What’s a Gallinero? Why Should You Want to Stay There?
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A “Gallinero” in Spanish is a Chicken Coop
We called our new artists’ and writers’ residence “El Gallinero” because it’s located where our chicken house used to be. Sometime after the chickens had an unfortunate encounter with a weazel, we built my first painting studio there in the mid-70′s. When I got my new etching and painting studio 10 years later, the old one was relegated to storeroom status, and deteriorated over the years.
For a long time I’ve needed a place to accommodate the artists who come for my summer etching workshops and those who come to do collaborative work during the rest of the year. Then last fall we decided to get started on it. The plans were a bit vague: re-roof and restore the original studio, add a kitchen/living area in the available space behind it, and a little terrace with a view off the kitchen.
“Why Does This Casita Have to be Limited to Artists?”
Luckily our village builders are tolerant and creative, and they signed on for the project. Little by little the new artists’ residence began to take shape. We were delighted with the results, achieved in spite of five straight weeks of record monsoon winds and rains during the building work. At one point someone said, “Why does this casita have to be limited to artists? Wouldn’t writers appreciate it’s spaciousness, tastefulness and tranquil setting, too?” That’s how the Gallinero became an “artists’ and writers’ refuge.”
We’re Open for Business
We have now begun to accept reservations. Please take a look at the information and photographs in the pages of this site and see if you don’t think a shorter or longer stay in the Gallinero might not get your creative juices flowing. Of course, the appeal of this residence is not limited just to its own spaces and installations. It’s located in Spain, at the edge of a village nine kilometers (an easy 15-minutes) from the historical Andalusian city of Granada with both the Sierra Nevada ski resort and the Mediterranean shore within a 45-minute drive. If you haven’t been to Granada yet, it’s about time. If you’ve been here already, you know why you’ve been yearning to come back.
The Spanish say, “Todo es ponerse.” A rough English translation: “Just go for it!”
The Story of This Print: “El Patio del Harem”
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Back at the Alhambra
I’ve started on a series of medium-sized liquid-metal prints on Alhambra themes. Granada’s medieval fortress and palace has been for centuries a source of inspiration for artists, writers and photographers, so much so that today it’s difficult to get an original take on it. This time I’m relying on the inherent looseness of the liquid-metal technique to try to achieve Alhambra images with some originality.
I had one of those wonderful printmaking experiences at the beginning of this project. The first proofs I pulled from the first plate, El Patio del Harem, looked frankly great and I thought, “This is it, I’ll print up an edition.” But before I could start, I took a close look at one of the plates from which I had just pulled a proof. In the ink residue left on the plate I could still see beautiful detail. So I rubbed a light layer of yellow ink into it, rolled some fresh silver ink on top and put it back through the press, making a “ghost print.” I was shocked to see how superior the ghost was to the live one. I have placed the original print at the top of this post, the ghost below. See if you don’t agree with me.
This print was done with liquid metal on an old, previously-etched copper plate, a still life with fruit. I put the cold solder on with a palette knife and when it was still quite sticky I drew into it with a stylus. I didn’t press any texture elements into it until about an hour and a half later. I left it overnight to harden and printed it on 600 gr. handmade paper. The ghost print was printed on 375 gr. Paperki handmade paper. I like this one better.
Mel Strawn’s Theoretical Observations on Solarplate Printmaking
Mel Strawn and his lovely and talented wife, Bernice (“B”), spent three weeks working with Maureen in her studio during last February. Mel and Maureen worked mainly on solar-plate techniques using Dan Welden plates. While Maureen is eminently intuitive, Mel, a lifelong art professor who started making digital prints in 1981, likes some theoretical grounding. So when he got back home to Salida, Colorado, he started thinking about what exactly the two of them had been doing with the solar plates. Here are his preliminary conclusions. Read more…
Have a Look at Our Village, Pinos Genil (Granada)
These snapshots from the past few years should give you an idea of what our village and its environs are like.
The Story of This Print: “Chichirriqui”
Our best-loved dog was a magical toy-terrier bitch, one of the first after our changeover from big breeds (great danes, and Spanish mastiffs) to little ones (pekes, yorkie crosses, shih tsu halfbreeds). I never fully forgave Mike for naming her Chichirriqui. He thought it was a playful name. I thought it was disrespectful for such a serious little person as Chichi, who could sit on a chair with her chin on the table and keep everybody enchanted just by cocking her head, rolling her eyes and flicking her ears first in one direction, then another. She was a delightful little one-dog circus with a wide repertory of such techniques for keeping people’s attention properly centered on her: bundy jumps, pa’ ca pa’ yas, spin arounds and shivers.
One day I was standing at the workbench in Mike’s studio listening to my friend Carla relate the telephone drama of her gall bladder. Chichi was sitting attentively on the little sofa opposite. There was a biro lying there, and as Carla launched into her second list of things she could no longer eat, I picked it up and took a sheet of clean paper out of the printer. While Carla explained to me the glories of keyhole surgery I started making squiggles and cross hatches with the pen, the sort of thing one does when trapped on the phone. When the phone conversation was over I dropped my little doodle into a folder and forgot about it.
I had just begun to experiment with solar plates at that time, Mike found the doodle on his workbench and came to me with it in his hand. “This is delightful,” he said. “What is it?”
It’s a sketch I made the other day,” I said. “Leave it here, maybe I’ll use it for a solar-plate print.”
This was a simple print to do. I took the original drawing and had a
photocopy made onto transparent laser acetate, doubling it’s
size to 13×17.5 cm. I made a positive intaglio plate using a Dan Welden solar
plate and his aquatint screen. The color is a mixture of magenta, primrose
yellow and a touch of black. It’s printed on Arpa handmade paper.
The Gallinero Rocks!
Thanks to Spanish Musician, David Little
“I can’t do serious work at home,” says 27-year-old Spanish musician, David Little, founder, songwriter, vocalist and lead guitarist of the Málaga-based Spanish rock group, V de Vodka. “At home I’m surrounded by friends, family, bars and all sorts of other distractions. But I’ve got work to do. I’ve got to get a record out! It was clear to me I had to find a secluded and inspiring place where I could hole up for three weeks and do all the arrangements for the 10 songs destined for our new record.”
David found the place he needed on a sunny hillside outside Granada–El Gallinero. “It’s perfect here,” he says. “It’s just secluded enough, and quiet, with soothing views across the valley and plenty of space to set up the recording equipment. I’ve been here for two weeks and the arrangements are done. Now I’ve got a week left to work on my own stuff.”
Besides being a musician David is a graduate in Audio-Visual Communication with a masters degree in Business Communication, and experience working in a Madrid agency. “That didn’t last long,” he says. “The crisis hit and the job evaporated, along with a lot of others. So I was obliged to go back and embrace my first love: music. Actually I mixed it with communication, my second love. A couple of friends and I created a new online music and cinema magazine called Thriller Webzine. So I have the privilege of working two jobs, both of which cost me money.”
“The return to music was a bittersweet experience,” adds David. “I discovered that many of Spain’s city halls are finding pretexts to close the music bars which are the life blood of Spain’s emerging musicians. Now that nobody sells CD’s any more, live performances are the only source of income for young bands, and for old ones, for that matter. The municipal authorities don’t seem to realize that a society cannot prosper just with politicians, police, bankers and accountants, and dentists. “
David belongs to the new generation of young “indignados,” now referred to as the 15M Movement after they occupied la Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s principal plaza, on May 15, 2011 (accompanied by demonstrations in 57 other Spanish cities) and set the dominoes in motion for similar protest movements around the world.
So, this is the lad who brought music to the Gallinero. Thank you, David, for adding a new dimension to the Gallinero’s creative repertory. We wish you the best of luck in your generation’s struggle against what Matt Taibbi of The Rolling Stone calls the world’s “vampire squids.”
Six Things that Surprise Artists When They Stay in the Gallinero – I/II
Maureen Booth, Granada, July 18, 2011–I’ve had artists coming to stay in my “Gallinero” artists’ residence and work with me in my printmaking studio for a year and a half now. I’ve welcomed all sorts of people: working artists, advanced beginners, people between the ages of 15 and 82, a Canadian return-to-art person, a couple of delightful veteran artists and art educators from Colorado, a Hungarian sculptor, an Australian painter… All of them have taught me something, and I’d like to think the experience was mutual. And there’s one thing they all agree upon: Printmaking here in Granada and staying in the Gallinero is a unique creative experience. That compels me to try to figure out what makes it so. I’ve made a list of possible factors:
- The Silence—People coming from advanced societies have more of everything: more money, more luxury, more labor-saving devices, more entertainment possibilities… and more noise. When they arrive here in this Andalusian backwater and spend their first night in the Gallinero, they find the silence deafening. If it weren’t for the counterpoint of the riverflow and the birdsong they might find it downright spooky. They soon get used to it, however, and I suspect it becomes an important element contributing to their concentration and productivity throughout their stay.
- The Sleep—People tend to sleep better in the Gallinero, both at night and for siestas. (One artist admitted sheepishly, “I love the siesta. It’s like an excuse to take a nap!”) I suspect the silence is a factor, accompanied by the gentle white noise of the rushing river. The air is clean and healthful, as well. We’re at 700 meters of altitude, which is above the pollution level here. Maybe being far away from one’s day-to-day cares and obligations also helps.
- The Space—The Gallinero measures almost 500 square feet, not counting the front and back terraces. So there’s room for a spacious sleeping/work room—I know this sounds unusual, but everyone agrees that it works—and a good-sized kitchen/lounge with access to a little sunbathing/stargazing terrace with mountain views. The workspace that people find revolutionary is a 5.30-meter-long (that’s 16 feet) built-in standup workbench interrupted only by an ink-jet printer and a set of computer speakers. It’s an area where artists can not only work but, perhaps more importantly, spread out their work for selecting, editing, or just taking a long critical look at it. Whatever its appeal, artists like it a lot.
See Two New Videos in My Printmaking Master Classes Collection
I’ve just added two new videos to my Printmaking Master Classes collection of printmaking tutorials for download.
Recorded in my studio in Granada, they are:
- Traditional Printmaking 2–This is the follow up to Traditional Printmaking 1, and discusses aquatint, sugar lift and marbling techniques.
- Printmaking Tips–This is a collection of shortcuts, safety measures, ways of economizing and working more efficiently. Taken together they should make your studio experience more pleasant and productive.
You can find previews and order links for these new videos here on the Printmaking Master Classes site.
Take a Look at This One-Minute Video from the Granada Tourist Bureau
Curious about what Granada and its province has to offer visitors? Here’s a quick roundup:
Six Things that Surprise Artists When They Stay in the Gallinero – II/II
4. The Focus—When is the last time you’ve had two or three weeks with nothing to think about, nothing to spend your time on but art? It sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? But that’s what happens to people when they arrive in Granada for one of my printmaking workshops. This is especially true of the artists who come to do one-on-one collaborative work with me. Their existence here is almost monastic.
They divide their time between the creative cloister of the Gallinero and my studio. We usually work together for five hours each morning. Then, after lunch, they make their own hours, either working in the studio or sketching glimpses of the village and the surroundings. Some of them stay in the studio past midnight. Read more…
Maureen Booth Talks About Her New Printmaking Tutorial Videos
Maureen Booth is the master printmaker who has published what some fine-art-printmaking insiders consider to be the finest printmaking tutorials on the Web. She affirms, “Making videos is like making prints. The process is essentially the same. You just try to do it better every time.”
Anglo-Spanish master printmaker, Maureen Booth
Maureen in her Granada printmaking studio.Q/ How did you happen to embark on this printmaking-learning-videos project, Maureen? Did you have sponsorship or institutional backing of some sort?
A/ Something of that sort would have been nice, but instead of growing old waiting for it to happen, video producer, Juan Carlos Romera, and I planned and executed the whole thing ourselves, and my husband, Mike, is doing the Internet promotion. The Printmaking Master Classes project was actually Juan Carlos’s idea. He’s been fascinated with etching ever since we shot some scenes of his short film, “Bive,” in my studio seven or eight years ago. That was my first experience in front of a camera. I played an English printmaker who falls in love with a Spanish fisherman.
What prompted you both to devote the time and effort—all summer on the first five videos—to this project? What were your objectives? And what made you think it would work as a business?
We looked the printmaking videos available on the Web in YouTube, Vimeo, etc., and decided that almost all of them lacked professionalism either in terms of printmaking techniques or audio and video quality, or both. We thought that the worldwide printmaking community deserved a better how-to presentation on the Web and we decided to do it ourselves. Our objective is to make use of the miracle of Internet to contribute something worthwhile to the cause of printmaking. If these videos make any money beyond covering expenses, so much the better, though doing business wasn’t our primary consideration.
How many videos have you done thus far? And what are your plans for the future?
This summer we produced five Printmaking Master Classes videos:
- Solar Plate Printmaking
- Liquid Metal Printmaking
- Traditional Printmaking
- Creative Printing
- Making a Chop
Solar plate work is becoming popular these days for a variety of factors which appeal to artists:
- It offers fast results.
- It’s versatile. You can do both intaglio and relief work.
- It’s non toxic. You just need sunshine—or a sunlamp–and water.
- It permits artists to turn the best of their sketchbooks into prints, thus conserving the freshness of the sketches.
- It permits artists to write text directly on the plate, eliminating the complication of writing it backwards as on etching plates. This is important for people who like to put poetry into their prints, as I do.
What is the audience for these printmaking tutorial videos? It must be very limited, no?
Obviously fine-art printmaking is a limited field, but within the collectives that orbit around it the videos have a wide appeal, from newbie printmakers up to longtime professionals, including digital artists who have never touched an etching press (and when they finally do they are all enchanted by it!), professional artists from other media, art educators, and people from other professions who devote every moment of what little spare time they have to making prints.
What do you like best about your new videos?
I like it that other people like them. When you start out on a project like this it’s always with misgivings. Am I getting in over my head? Am I capable of doing this? But when you see the results and people from different collectives from different parts of the world start telling you how much they like what you’ve done, all your doubts turn into satisfaction and enjoyment.
Just what are people saying about the videos?
In general they like the emphasis on both creativity and practical solutions. The artists who have worked with me in my studio say, “It’s just like being back in your studio, Maureen.” It’s not only what people are saying, but who’s saying it. The videos have had praise from all over printmaking, from studio heads to curators, art professors and students. The nicest compliment was from a veteran paper manufacturer who said, “Maureen, these videos will soon be recognized as the standard of the industry.”
What made you decide for the download system as opposed to, say, DVDs?
We looked at both possibilities but in the end we opted for downloads due to the sheer elegance of the system. In the first place they’re immediate. You don’t have to wait a few days or a week to receive your videos. There’s no reproduction of DVD’s required, no packaging, no mailing, with the corresponding savings every step of the way, savings which are passed on to the customer. Our one doubt had to do with image and sound quality, but when we made tests and compared the downloaded version with the DVD the difference was negligible. That’s what made us decide on downloads.
If you had it to do over, Maureen, what would you do differently?
We are doing it over. We’ll have two new videos online before the holiday season. As for doing things differently, making videos is like making prints. The process is essentially the same. You just try to do it better every time.
