I’m back in the USA and reflecting on my month long residency in the south of France, also known as Côte ď Azure (or the Azure Coast). There is so much to talk about. First, the fun part - Fete Picasso, the annual celebration of the day Pablo Picasso first visited and fell in love with Vallauris. This festival brought everyone out in this small town, along with horses, Spanish dancers (celebrating Picasso's heritage), flamingo music, flags and festivities. Of course plenty of food and wine!

The streets were full in a way I had never seen. Pablo Picasso, Janette & Roger Capron, André Baud, Robert Picault, Juliette Derel and Clément Massier, and so many others brought this town back into its heyday in the 1950's.

Hundreds Converge for Fete Picasso

Our A.I.R. Vallauris ceramic exhibition was second to the Fete Picasso, but it had a parade of visitors all 4 days that impressed all of us. The 5 tables of work, in the ancient church setting, showed our dedication, hours and intense schedules by all five AIR Vallauris residents. We were all surprised by both the volume we created and the depths we went. Artwork sold too - and extra bonus.

The 26th Annual Ceramics Biennale in Vallauris, France

Celebration upon celebration. The Ceramics Biennale began in Vallauris in 1968 and continues today, more than 60 years later. Contemporary ceramicists are invited to apply and 25 are selected to show. The selection included modern sculptors and potters, many of whom created work expressing the themes of the day, from global warming and the pollution of our waters to incest. It was a powerful and provocative show with clay as the common medium to express these views.

The Doves of Vallauris, France

 In 1952 Picasso painted his famous War and Peace mural that he donated to the town of Vallauris. It is housed on the interior walls and ceilings of their famous Romanesque chapel, Château de Vallauris. Today, artists throughout the town have taken the dove as a symbol of creativity and an homage to their beloved Picasso. If you travel through town, each time you see a dove painted on the sidewalk, adhered to the wall, above an entryway or down an alley, it indicates an artist atelier. We five Vallauris ceramic residents were the first to create a group of doves for the walls of the AIR Vallauris studios - marking them among the well known potteries throughout this town. They are in the kiln and will go on the wall in a few months. This is my dove, before it was fired. 

The art  ~ ceramic, culinary and visual ~ is amazing!

Sometimes pictures and music say more than words, so here’s a montage of the arts that we all appreciated as we sat and dined at some of the best restaurants in the I area, right in our little town.

 We ate at some of the best restaurants right here in humble Vallauris with handmade dishes created by the potter's just across the alley. It is a community whose relationships are interwoven in a beautiful way. My two favorite were Le 65 Bis Restaurant and Le 35 Bis Pizzeria, both in Vallauris.

Artists are making a living! There is functional work, traditional, sculptural, ceramic work of all types. At least one artist was sending six boxes of her sculpture work to a gallery in Manhattan! How wonderful.

Those are my impressions of the town. Next blog, I will filter what moved me and inspired new work and where I envision that work going. Thanks for joining me on this inspirational journey to the South of France, the famous Côte ď Azure. 

Brenda