La Garonne taken from up in the village. Le Moulin à Nef is situated near the bridge on the left of the photo.Professor Robert Reed from Yale University, his staff and students are installed at le Moulin à Nef for a month long program, ISS@YSS, and are intensely at work in the studios.
I spend my time offering support as needed, looking after the facility, making new contacts, planning events, booking whatever is necessary for upcoming programs and groups, and this year preparing for a major event, VCCA Virginia's 40th anniversary celebration in Auvillar.
Shortly after our move Nancy and David, our new Vancouver neighbours, stop by for a few days of their French road trip. We enjoy getting to know them and scouting the countryside together hoping to find some illusive French birds.
June is not all about work, there is some time for play. John's brother Geoff and his wife Judy arrive from California and we manage to escape to Barcelona for a few days and immerse ourselves in the work of Gaudi and the Spanish cuisine. I find that the tapas is an interesting break from the French meals we've been enjoying and we have an especially wonderful experience when we are invited to lunch by locals, friends of G & J, who take us to their neighbourhood restaurant el all i oli!
Gaudi's Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia.
Casa Battló
I spend my time offering support as needed, looking after the facility, making new contacts, planning events, booking whatever is necessary for upcoming programs and groups, and this year preparing for a major event, VCCA Virginia's 40th anniversary celebration in Auvillar.
Shortly after our move Nancy and David, our new Vancouver neighbours, stop by for a few days of their French road trip. We enjoy getting to know them and scouting the countryside together hoping to find some illusive French birds.
June is not all about work, there is some time for play. John's brother Geoff and his wife Judy arrive from California and we manage to escape to Barcelona for a few days and immerse ourselves in the work of Gaudi and the Spanish cuisine. I find that the tapas is an interesting break from the French meals we've been enjoying and we have an especially wonderful experience when we are invited to lunch by locals, friends of G & J, who take us to their neighbourhood restaurant el all i oli!
Casa Battló
A stop at the Dali museum inFigueras is a sureal ending to
our journey!
Back in Auvillar John, Geoff and Judy kindly stretch my canvases for my upcoming exhibit while I resume my role as Resident Director.The annual weekend long festival of St Noé takes place as it has for some 400 years. St Noé is the patron saint of winemakers and the festival is filled with traditions; the planting of a tree, processions, mass, dances, music and of course sampling the local wine.
June 24th arrives and my exhibit opens in la Chapelle Ste Catherine. At the end of our first year in Auvillar we came upon a thicket of trees bordering a small river called the Arrats. It immediately commanded my attention and was the start of a long exploration, first of its surface patterns and relections and more recently including it's shore.
La Fête de St Jean is celebrated in almost every French village and Auvillar does it with flair. It is held on the banks of la Garonne, across the street from le 
Moulin à Nef and starts with a community dinner complete with a French chanteuse.
End of June and into July.......Etchings, a contemporary music festival, takes place in partnership with the VCCA. 2011 marks the third season for the festival and it is bigger and better than ever. 28 participants attend (Directors, composers and musicians) this year from 14 different countries. They perform 3 outstanding concerts in the stunning chapel.
La Fête de St Jean is celebrated in almost every French village and Auvillar does it with flair. It is held on the banks of la Garonne, across the street from le 
Moulin à Nef and starts with a community dinner complete with a French chanteuse. Everyone awaits darkness when the huge fire, le feu de St Jean, will be lit. The ISS@YSS program is in it's third week and the Fellows have bundled the artwork that they will discard and placed the bundles around the bonfire like large stones. There is an added surprise to the celebration, large balloons that are lit and released to drift into the indigo sky.
End of June and into July.......Etchings, a contemporary music festival, takes place in partnership with the VCCA. 2011 marks the third season for the festival and it is bigger and better than ever. 28 participants attend (Directors, composers and musicians) this year from 14 different countries. They perform 3 outstanding concerts in the stunning chapel. 
Introductions in French by Cheryl, welcome 
in English by VCCA's Executive Director, Suny Monk,
two of the festival ensemble musicians, This year's
group of outstanding composers, musicians and the
festival directors. (all photos except the first by John
Alexander)
in English by VCCA's Executive Director, Suny Monk,
two of the festival ensemble musicians, This year's
group of outstanding composers, musicians and the
festival directors. (all photos except the first by John
Alexander)
