We are delighted to announce we have received an Education and Training Award 2022!
The Riba Rocks association has been awarded ‘Best Sustainable Education & Training Development Provider – Northeastern Spain’.
With huge thanks to our trainers Roser Gay, Isabel Torres and Sarah Misselbrook Thank you to the Riba Rocks association members for their time and energy; Edgar, Claudia, Andrea, Rachel, Tomasz, Janine, Veera, John, Toni, Judith, Tamara, Sarah and Chris. Finally, thank you to the Ajuntament of Riba-roja d’Ebre for their continued support.
The Riba Rocks association is based on an off-grid olive farm in Catalunya, North East Spain. With a focus on sustainability and traditional skills, we are a group of creatives with teacher training experience hosting Erasmus & Turing placements. One of our projects, Riu d’art, sees the creation of artworks in the streets of Riba-roja d’Ebre. Association members facilitate student, graduate & professional artists with their creative proposals based upon the cultural heritage of this region.
This year’s Riu d’art Street Fest saw the creation of two large scale site-specific murals. The first in Santo Domingo and the second in Carrer Triangle. We also added to this years event an exhibition of artwork in the Town Hall. Five artists from the Ribera region showed their work under the title ‘Confluence’. We also added a digital dimension to this years event. Four digital artworks in response to the theme ‘Water/River’ were projected onto the beautiful stone wall of the Castle in Plaça del Forn.
The first site-specific mural in Carrer Triangle, created by artist Nadia Petković, is entitled ‘Moonway / Camino de la Luna’. The second large-scale artwork, created in Santo Domingo barrio by artists Kathleen Day and Francisco López Riopedre, is entitled ‘Santo Domingo Colour Dispenser’.
The exhibition, which was a first for Riu d’art but will continue into the future presented works by Adria Cid, Roser Gay, Merce Arbones, Albert Bonet and Sarah Misselbrook.
Digital works, successfully chosen from applications, were by Serkan Sokmen, James Aldridge, Sarah Misselbrook and Romina Cristi.
With the Riu d’art residency, we continue to focus on local and global connections. Creative interactions and inclusion with free art workshops during the festival. We are so happy to be back and look forward to future editions.
We get ready to welcome artists to Riba-roja d’Ebre to create new works for the Riu d’art Open Air Gallery. This edition will include large scale murals and projected video works, as well as an exhibition of local artists and a free art workshop!
Grampus Placement May 2022. Organised by Riba Rocks Association with the support of Maria Franquet, Culture Councillor of Riba-roja d’Ebre.
In the month of May 2022, Riba-roja d’Ebre saw the arrival of 4 graduates from Scotland and England; Emma Jones, Jodie May Lilley, Diva Keith and Eden Parkes. As part of the Riba Rocks PEATS Placement, the graduates stayed on the off-grid olive farm in The Valley, with a focus on sustainability, low water consumption and a zero waste ethos.
In November, we welcomed to the valley the wonderful Olivier and Maxime from Quebec, Canada. They stayed here for 2 weeks and during the first week the four of us picked olives by hand as a team for four days. We managed to harvest every single olive in the valley from all 240 olive trees!
The weather was good, warm enough during the day and not too windy to use the olive nets. Long hours, lots of food and mulled wine in the evenings.
An incredibly inspiring visit to Lišov, Slovakia! Eramus+ project EITA (Exchange of innovative teaching and learning methods in the craft and service sectors) Eramus+ project. We have returned to Riba-roja d’Ebre full of ideas and motivation to continue our work here to encourage artistic collaboration, international exchanges, creative residencies and much more!
Grampus Placement September 2021. Organised by Riba Rocks Association with the support of Maria Franquet, Culture Councillor of Riba-roja d’Ebre.
At the beginning of September, Riba-roja d’Ebre saw the arrival of 4 art students from various UK universities. The Riba Rocks association hosted the artists for the 32 day Traditional Skills Placement. This project forms part of the PEATS Placement offered by Grampus Heritage and Training, funded by Erasmus Plus.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS UNDER THE THEME ‘WATER’ AND ‘RIVER’ After a Covid related hiatus in 2020, we will organise a digital event this summer, 2021, with a view to returning to international physical residencies when it is safe to do so. So, we are now calling for submissions under the theme ‘Water’ or ‘River’. Our village based residency ‘Riu d’art’ in English means River of Art, therefore we are using that as our main focus.
The Riba Rocks Association are excited to open the call for applications from local and international artists for the 5th edition of the Riu d’art residency in Riba-roja d’Ebre. Applications are welcome from artists of all disciplines. Proposals will be prioritised for a strong connection with the local culture and environment.
