IWAN BALA - Report from Galicia
VII XUNTANZA OBRADOIRO INTERNACIONAL DAS ARTES PLÁSTICAS
VII WORKSHOP OF INTERNATIONAL PLASTIC ARTS.
CULTURAL RENDEZVOUS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
FROM THE 11 TO THE 17 OF JULY 2004.
PROLOGUE
A Solaina de Piloño in the region of Deza is a Cultural Institution built in an old Forge. It attempts to promote the arts of Galicia offering exhibition space and studios where artists are invited to develop projects. It also organises exchanges with other European countries.
Xuntanza is a visual art 'group encounter' held biannually in the village of Piloño near Santiago de Compostela. Through the relationship between the artist/organisers of A Solaina and the Harlech Biennale, an invitation has been extended for two artists who have exhibited at Harlech, to attend a weeklong artist's gathering from 10 th to 17 th of July 2004. The artists will be Brendan Burns and myself. Whilst there, we will complete one piece of work that will be exhibited in a group exhibition in November, and donated to the Foundation.
This will be the third cross cultural link to be made between these two artist led festivals, one of which, a visit to Galicia by John Brown and Andrew Smith of Harlech was funded by Wales Art International.
I feel that this second visit by Welsh artists will strengthen the relationship, involve us in conversation with artists from Mexico, Italy, Spain and elsewhere who are also attending, and importantly, providing both Brendan and myself with new and enriching material for making art, cultural intervention and experience.
Our accommodation, sustenance, materials and travelling within Galicia is being kindly provided for us by our hosts, we applied to Wales Arts International for flight costs and train fare to Heathrow and back, and were fortunate to have their support.
LOS PEREGRINOS DEL ARTE.
They wouldn't leave me on my own. I thought I would sit outside the cafe/bar and have a few Estrella's and gather my thoughts. Here in Piloño, half way between Santiago de Compostela and Lalin, the regional capitol of Deza in Galicia. Piloño is a small village surrounded by hills, I was outside the only bar which was practically next-door to the courtyard and buildings known as Fundacion Casa Museo "A Solaina" (abundance). Sitting in the sun, smelling the eucalyptus I sought some thinking time. Finally I was in Galicia, a place that I had for a long time, somewhat romantically, wanted to visit. Carmen, who kindly put four of us up in her home, refusing to leave me, joined me for a drink, then we were joined by Juan and his wife Sophia, and then Elizabeth Ross, an artist from Morelia in Mexico came to sit down.
We were here, along with sixteen other artists to participate in a week of art-making, the V11 Xuntanza in A Solaina, to share life, food and art, and to leave behind us one piece of art which would be exhibited in nearby Lalin in November. There were invites for two Welsh artists, Brendan Burns and myself, which had come through International Contemporary Art Wales, who through their Harlech Biennale had made links. Other artists came from Galicia itself, Catalunia, Brazil, Holland, Italy and Mexico. The Saturday we arrived it was pouring with rain, but soon cleared, and all through the week the sun blazed, marred by a few clouds here and there, and thankfully cool evenings. It was hotter than usual apparently. At home, we gather, it rained all week.
Wales is not unfamiliar to the people here and Brendan and I are given a cultural boost by being Celtic brethren, though all seemed aware that this was not straightforwardly so. But there is enough shared, a linguistic independence, a strong folk tradition, and familiarity with place, roots, legends, identity, politics, and memory.
Carmen is the sister of Paco Lareo, the artist who set up the A Solaina project using his father's old forge and outbuildings to house a gallery, library, studios and museum. He came back here after spending time in South America. Carmen, a lively and generous presence, also lived in Venezuela for many years. This seems common for Galego's, leaving to work and settle, having connections with Iberian America.
On the Monday we were told to select our working areas and help ourselves to the paints, brushes, canvas and materials stacked up in one of the stone outbuildings. The two Brazilian artists got there first, but then again they did have to sleep on a big airbed in Carmen's garage which smelled of petrol, whilst Brendan and I shared a comfortable room upstairs, (me in a bed, and Brendan on a mattress on the floor, privilege of age). We all found spaces and materials eventually, and got started. There were two 'facilitators' at hand to help and get extra materials from the closest town, it was well organised and through Carmen's good English, understandable to Brendan, Tineke Porck from Holland and myself. Everyone else spoke Spanish. Elizabeth spoke near perfect English and cheerfully undertook the task of translating for me nearly all week. There were times, notably late at night, when she had to translate arguments or statements that were clearly far from her own opinions, but was compelled to wait for me to make the (our) argument back. She possesses a boundless energy and in addition to making art was sending reports by email to a journal in Mexico as she travelled around Europe. She initiated and was the organiser of an artist's, "encounter" in Mexico which Reiko Aoyagi and Andrew Smith from Wales attended in January, supported by Wales Art International. Her 'Identities' project is set to continue with artists from Wales, Galicia and Catalunia.
One of the Galego artists Teresa de la Paz Garnde Taboada unsurprisingly also known as; "Tareixa", dressed all in Goth black and had an infectious laugh like a chain smoking machine gun. I told her I liked it and she offered to marry me. No doubt she had received such compliments before. Another, David Giraut offered me the use of his apartment in Valencia anytime. I reciprocated the offer on the 'My house is your house, your house is my house' basis. My wife will be pleased I thought. This exchange happened very late at night.
The working day fell into two parts; in fact it felt like two days in one. Breakfast had been arranged each morning between 9.00 and 10.30 at the aforementioned cafe/bar and shop, a few yards from the workplace. Work was then undertaken till 2.00 when we were driven off to one local restaurant or another for a perfect three course lunch with wine (or water). Everyone was catered for providing you liked meat or seafood, and at a pinch a vegetarian dish was rustled up for Tineke. We would be back at work, or sometimes siesta, by 4.30 and work until 10.00 when we were driven to another restaurant, for another perfect three course meal with wine, singing, talking, even dancing, till the early hours. I sang (amongst some genuine traditional folk songs), 'Feed me till I want no more' on one occasion, which they did on a daily basis.
Some afternoons had been set aside for excursions, to the famed cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, or more prosaically, to visit the Mayor of Lalin at his office. We were taken to Santiago's impressive ten-year-old Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea and to visit the gallery in Lalin where our work will be shown in November. One memorable starry night was spent high up in the hills at an ancient observatory, where an equally ancient gentleman gave us a lecture on the universe, pointing out the planets on big pictures on the walls. We then filed obediently up a metal staircase to peer through the huge telescope, to see - nothing, whilst outside the stars filled the clear black, unpolluted night sky.
Compostela - the field of stars.
One evening near the start of the week I was sitting at dinner next to Elizabeth, and we got to talking about her interest in Wales, its myths and culture, her previous visit here, to Cricieth and Harlech, and how she had met a man in Canada, at Banff, who claimed to be a brother of the chair winning bard of Meifod Eisteddfod. I said I knew that bard.. Twm Morys. 'That's him' she said, 'their father became a woman'. By sheer coincidence I had in my shoulder bag that night, a signed copy of Jan Morris's book 'Spain' which had the dedication inside 'To Elizabeth' (the name of his wife and Twm's mother). These coincidences continued right up to the Eisteddfod back in Wales, to which I had persuaded Elizabeth to come. Although I met Twm every day, one day he wore a Mexican sombrero, the day she was there I couldn't find him anywhere ... so I guess she has to come again. During her stay in Wales she presented a paper at Chapter's First Wednesday group and at Bangor University, and staged an impromptu 'ritual' performance outside Chapter.
Brendan was working hard, producing digital images of shadows, lichen on stonework, plants, details of landscape on camera, which translated into charcoal drawings, then small paintings on wood panels and Perspex. The barn he had tentatively moved into soon developed into a studio, with drawings stapled around on boards, and activity abounding.
I followed a pattern in making my work. The first day was spent in the library 'researching' Galician art. There is a fifteen volume set of hard back books "Artistas Galegos" on art in Galicia from prehistory to the present day, other books on individual artists, catalogues and literature. I made notes, diagrams and sketches. The second day was spent making undistinguished flourishes, drawing from a huge bull's head with horns intact that I discovered in one shed. On the third and fourth day things began to shape up, merging my current work back in Wales, with new symbols and images from this part of northern Spain. By day five I had selected the best work for the Presentation, which was a feast attended by villagers and invited guests. The press sent photographers and reporters, it was front-page news on some papers, and the TV network was there. A well-known painter Anton Lamazares indulged in a dubious ritual of painting a scanty dress worn by a model, a process that took half an hour at least, watched by the seated crowd. Elizabeth was not amused.
We were all solemnly presented with certificates, and Brendan and I quickly wrote 'acceptance speeches' and thanks, which were translated on the spot and delivered with Mexican inflections.
It's hard to encapsulate or describe what this week means. On the surface, yes, it is about art, collaborations and conversations, and ultimately, presenting the work made to a public audience. But on a deeper level, it touches each individual, I am sure, on an emotional level unlike that reached in our usual day-to-day life. Thrown together, like and not so like-minded, every emotion is heightened. Then added to that is the new environment, the relinquishing of external concerns, and all our needs in this instance catered for (though this is not true of all such residencies by any means) and no stress, therefore a freedom to concentrate on the art that isn't always possible even behind the shut door of the studio. And when I came back to Cardiff, I went into that studio re invigorated, with ideas flowing. If only I had the time to do it all.
Iwan Bala 15/09/04
