{"id":619,"date":"2019-12-06T08:57:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T08:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=619"},"modified":"2019-12-06T08:57:07","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T08:57:07","slug":"backwards-and-forward-all-across-the-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2019\/12\/06\/backwards-and-forward-all-across-the-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"BACKWARDS AND FORWARD all across the arts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ISLAND ART<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around this time last year, as I collated a review, for the all across\nthe arts pages on the Lanzarote Information web site, of the myriad arts and\nculture events that had taken place on the island over the previous twelve\nmonths, I was struck by how much my love of the arts had eased our move over\nhere. So many of the arts events we see increase our greater understanding of\nthe past and present of island life, and the greater the understanding we have\nof the island the deeper grows our love of its arts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of clues about the island\u00b4s history all over Lanzarote\nproviding an insight into language and lifestyles preceding the organised\nreligion brought about by the spread of Hispanic beliefs across The Canary\nIslands in the fifteenth century. These clues can be found especially in those\nparts of the Lanzarote landscape that have been worked by archaeologists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly, this beautiful place with its vibrant colours and its\nstrange sense of timelessness has produced many artists throughout its history\nand their work has been incorporated into the very structure of the island.\nStop in at any little church and we are likely to find the religious\niconography complemented by the art works of painters and sculptors such as\nJose Lujam Perez. Work he produced over the turn of the sixteenth and\nseventeenth centuries is still on display today, not only on Lanzarote but also\nthroughout The Canary Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in the last century, people like Nestor Martin Fernandez de la\nTorre sought to revive the indigenous Canarian folk art and architectural\nstyles that pre-dated the middle-ages and even today, some artists continue to\nensure the old traditions don\u00b4t disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driving around the island it is noticeable how\neven the smallest of towns seem to have their own little art gallery regularly\nhousing exhibitions by their local artists, often reflecting the tensions of\nthe struggle between old and new ways and the constant negotiation for survival\nwith a yielding but demanding landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cic El Almacen
a delightful art gallery in Arrecife on Lanzarote<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I have always felt that the best writers not\nonly reflect the character of their nation but also help to re-shape those\ncharacteristics. Certainly the role of writers and poets in the community was a\nmajor talking point in the readings, debates and workshops all built into The\n2019 Festival de Poesia being held in the Cic El Almacen in Arrecife in\nJanuary. Writer and communicator Jose Manuel Diez, also known as Duende Josele,\nfacilitated unique blends of poetry, lyric and music illustrating artistic\npoints of view. A Voces de la Isla event staged as part of the festival, with\nAleddin Delacroix and Ricardo Flores with Macarena Nieves Caceres, was\nimmediately followed by a poetry reading and although we did not understand\nanything in a word for word manner we certainly gained an idea of the nature of\nthe debate <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is great to hear about some of these less\n\u2018commercial\u2019 art forms being practiced on Lanzarote, and some villages here,\nlike Haria, with its annual Festival of Circus Arts, have a noticeably \u00b4arty\u00b4 atmosphere.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, just up the road from us lies Yaiza,\nwhich embraces the arts in much the same way as does Hebden Bridge, a town\nclose to where we previously lived, in the foothills of the Pennines in the UK.\nThe Casa De Cultura, the church and the couple of art galleries in the village of\nYaiza are well worth checking out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The island is still enthralled by the work and\nattitudes of the late Cesar Manrique, as his work respected the traditional,\nyet somehow simultaneously shaped the contemporary feel of the island. His\nManrique Foundation in Taro de Tahiche sets his work alongside pieces by the\nlikes of Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso. The Cabildo, in fact, has recently been\nin consultation with its local councils to determine how best to commemorate\nthe contribution made to the island by Manrique. The Cabildo\u00b4s plans include\nwork with schoolchildren, introducing them to Manrique\u00b4s work and ethos,\nensuring that memories of Manrique don\u00b4t fade with the passing of older\ngenerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time I moved over here three years ago\nthere was an established attitude in my region of the UK that artists working\nin the community should be given encouragement and support to create a legacy\nof their work and the work of others and to use that legacy to create greater understanding\nand tolerance between cultures and ethnicities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Castillo de San Jose<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary art can also be found in the\natmospheric Castillo de San Jose outside Arrecife, that has for the past couple\nof years overlooked some of the impressive shore line statues of the kind to be\nfound in Playa Blanca\u00b4s unique Underwater Museum, (and similar, as well, to the\nAnthony Gormley installation, Another\nPlace<\/em>, of a hundred \u00b4tin men\u00b4 statues we remember along Crosby beach on the\nNorth West Coast of England.) However, in a recent high-cost move that has\npuzzled many and angered even more of us, The Cabildo (the shades of which\nrecently changed slightly in another hung election), ordered the statues to be\nexcavated and removed into storage. Press releases, poorly conceived, suggested\nthat they detracted from the Manrique image and the late artist should be held\naloft (my word) and unique (their word). I ranted, sorry, reported on this in\nmy post of 26th<\/sup> November 2019 entitled Don\u00b4t Go Breaking My Art and\nwill be keeping readers updated with developments on this matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artists and the artisans of Lanzarote have perhaps always worked\ncomfortably together to each complement the work of the other. Certainly the\nisland has museums that reflect the work ethics that enabled the islanders to\nhone a living from the land and to recover from the volcanic eruptions that so\naltered its landscape. There is an Agricultural Museum in Tiagua and a Farmers\u00b4\nMuseum in Mozaga and there is also the often overlooked International\nMiniatures Museum in Haria, In San Bartolome and Arrecife, in Teguise and on\nTimanfaya there are informative and surprising artefacts on display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also love the way the ancient and modern sit side by side in the song\nand dance that is Lanzarote. The imported Latin rhythms have evolved into\ncontemporary Salsa that somehow remains in step with the old Andalucian dances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Battling with traditional and contemporary dance music for a place on\nthe arts scene are classical music concerts. We have been surprised at how well\nattended have been the several such concerts we have seen over here, and have\nbeen even more amazed at the quality of the playing. How such a tiny island and\na small population can develop so many wonderful players is beyond me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is tempting to think that the island displays fewer temptations to\ndistract aspiring musicians from their practice than do the nightclubs of the\nUK but surely the landscape itself urges a player to put away his instrument\nand simply stand and stare?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Various musical instruments have long been played here, including the\nTimple. This strange, seemingly miniature, five-string guitar accompanies many\ntraditional dances, often being complemented by the playing of castanets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact Lanzarote feels like a living and breathing arts museum and a\nschool of contemporary arts all woven into one. It has inspired artists like\nManrique to creative and innovative heights in many diverse fields, and offers\ninspiration and encouragement even to virtually unknown but aspirant writers\nlike me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having worked as a poet and writer in the UK for all my adult life I am\nparticularly interested in those who have created the literary landscape of\nLanzarote. Any writer has to travel to inform his work, shape his perspectives\nand find his readers and many scriveners who began their careers on their birth\nplace of Lanzarote similarly had to relocate to mainland Spain to achieve\ncommercial and critical success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lanzarote lauds its present day writers, though. Poets recite their\nworks occasionally at festivals and at library readings and also at gentle al\nfresco events such as the one we saw delivered by members of Teguise Library at\nthe town\u00b4s El Patio bar last summer. These were Spanish speaking writers but\nthere was, in fact, an \u00b4English\u00b4 creative writing group, too, that met weekly\nin Costa Teguise, for several years until 2019, when its facilitator, Sea\nAlmond, retired back to her UK roots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One writer still celebrated here, even after his death, was actually\nPortuguese. Jose de Sousa Saramago, who was awarded the Nobel Prize For\nLiterature in 1998, died in Tias in 2010. The town is now home to a sculpted\ntribute to this man who became its adopted son. His often allegorical works\ntook a unique and slightly subversive view of historical events, and his house\nhas been converted into a museum with a library, garden and olive trees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Hugh Moffatt
we must intend what we write
fpr light years of travel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It was our son in South Korea who brought Jos\u00e9 and his work to our\nattention, however. Andrew has not yet visited Lanzarote but he was researching\nhis mum and dad\u00b4s new homeland when he came across the writer\u00b4s work. He\nimmediately Skyped us to tell us all about the award winning writer, having\nread some of his words on-line. This provided me with another of the countless\npieces of evidence that confirm the saying (by American singer Hugh Moffatt)\nthat \u00b4we must intend what we write for\nlight years of travel\u00b4. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That the work of a deceased Portuguese writer who lived on Lanzarote should\ncome up in a discussion between English father and son exiles, one living in\nAsia and the other here on Lanzarote, is surely a good example of arts on their\njourney of light years of travel ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only recently, though, did Dee and I manage to visit the wonderful\nhouse, now museum, that was one Jos\u00e9 Saramago\u00b4s home, and you can read our\nreport on the fascinating venue in my next post on Tuesday 10th<\/sup>\nDecember here on https:\/\/aata.dev\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is wonderful to be so inspired to start writing but it can be\nfrustrating to be so inspired that you cannot then stop writing. This time last\nyear I thought I had completed the text of my next book, called A Life Lived all across the arts<\/em>.\nHowever, there was such a plethora of events here to report on in 2019,\noffering such scope for compare and contrast with the UK events that comprise\nthe body of the book, that I have, of course, run beyond my self-imposed\ndeadline. (although that at least temporarily deferred my fear of any rejection\nslip likely to follow its submission to publishers!)  To be honest this Sidetracks And Detours blog,\nwith its twice weekly posts, now serves instead of the proposed book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No rejection, therefore, will ever slip through my letter box, and I can\nkid myself that thousands of you hang on my every word each week, twice, and\nthat none of you ever turn off or unsubscribe. Ah, ah, don\u00b4t even think about\nit !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, please look in again on Tuesday to read about our visit to a\ncasa museo JOS\u00c9 SARAMAGO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAND ART Around this time last year, as I collated a review, for the all across the arts pages on the Lanzarote Information web site, of the myriad arts and culture events that had taken place on the island over the previous twelve months, I was struck by how much my love of the arts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}