August Summer Placement
What a pleasure it was to host 5 students from University of Southampton and Winchester School of Art this August. With financial support from the Turing Scheme UK, the students were hosted by the Riba Rocks Association for 32 days.
A month packed full of creative activities as well as volunteering for Grup de Natura Freixe at the Riba-roja d’Ebre lagoon to help improve biodiversity. The month culminated in the Riba-roja cultural fiestas, which were enjoyed as a closing week for the student group.
The group created their own large scale illustrative, playful mural in the streets of the village, which now forms part of the Riu d’art Open Air Gallery and is being enjoyed by the local inhabitants.
We visited the Caves of Benifallet, Flix Castle, Flix Air Raid shelter, Sebes Nature Reserve, Riba-roja dam, local craftspeople’s studios, performance art and land art workshops with artist Sarah Misselbrook, a ceramic workshop where we made our very own clay from the soil of the finca the students were living with Adria Cid and a wonderful artist journal workshop with artist Roser Gay.
What a blast we all had! It was HOT but everyone coped so well adopting the Spanish afternoon siesta with working hours going on later into the evening to enjoy the cooler temperatures.
We look forward to hosting another group from University of Southampton and Winchester School of Art in 2025!