Month: March 2016

Voila! Master artisans in the spotlight during Les Journées Européennes des Métiers d’Arts 2016 in Swiss Romandy

Published by Elena

Do you fancy a class in floral design? Are you interested in furniture, watch or jewellery making? Perhaps you’d like to learn how to draw a comic strip? Observe the crafting of leather into saddles or handbags or wood into musical instruments. Witness the restoration of precious books and artworks. Then again, maybe you’re curious about shaping rigid fabrics into delicate hats. Manipulating hot metal into lamps, ironwork and decorative objects. The intricate handiwork of ceramicists and illustrators. Or meeting the costumers, wigmakers and back-stage technicians who bring threatrical productions to life. All this and much more are ours to discover during Les Journées Européennes des Métiers d’Arts in Geneva and in Vaud on 15, 16, and 17 April; in Jura on 23 and 24 April; and in Neuchâtel on 22, 23 and 24 April. Entrance to all events, which are conducted in French, is free but in some cases requires registration (and places can be limited). A European-wide arts and crafts event Launched in France in 2002, Les Journées des Métiers d’Arts became an …

Parting shots of winter in the charming village of Zermatt

Published by Elena

I loved Zermatt the first time I saw it during a one-day stopover almost 30 years ago. I continued to love it every year for ten years when my husband and I celebrated his birthday with a ski-week vacation every mid-January. We saw its fortunes rise and fall and rise again and with it the opening and closing and opening again of shops, bars, restaurants, hotels and luxury villas. The last few years, as foreign money rolled in, it was hard to view an unobstructed skyline free of construction cranes. It was worrying, but somehow through it all, the village maintained its charm and authenticity even as free green spaces were eaten up, prices climbed, and the slopes became more crowded (especially with the new ski lifts). So what would we find — or not, I wondered, after a five year absence devoted to the needs of a house and garden and two adorable cats that were unable to handle our absence for more than a few hours at a time. Good to be back — and reassured Happily, we found that many …

Artist Marion Jiranek at the Palettes Carougeoise from 4 to 13 March 2016

Published by Elena

I was delighted to see that one of my favourite artist/illustrators Marion Jiranek will be participating in the 80th edition of the Palettes Carougeoise, an annual collective art exhibition at the Place du Théâtre in Carouge, from Friday, 4 to Sunday, 13 March 2016. Marion’s beautiful aquarelle and ink sketches of cats and fairies, her oil paintings of peaceful forest settings, and watercolour panoramas of city and countryside scenes capture their subjects with a loving eye for detail, a gift for fantasy and touches of whimsy, as well as oodles of charm that are highly valued by her ever-growing circle of followers. Gathering artists since 1936 With the objective to “keep the Palette spirit of brotherhood, gather artists who feel well together and have fun meeting in friendship”, the Palette Carougeoise has brought together a variety of painters and sculptors on a more-or-less regular basis since its inception in 1936. This year more than 50 artists between the ages of 30-to-80-something will be on hand to display mostly figurative but also some abstract works. Skills levels vary from masters of the classical school of painting to those not quite of that calibre …