I am getting there slowly !