GUEST ARTISTS
Amazigh Cultural Tours Morocco works with selected artists who have a culturally sensitive approach to place and a specialist media or area of practice that provides a focus for a cultural experience with a difference.
contact us for more details or watch this space…
Our Guest Artist Tours…
Traveling with like-minded people and an experienced team of co-hosts including Australian artist Rita Lazauskas and professional Amazigh (Berber) Guide Abdenabi Imelouane, the program offers an innovative and creative way to explore a new place that is stimulating, supportive and safe.
Wendy Sharpe at Ait Ben Haddou 2016 ACTM Painting Tour
Anne Zahalka in Marrakech
Jo Davenport in Merzouga
SUSAN PURDY Photo: Silvi Glattauer & Susan Purdy collaboration
Martin King with ACTM Director Rita Lazauskas and artist Susan Purdy at the opening of Anne Zahalka’s Threshold exhibition at Arc One Gallery July 2015
Dore Stockhausen in Marrakech Medina
Margaret England, cut paper performance 2013 Jardin Majorelle
Susan Purdy at Jardin Majorelle. Photo: Elaine Batton 2015
Silvi Glattauer at Badii Palace. Photo: Elaine Batton 2015
ACT Directors Rita Lazauskas & Bruce Derrick at the 5th Marrakech Biennale
Our programs do not present intensive workshops as there is a lot to see and experience in such an wonderful country. While we travel some long distances, we take a pace that allows for a deeper grass-roots immersion, contemplation, time to savour the experience and make a considered response in whatever your chosen medium; drawing, painting, writing, collage, photography, installation, performance, jewellery – (name your obsession/passion).
The art tours reveal the wealth and beauty of the Moroccan landscape and culture including traditional music performance, visits to artisan workshops and historic collections of rare artefacts, including Yves St Laurent’s private collection at the Musée Berbére in Marrakech and the Roman mosaics at Volubilis. We traverse the Atlas Mountains to reach the edge of the Sahara as well as exploring the ancient Imperial cities of Marrakech, Fes and Rabat. Accommodation is provided in the most comfortable traditional guesthouses, and we enjoy the extraordinary delights of Amazigh food and hospitality.
Our Guest Artists share their skills and experience and encourage participants to take something like a ‘slow food’ approach to the exploration of Morocco and to their art making, where time is taken to absorb a completely new culture, gather information, ideas and inspiration and then to make a considered response in whatever the given medium.
WHY MOROCCO?
On the northern edge of the Sahara the ancient indigenous Amazigh (Berber) culture survives alongside the Arab Islamic overlay introduced in the 7th century and a host of colonial interventions over centuries of history. Medieval architecture is now peppered with satellite dishes and a network of electrical cables and wiring bring the new world media to the masses. There are constant juxtapositions between old and new. A dynamic contemporary art scene with commercial galleries and international art events exists alongside traditional artisans who continue to work in a way that challenges our notions of the artist as something separated from everyday life.
An exploration of this cultural mix, documented through art making is the focus of our Specialist Art Tours. An engagement with the history, the landscape and the people of Morocco provides enormous scope for the intellect and imagination.
The hustle and bustle of the souks in the ancient Medina’s of the imperial cities are a total sensory overload, with an intensity of colour, aromatic exotic oils and spices and the abundant decoration of woven, painted, carved and tiled surfaces. All this is then juxtaposed with incredible contrasts by making forays out into the spectacular landscape.
The Atlas Mountains take your mind and soul back to prehistoric times. Back to the geological formation of the earth’s crust when lava flowed and continents collided, leaving the twisted forms of the layered strata as evidence of a time past. It has the ability to unleash the mind through a kind of time travel if one lets the imagination run free.
The Sahara, on the other hand, presents another concept of time and space, where the land itself has been weathered down over eons, down to a fine sand. The vast expanse and distances and the extremes presented by the elements here, lead one into the realms of spirituality, where faith or fate might play a role in existence. One feels the powerful force of nature through every part of your being. It’s an intensely metaphysical experience.
Apart from that…it is a great place for a holiday! The friendliness and hospitality of the people is heart-warming. They have a wicked sense of humour and a very laid back attitude. Things are not rushed in Morocco. One needs lots of time to relax after all, and everything will come together ‘Inshallah’ (as God wills it)!