Pre-workshop meeting with the artists...

First let me say...I apologize for misspelling Nouakchott on the last posting! LOL..it was late?  Buy that?  Hope so..

The morning was spent bringing the materials to the studio.  I had Hamanine, Kane (two guys from the Embassy) and Alpha helping me organize the room.  Jamie was there too.  Alpha works at the museum.  When he came out to greet us he said, "Bonjour"…and I replied, "Bonjour"…and then he replied: "Ca fait long temps que tu n’as pas parler le francais, n’est-ce pas” (Its been a long time since you spoke French, right?).  I immediately knew this guy was going to give me a hard time. Alpha is a zinger..a real zinger.   And I told him..”Oh I see how it is, you are starting with me already!”    Alpha is pretty funny.  He is actually going to take the workshop as well.  The meeting with the artist was soooooooooo interesting.  I am learning so much in a very short period of time.   I can’t lie, I was nervous.  The artists trickled in..most fairly late arrivals.  The first being Amal, a Moroccan born woman---one of two women — who is teaching art to children ages 5-15.  She was very nice and open and I look forward to getting to know her better.  Then, the men started arriving.  There are many artists from Senegal and Mauritania and many who have traveled quite a bit in Europe and had several expositions.  The population of the workshop reflects the population in Mauritantia..there are Moors/Berbers and Afro-Mauritanians.  I have to learn more about the history here, not an easy one to be sure and the tension was actually felt today by me even though I was unaware of all of the underlying complexities.  I am intrigued.  I think it is in my best interest to learn more.  What I did learn from the meeting was..some of the names, some of their material preferences and what they are hoping to get out of the workshop.  The most useful piece of information I got was from observation...I now know who the leaders are in the group.  Most of these artists belong to an association of artists.  Some are actually the mentors of others in the group.  I am excited and nervous by the obvious experience of some of these artists..I am going to learn sooooo much.  That was the theme today, by the way...that this is exchange of ideas..sharing of experience..and that we all have our own voices.  I hope I find mine tomorrow when I give the very first exercise....

Here are some photos from today..the studio..more tomorrow for those..and a short visit to the beach at sunset..Where are the people, you ask?  How amazing does this look to you?  It took my breath away to sit and watch the sun go down..and of course I smiled at all the beach dogs that flopped around with each other on the sand...