Day Four- Cafe con Lecce

In the city of Lecce, in the heel of the boot of Italy, they have a regional coffee drink called an "espressino", an expression that would get you a small (read: thimble full of) coffee anywhere else in the country, but here buys you a delicious cup of espresso with a bit of milk and a hit of chocolate, a perfect lunch ender.

Triumphal gate into Lecce was made in 1548 for the Habsburg emperor Charles V, and much of the other architecture comes from around this time.

A lot of things are different about Lecce, a town that has a very distinct character derived from its unique history as a very old town supposedly founded by Cretans from before the time of the Trojan Wars (ie- more than 1,000 years BCE!)  It was an important agricultural center from the middle ages onwards, reaching a peak in the Baroque 15-1600's, when much of the architecture of the old town was created using the local limestone (dubbed "Lecce Stone"), still an important export, along with olive oil and wine.

The newer parts of town are filled with many architectural and business failures, such as this shuttered gas station that proves that "Googie" architecture wasn't limited to just Los Angeles 

Our hotel is just outside of the historical center, and the contrast, as in many European cities with intact historical cores, is pretty shocking. The outside looks gritty, semi-abandoned, with many boarded up houses, and architecturally confused. By contrast, the center is very uniform, cooler (despite the scarcity of trees), and inviting. The uniformity is due to two things: the yellow ocher color of the stone work that makes up almost every single building in the old town, and the profuse Baroque ornament that encrusts everything there. Besides its color, the other characteristic of Lecce stone is its softness; you can actually carve it using nothing stronger than a wire brush! It corrodes fairly quickly also, creating some fascinating patterns made by water and even wind.

Lecce stone corrodes fairly quickly, but the ease of carving it means that the stone carvers here are never short of work

Lecce has been nicknamed "the Florence of the South", but it is really very different. First of all, it is dead flat, and the old town streets are very narrow and lined with shops. Bikes, cars and even trucks still wind their way through, but it looks distinctly challenging to navigate. Secondly, that uniform character almost gives it an artificial feeling, somewhat akin to Disneyland, as if one shop had made all the buildings at once for a single audience, unlike the eclectic mix of Florence, with buildings from many different periods made of different materials and colors.

Animal and figure carvings can be a bit goofy at times

In addition, the provincial nature of being far away from the major cultural centers, combined with the ease of carving the stone, means that a lot of the stone ornament is extremely ornate and somewhat naive, with figures and animals that are entertaining, but not totally correct. This also probably adds to the Disneyland impression, since some of those sculptures are quite funny. There are also many churches everywhere (hey, it's Italy!) though quite a few have been deconsecrated and are used as shops or even an art gallery. Inside the ones I've gone into the same ornate character continues, with more "Solomonic" columns (spiraling shafts named after their alleged history from the Temple of Solomon) than I've seen anywhere else.

Section of a Solomonic column, of which there are dozens around town.

At night the streets are very well lit, with a yellow cast light that only increases the uniformity. I'll write some more about Lecce in the next few days, but I think I'll post this one now, so I can get ready for the closing event of the Salon tonight. Ciao!

Day 3- What is a Salon anyways, and can I get my hair done there?

The motivator to come to Italy, to this very unusual town of Lecce in the heel of the boot, was to attend an event I've heard about for many years but never attended: The Salon. Basically, the Salon is a yearly traveling conference of painters who specialize in the traditional decorative skills of trompe l'oeil, wood graining, faux marble, gilding, ornamental design, and murals of many different kinds. It is an information and technique sharing get together of some of the best painters in the field, some of whom have studied it formally at schools like the Van der Kelen school in Brussels, which has been open since 1882, and others like me who are essentially self taught.

Entry to the Accademia where the event is being held

The Salon itself has been in existence for over twenty years now, beginning in Belgium in 1992, and has met in Paris, Tokyo, Seattle, Sweden, and elsewhere. Basically, each of the invitees (you must be invited by a member) brings a sample panel of their work, and many also create another panel while there so that others may watch their technique. It's also open to non- participants to come and observe, and there is a lot of socializing and of greeting those that one already  knows (sometimes pretty well in fact) via Facebook or other social media. This year it looks like the field is quite large, maybe around 100 plus people, augmented by various spouses, children, assistants and students.

An assortment of panels from all over the world surround the courtyard area.

As you enter the ornament encrusted Accademia di Belli Arti you come into the courtyard, where each participant's work is displayed on a board. The subjects and techniques are varied, but all of it is professional and several of the artists are pushing on the boundaries of the field. After passing through the registration hallway you can branch off into three hallways where painters are working on more panels, and watch fascinating demos that include all of the above mentioned techniques. The hardest part for me is not to be wandering around constantly watching, when I'm supposed to be working on the border for my panel. Actually, I got corralled early into helping out with the large collaborative mural at the end of the hall, and I have the feeling that is probably all I will do until we are done, and I'll do my border work at home.

Pierre Finkelstein demonstrating his incredible wood graining technique for the crowd while Stefano Luca translates into Italian for him. Stefano is one of the organizers of the event with his wife Caterina Manisco, and they are both incredible ornamental painters in their own right.

The are also more formal demos each day given in the cloister courtyard, where seasoned pros like Pierre Finkelstein, Jean Sablé, and Pascal Amblard show methods for wood graining, skies, and trees, quickly and definitively. Many of the students from the Accademia come to watch these too, and they fill the halls with questions and wonder. Really cool to see all of them get some exposure to the work we are all pursuing.

Pretty good crowd of artists, students, and curious onlookers for Jean Sablé's lecture on creating clouds with an oil based paint technique.

There are also a small selection of manufacturers present, with specialized brushes, pigments, and a few books available, and Golden paints freely provides any and all materials needed for the demo work, which meant people didn't have to lug all their paints through customs and TSA. Nice!

Brush lust runs high at this event!

Well, I'd better wrap this up now- I've been skimping on sleep because of all the great things to see, and meeting all these faces I've only ever seen on Facebook until now. It is very much a whirlwind, all of it pleasurable! A domani!