First cultural mediation residency with the “Les Réfractaires” association.
7 weeks between May and July 2021
As part of this residency, ceramic and visual artists from the “Les Réfractaires” association (Haute-Vienne, 87) developed a project to create collaborative artworks with a wide range of participants, inspired by the theme of the Festival of Fire Arts: Alchemy, the Magic of Fire.
The artists offered workshops and educational activities based on this theme to 9 schools in Haute-Vienne, from nursery school to Year 6. A total of 323 pupils took part in this residency. In addition to the schools, 4 groups from the Saint-Junien IME, the Janailhac RAM, local residents, and visitors also participated in the project. In total, 628 people took part in this mediation and creative residency. The artists supported participants in creating a dragon kiln and a bottle kiln using Puycheny clay. They also led workshops exploring impressions and vertical slab-building techniques using liquid clay.
The main objectives of this residency were to bring together diverse audiences from the same area around a shared creative project combining Art, Culture and Heritage, and to create an artistic event that would serve as a common thread throughout the activities offered from spring until the end of the residency.
On 24 and 25 July 2021, the residency culminated in a public event: two afternoons open to all. The programme included the firing of the dragon and bottle kilns, a free clay modelling workshop open to everyone, screenings of videos created by the artists under the drying sheds, an exhibition of the pieces produced throughout the residency, and guided tours of the former Aupeix tile works.
A total of 250 people visited the site during these two afternoons.
Artist Residency – Mathilde Sauce
October 4 - 22, 2021
As part of this residency, Mathilde SAUCE created sculptures and roof finials in a range of scales, with organic and lively forms, using Puycheny clay and clay collected directly from the heathland to achieve a variety of colours and textures. Her aim was to create an installation in which the individual pieces would interact and engage in a dialogue with one another.
She offered five artistic workshops at the Atelier-Musée de la Terre, including self-portrait and abstract sculpture, decorative work using three different coloured clays, exquisite corpse sculpture, and collaborative sculpture created by several participants.
A residency closing event took place on Wednesday 20 October 2021. The artist presented her three “giant” roof finials, which were still drying, and explained her creative process and her experience of working at the Puycheny site.
Artist residency – Kristina Depaulis
February 6 -7, 2023
During her journey, artist Kristina Depaulis brought her LABOMORPHE, a bicycle-towed trailer, to several sites across the local area. She first arrived at the Atelier-Musée de la Terre in February 2023, where she left her luggage and her trailer for two days. We worked with her on facial features, impressions, body modelling, and invited visitors to take part in this clay-based, poetic and artistic adventure!
Her “mobile sculpture studio”, set up in the workshop, offered a new perspective on working with Puycheny clay. It preserves traces of each stage of her journey, which continue to enrich and transform her LABOMORPHE.
For now, she continues her journey to other locations, and Kristina Depaulis will return to our site in the spring with a LABOMORPHE that has been completely transformed through her travels!
To be continued...