Bòlit. Centre d'Art Contemporani
Somewhat belatedly, I thought I'd share two newspaper articles published in the Diari de Girona in Catalan about the artist presentation I took part in at the Bòlit Centre d'Art Contemporani in Girona, Spain.
Els quatre artistes becats pel Bòlit amb residència presenten els projectes
Un becat pel Bòlit «reviurà» cinc edificis desapareguts de Girona
The day after the party I slept in late (the party went into the wee hours of the morning) and then spent the rest of the day in the studio.
Then the next day was the artist presentation at the Bòlit. Centre d'Art Contemporani so we went into Girona a little early (Clara had errands, and I wanted to buy lunch instead of making it - sometimes I get a little tired of only having one burner total to cook with; no microwave, no oven, no toaster, not even multiple burners and just want someone else to make me food) and did our own things for a while. I was supposed to meet up with Clara at the Centre at 6:30pm in advance of our 7pm presentation, but I got myself really confused despite being in basically the right area and spent over twenty minutes frantically pacing about trying to figure out where to go. I finally made it, and was really pleased that we had decided to give ourselves that buffer of time so I wasn't late!
The presentation was quite interesting; there were several different artists presenting, and one of them was Kubra Khademi. She's a really young performance artist who is currently seeking refugee status in France after being aggressively pursued and threatened in Afghanistan following her now well-known Armor piece. She's basically existing until finding out her immigration status by living in artist residencies around southern Europe with the help and goodwill of the hosts. I would find not having any money or close friends or family for support to be extremely stressful, so I hope her situation resolves in her favor soon.
The following day was another studio day. I'm happy with the pieces I'm working on, but my productivity on this residency is a little frustrating. I think it's necessary due to my experimentation with new techniques and media, but at the same time, I typically make about ten watercolor pieces on a month-long residency, and it looks like I'll be hopefully making five acrylic(+) paintings here.
Tonight I will be presenting my residency work at the Bòlit. Centre in Girona, Spain. Here's the announcement page, with an excerpt below in the original Catalan (edited slightly as they accidentally reported my birth year as 1996, which I have corrected below):
Presentació de projectes dels artistes Ferran Cardona (Bòlit), Shelby Prindaville (Nau Côclea), Kubra Khademi (La Muga Caula) i Job Ramos (Casa Forestal de Sant Martí d'Empúries) i de dues noves convocatòries: Beca Brack/Nau Côclea/Singcat i ETAC 2016
Dijous 25 de juny, 19 h
Bòlit_StNicolau
Shelby Prindaville (Kansas, EUA, 1986) és una artista visual i directora del Programa d'Art de la Saint Mary University a Leavenworth, Kansas que treballa principalment pintura i dibuix, encara que també fa incursions en tècniques mixtes, l'escultura i la instal·lació. Interessada en el paper de l'ésser humà en la construcció d'equilibri ecològic i en crear imatges centrades en la bella fragilitat i resiliència del món natural, Prindaville treballa amb el seu entorn més immediat i documenta les ecologies internacionals com a manera d'ampliar el seu propi món i el dels seus espectadors. La seva obra combina temes i ambients abstractes relacionats amb les descobertes científiques i propers a les il·lustracions taxonòmiques i de descripció zoològica. A les seves peces intenta, literalment i simbòlicament accentuar la delicadesa i la immanència de la natura, amb l'objectiu de connectar amb l'espectador i interactuar-hi emocionalment.
Saturday was one of those days of small amounts of repeated bad luck. First, as I was packing myself up to head out for Girona again to take in the art festival, I realized that I had no idea where my non-prescription sunglasses were. Obviously not as bad as losing the very costly prescription ones, but still. I liked those sunglasses! I resolved to buy some new ones in Girona. Then I set off for the train. As I waited at the stop for what felt like too long... it was too long. I had accidentally loaded a train schedule for the wrong day and weekend trains are more infrequent, so I had slightly over an hour to wait for the next train. The walk to or from Nau Côclea is about twenty minutes, so burning forty minutes just walking back and forth didn't make any sense. I decided to see if I could find sunglasses in Camallera. I did (though they were quite overpriced) and also bought a clementine and some water to help with the wait.
Once I got to Girona, I walked as quickly as possible to the arts festival, but I arrived just before 2pm due to the mistake in train timing. I had been told to aim to arrive more at 1pm as at 2pm everyone goes off to eat lunch for a couple hours. I did get to briefly say hello to the director of the Bòlit. Centre and she introduced me to a few of the artists. Due in part to my timing but I think mostly due to the newness of the festival, it was pretty underwhelming. There were four artists painting large murals, which were really cool, but apart from that there were just a few scattered stands selling relatively expensive jewelry and art.
I ended up staying at the festival for a pretty short amount of time and then just started to walk around and explore Girona again. I stopped for lunch (paella vegetal) and then saw that I had just enough time if I hurried to catch a train back. So I hurried... and got to the train station literally thirty seconds too late. And again, on the weekends the schedule is more infrequent and I'd have to wait two hours for the next train. The train station is moderately far from the heart of the city, so I grumpily started walking back into the city and bought a few groceries before catching the next train. Some dude tried to gently take my backpack from me (not to steal, I don't think - at least not immediately - but to test my boundaries and if he had succeeded to make it harder for me to want to walk away) and other weird behaviors in the train station again, but I managed to distance myself without issue. These are the times, though, that are frustrating traveling as a single woman.
The next day I worked in the studio. The following day I also mostly painted, but additionally had an excursion to a small rocky beach with Clara and a friend of hers in the evening. It was actually so nice and cool outside that evening that it was a little too cold for me to want to swim, but Clara promised many future opportunities.
The next day was once again devoted to studio work.
Then I got sick. This isn't a huge surprise; I actually don't think I get sick that often when I'm at home, but when I'm traveling I'm always being exposed to new viruses and bacteria. This time it wasn't a head cold like in Peru or Iceland - it was a stomach bug. Clara, in fact, thinks it may have been caused by drinking the potable but high in nitrates tap water, but I suspect that would have been a more immediate issue if it were the real problem.
I was sick for two days, which was both annoying from a productivity stance and also because we were supposed to go to Barcelona the second day that I was sick but I obviously wasn't up to it. Clara was super sweet and made me a soup and rice and bought me a big bottle of purified water.
After those two days, I felt pretty much okay the next day and painted again.
The fourth day, I was meant to go with Clara in the evening to an exhibition opening in Girona. However, she ended up needing to run other errands all day and asked that I get myself there. Since I was going to have to take the train myself anyway, I figured I could go earlier and check Girona out.
While I was waiting for the train, a man sat down super close to me and was speaking in a disordered way and asking for cigarettes and money. I pretended to not understand anything he said and asked if he spoke English, which luckily he did not, and my not understanding him wasn't even much of a pretense since he wasn't speaking clear Spanish either (possibly he was speaking in Catalan, but also possibly not an actual language at all). There was another woman waiting for the train so I managed to get away from the man saying again and again I didn't understand him and instead allied with her. This seemed to deter him from further bothering me, as she told me she'd already told him no herself. We rode to Girona together (he rode in the toilet to avoid paying), and she helped me figure out where Devesa park is located. I wanted to visit there hoping to see some wildlife in the park. Unfortunately, Devesa is a very orderly and sculpted park and there wasn't much in the way of wildlife; there were a number of ducks and ducklings, some caged peafowl, and one pretty blue, white, and black bird that I couldn't get near.
Then I decided to head toward the old Jewish quarter and heart of the city, which is now a shopping/tourism hub. I wandered through the streets for a while, stopped and bought a small coffee gelato cone, and browsed the shops while loosely trying to head toward where the art center I needed to end up at that evening was located. I walked by an art store and bought a new type of paper, and stopped by a bakery and purchased some quiche and a tart. Then the art center appeared! I'm pretty bad at directions and thought it would be several blocks away from where I was, so I'm happy I stumbled across it so easily. I then backtracked to a small vegetarian restaurant for a hamburger and lemonade before the show. Spain had been a challenge as a vegetarian when I studied abroad here in 2007, and it is still difficult but getting easier as exemplified in this restaurant's existence (albeit in a tourist area).
Clara was late, so I took in the show myself at the Bòlit. Centre d'Art Contemporani. It was a small but interesting show, and despite there being numerous artists' work on display it was remarkably cohesive. Clara texted me and said she was actually just going to go to the center's other site instead so I should meet her there. The Bòlit. has two buildings about 15 minutes away from each other and though I wasn't aware that this was the case, its exhibition spanned both locations. I found the second site and was introduced to the director, a number of the artists, and some other staff. One of the other artists and I had an instant connection and we spent most of the rest of the next hour or so together getting acquainted. Sadly, she had to return back to Germany the following day so we couldn't have more adventures together in Spain.
While outside talking with the new friend, I also got to observe digger wasps tidying their burrows. These are fascinating insects and I have never encountered them before. They dug like miniature meerkats. I tried to take photos but it was late evening and there wasn't enough light. I did take a short video of them, though. I also looked digger wasps up when I got back home and found out that Richard Dawkins spoke about them as an example of the limitations of constructed reality.
I was invited back to the Bòlit to hold an artist's lecture and discussion about my work on the 25th, and to attend an arts festival that weekend back in Girona. Clara and I then made our way back to her car. I was so happy to get back home; I had walked for probably close to eight or nine hours total and my feet were not at all pleased.
The following day I spent entirely on drawing, which was good, as my hips and legs made their presences grumpily known as well.
