Artaq Festival Angers

So it's been a long time since July 1st. When I ended up back in Winnipeg this summer I wasn't sure I'd continue this project. But tonight I've decided to keep posting, even though my year abroad was cut short. I'll be traveling and back in Europe soon enough.

I guess I'll start where I left off, with some more photos and stories from France. These are from the 2nd annual Artaq Awards that took place in Angers this May. One Saturday before work I was walking around town and came across all this paper at the Place du Ralliement.

I did a little drawing and Yoh, a Japanese artist participating in the festival, came up and we chatted. I also met Ruben Grande, the photographer of a lot of these photos. Later on I checked out Yoh's show and some of the live painting that was happening around the city.

Some of Yoh's pieces

That evening I met back up with Yoh, Ruben and a few other artists, from all over - France, Belgium, LA, Italy, etc. One of the events was to paint on the windows of Galeries Lafayette, a French department store of the main square. Yoh invited me to join and Ruben was nice enough to take some cool shots. I drew some Matryoshka dolls for my friend Emma. It was tricky hanging onto the window sill, especially in my little dress!

Afterwards we headed to Hotel Bar du Centre with the other artists and stayed there till we got kicked out. Next we went to an exclusive discothèque I'd never seen or heard of. When we arrived the door was barred and locked and I thought we were out of luck. But someone rang the bell and a middle-aged man opened the door to a noisy, small room and filed us in. It was the weirdest bar I've been to, with big tropical plants, a huge TV playing 80s Spanish music videos, and drinks that started at 20 euro. You could smoke inside and the DJ was playing Blondie.

A few too many drinks at Hotel Bar du Centre

Definitely a memorable night.

Yoh's website
Ruben's website