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Comments
from these artists were extracted from Nicholas Hammonds
text in "Artists For Nature in Extremadura",
available at Finca Santa Marta, (Pago San Clemente,
Trujillo, Extremadura), or from the editor himself:
(30 Ivel Road, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG1 9BA, UK, fax
(44)1 767 683967).
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Artists' Commentary
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"An
isolated hill town with views to a soft
and distant horizon on all sides. I watch
walls catch the last light of the day in
a dramatic way, like a sculpture in a spotlight.
The sound of the birds and exuberant schoolchildren
echoes in the shaded streets."
David
Barker, landscape artist, New Zealand
and London, describes Trujillo.
"Sitting
on the steps in Plaza Mayor was my most memorable
experience.
The storks at their nests, with others gliding
gracefully to and from these nests would have
been enough. The jackdaws disappearing in
the cracks and crevices of the ancient stonework;
the band of swifts screaming down narrow alleys,
and the exquisite falcons, the lesser kestrels
swirling above in scores, all this was happening
in the heart of the town."
"The sense of community and group dynamics
of the lesser kestrels appealed to me.
I am used to thinking of raptors as solitary
birds that shy away from human activity, but
here they were living together, in close proximity
to man. That spirit of harmony is what gave
Extremadura its unique and powerful identity.
We were drawn to Extremadura because of the
sustainable harmony that exists between man
and nature. Not one or another, but both in
an mutually beneficial coexistence."
Larry
Barth, US sculptor, on Trujillo.
"My
ANF experience in Extremadura was in two ways
the most stimulating experience in my artistic
life. I usually paint wild life nature, but
in many ways I found the ancient cultural
landscape, the work of man harmonising with
nature, even more exciting. The other was
working along with other artists, all tops
in their fields, directly from nature; it
carried a momentum and vitality we artists
seldom experience in our solitary lives".
Robert
Bateman, Canadian artist.
"The
exterior presented an amazing poetic image
of a ghost cross on a crumbling wall, evidence
of layer and layer of plaster and fast disappearing
graffito: image of a culture losing its identity?
Convents becoming Paradors and wild natural
areas becoming tourist parks?"
Victoria
Crowe, UK, on the Church of San Martin,
Plaza Mayor, Trujillo.
"What
I found surprising about this land was how
it lived in peace and proximity with wildlife,
in contrast to North America. I enjoyed working
at a great number of sites, but none more
than at the Moorish church in Trujillo. Here
the air was full of sound, alive with a number
of species, many airborne together, in concert
with the sound of bells from the church buildings."
Tim
Prutzer, US.
"I
enjoyed juxtaposing the image of the tiny,
dashing predatory woodshat shrike, with the
cast bronze effigy of a bold expeditionary
to the New World, Orellana."
Thomas
Quinn, US landscape artist.
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