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I'm an artist currently living in Brasil. I'm in the early stages of a long-term project to document flamenco via painting, drawing, and sculpture. I'll be visiting Seville over the holidays and would like to network with some people for a possible future residency. Anyone out there willing to meet?
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to gmburns)
quote:
My Spanish is crap. Sorry.
If you want contact with real flamencos and not just wannabee foreigners like myself, you really need a good level of Spanish and being capable of understanding andalucian accent. If not, you´ll just make one more cup of watery foreigner tea/coffee.
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Anders Eliasson
quote:
My Spanish is crap. Sorry.
If you want contact with real flamencos and not just wannabee foreigners like myself, you really need a good level of Spanish and being capable of understanding andalucian accent. If not, you´ll just make one more cup of watery foreigner tea/coffee.
I think I'll be OK. I have plenty of experience living in countries where I don't know the language well.
I'm just looking to network with a few people right now. My network can certainly expand as time goes on (and / or as my Spanish improves).
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
Great, thanks. I'll check it out.
I hope to learn a little bit about flamenco from folks here (and on other sites) in the coming year, so please bear with me. I'm currently going to a school here in Brasil to draw the dancers during their class time and that's working out. I'm learning a lot. I speak a little Portuguese, but it's funny how much a person learns just by watching.
Posts: 1770
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to gmburns)
La carboneria is a quite nice place too. Bit commercial, but lot of artists, painters, muscisians, poets etc. try to hook up with the locals Old Paco Lira is the owner and likes a little chat about flamenco. His sons are behind the bar.
Also a lot of tourists, but if you stay late ( áfter the performances) some real flamenco's might show up. Carlos Heredia is there often with his own made guitars playing a stunning bulerias . But as Anders says, you need to speak a bit spanish......
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to gmburns)
quote:
dancers during their class time and that's working out. I'm learning a lot
you gotta realize that many student dancers (outside spain) don't really know much about flamenco as you think they might know, a lot of them just know their choreography and basic compas( rhythm) and other basic stuff about flamenco (assuming they do), this what i have noticed at least. you better talk to professional flamenco singers, guitarists and dancers and teachers! it would help if you search for interviews on youtube or on flamenco world with famous flamenco artists or anywhere else on the internet
by the way, you live in brasil, portuguese is pretty close to spanish,and you already know some spanish you should be able to improve your spanish quickly and that will HELP YOU A LOT!!!
Posts: 3497
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to gmburns)
quote:
I speak a little Portuguese
Greg,
If you speak a little Portuguese, it probably will not be too helpful in learning Spanish. Even if you spoke fluent Portuguese, you would find that it is much easier to read Spanish (as many of the words and the spelling are similar to Spanish) than it is to speak it. Spoken Spanish has a very different pronunciation than Portuguese, even when words and phrases are similar. Nevertheless, once you immerse yourself in learning Spanish, it will become much easier.
Cheers,
Bill
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Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
How about some quick pencil sketches like Toulouse-Lautrec? Drawing on paper table cloths or napkins in a tableao might be an interesting way in, from cold.
Passion and a smile will get you a long way. Just be careful not to buy too many beers - one beer, now and again will go a lot further in Andalucía. Better to act like you have no money, like everyone else.
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to gmburns)
Great info here. Thanks folks. I'll be hanging around here and in other forums (sorry if you see cross posts elsewhere - just trying to learn and network) just to get a better feel.
Thanks for the advice on who to approach and how. It always helps to know the culture.
A couple of things:
I recognize the differences and similarities between Portuguese and Spanish. I think I'll be OK either way. I'll learn for sure. I lived in Chile for a while and that Spanish is REALLY hard to learn, but I've found my Spanish has actually improved just by learning Portuguese. But yeah, the accent in Spain is a lot different than South America.
Regarding the students vs. pros. I actually want to document everyone. I feel it's all a part of the whole. However, not surprisingly, I find that most of the postures I draw from in the class here in Brasil are of the teacher. She has the best form and it looks the best on paper and / or canvas.
But I'm not interested in just the on-stage shows. I want the back room / practice sort of stuff. Shows are important, of course, but I think they really take away the human element because the point is to be perfect (or something like that). I want to try to show the work that goes into it.
One of my biggest challenges will be painting the music (I'll do the musicians, too, but the music itself will be an interesting challenge).
Again, thanks, and I hope I don't bother you too much with simple questions (and oh yeah, I'll check out that documentary link for sure).
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Escribano
Passion and a smile will get you a long way. Just be careful not to buy too many beers - one beer, now and again will go a lot further in Andalucía. Better to act like you have no money, like everyone else.
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to gmburns)
Well, I'm back from Sevilla and had some moderate success there. First, I made a couple of contacts (thanks Rogier for one of them - we met and he's a nice guy), and second I was surprised at how much I actually understood. Portuguese really does help one communicate there.
I'm hoping to spread the word a bit more now as I actively seek potential models. Here is a write-up on my website: Flamenco Project. If anyone is interested, please let me know.
Stylistically, I am not a realist, and I am looking to expand beyond the few poses I have currently drawn and painted. I am more interested in the people of flamenco than I am things on the performance side. Any help would be great. Spread the word or ask around. I'm always free to be contacted with questions at: gmburns@gregmasonburns.com.
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to gerundino63)
quote:
ORIGINAL: gerundino63
La carboneria is a quite nice place too. Bit commercial, but lot of artists, painters, muscisians, poets etc. try to hook up with the locals Old Paco Lira is the owner and likes a little chat about flamenco. His sons are behind the bar.
Also a lot of tourists, but if you stay late ( áfter the performances) some real flamenco's might show up. Carlos Heredia is there often with his own made guitars playing a stunning bulerias . But as Anders says, you need to speak a bit spanish......
Calle Levies behind a big red door.
Did I see that Paco Lira died? Is it the same one?
Sad to see. Condolences to anyone who knew him. I didn't get a chance to meet him when I was there the first time.
RE: Artist looking to make contacts ... (in reply to xirdneH_imiJ)
quote:
ORIGINAL: xirdneH_imiJ
find and contact Manuel Montero Miranda on facebook, he's a top guitarist (originally from Costa Rica) who also speaks perfect english
Do you have contact with Manuel? I've tried contacting him a couple of times via FB to no avail. Maybe he's just not interested, but I'd like to try another avenue before giving up.
Also, I feel bad, but I was put in touch with a guy named Miguel de Tena Martinez a while ago and we actually chatted but lost touch. I can't add him as a friend on FB because he's actually reached his limit of allowable friends! Didn't know that was possible. Anyway, if any knows him, I'd like to reconnect as well.
Yes, I'm back. The project is much more defined and moving forward very quickly. No more will I be painting flamencos on-stage. I'm much more interested in documenting the off-stage stuff. I'm hoping to follow the (three) walk(s) that Antonio Chacon did when he left Jerez. I'll do it on foot starting Sept 2016. Looking to set up contacts now in advance. When I first started this thread it was just an idea, not it's a full-fledged project where I've applied to several grants for funding. Fingers are crossed it comes through.
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