I start this year with much gratitude!

It is rewarding to make a few but good connections with people locally and from around the world and it is a luxury to have the time (or a priority to make the time, let's put it that way) to stay current with their accomplishments.

Our long standing liaison, L.A. based Victoria Chapman, is not only productive in matching artists with Casa Regis residencies, she actively seeks out interesting creators around the globe to interview. Here is a link to a podcast she did with Aya Metwalli, an Egyptian singer/songwriter, composer, and sound artist currently living in Beirut.

Victoria also hosted in her L.A. exhibition space, El Nido, two photographers from Biella (Francesco Tori and Linda Zambolin), whom she met while visiting us here in Italy.

We are keeping tabs on our rising star, previous artist-in-residence at Casa Regis, Alice Sheppard Fidler. Once back in the UK, she received the prestigious Gilbert Bayes Award, hosted by the Royal Society of Sculptors!

Click below to view some of her latest drawings that often accompany her 3D work.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?  Casa Regis

thanks to grant writing by Michela Cavagna

got its first GRANT

Thank you 

O P P O R T U N I T I E S:

CALL FOR
L A N D A R T

DUE DATE FOR A PROPOSAL MARCH 15, 2023

I will be participating as a judge, as will Victoria Chapman, for the outdoor sculpture compition, to be held in the historical garden at the stunning Villa Cernigliaro, in the Biella area. We are looking for time-based environmental pieces that adapt to nature and disappear into nature!

Be part of a PAINTING RETREAT

THIS SUMMER

JOIN FOR A DAY OR WEEK

June 24th to July 1st, 2023

A week long, en-plein-air, painting class held in English, organized by L.A. based The Roofless Painters, headed up by Julio Panisello-Huguet (from Spain).

A different location each day in the Biella/Valle Cervo area. You can join in different ways. Either as a full participant, staying at Villa Emma with the group, or join just in the day, either for one day, a few days, or for the week. They will hold a group show at the end at Palazzo Ferrero.

Julio is a long-time, committed teacher, and overall great guy!

Sign up directly on his site

next EXHIBITION

at Casa Regis!!!

Photo by Zhang Qing Xiu

LAND/MIND/SCAPES

Curated by Yiwei Lu and assistent curator Jason Chengtian Yu

Through Victoria Chapman, I have had the pleasure of meeting curator and  gallerist, Yiwei Lu. Her gallery, Yiwei Gallery, is based in L.A. but she continues to move smoothly around the art scene in China as well. Thanks to her curatorial efforts, Casa Regis will be hosting an exhibition dedicated to seven Chinese landscape photographers: Huang Jian Xiong, Wang Xin, Yan Jin Song, Ye Ting Ting, Ye Wenlong, Zhang Qing Xiu , Zheng Xiao Lin. 

March 19 to June 11, 2023

Open 3-6 PM Sundays and by appointment

Special weekend hours for FAI and Festival Viaggio

March 25th and 26th, hrs. 10-12 / 14-18

 Guided tour starts on the hour at 10, 11, 14, 15, 16

***

During the exhibition, one weekend will be dedicated to the special event:

Sound performance "Body-Music" by Margot Errante

May 28-29, 2023

The artist passes from one room to the next playing the instruments and guiding the participants in a meditation of sound landscapes. You may reserve your spot now in order to participate. The event is free of charge.

local CULTURE

The nearby Fondazione Zegna is a great contributor to the promotion of contemporary art, and the Foundation has multiple permanent outdoor installations, one of which is "Two way Mirror / Hedge Arabesque" (2014) by American artist, Dan Graham. I was recently watching this video on "Top Ten Successful Self-Taught Artists", produced by CAI, and Dan Graham was included on that list. It is a wonderful video and I recommend it to all artists. 

A BIT OF NEWS FROM 2022

THE RESULTS OF A PHOTO MARATHON

Wow, what can I say? I started a photo contest where the participants had to stay the course for five consequtive years, showing growth as they moved along the extended journey. This was dedicated to the inhabitants of a small Texas town, Sulphur Springs, where we met once a year for a class, for an exhibition of their work in progress, and the next assignment. We finished with 10 strong photographers!

The well-deserved winner of the competition, Dillon Harred, has now been awarded his trip to Italy (offered by Billie Ruth Standbridge, from the Sulphur Springs Downtown Buisness Alliance) and will be hosted by Casa Regis in 2023. You will be seeing more of his work, which also includes his lyrics and songs.

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Shooka Afshar brought a group of musicians and artists under the name of "Into the Unknown" to perform her opera debut "Manipulation" among other collaborations and held 6 performances at Casa Regis as well as surrounding theaters and churches thanks to many gracious local hosts.

THE EXHIBITION "VERNACULAR NEIGHBORHOOD, getting to know a community through their everyday objects

This show or rather outreach to the local inhabitants was of particular satisfaction to me because it was an encounter between personal lives, history, and art.

And finally, I leave my dearest of dearest readers with:

Alice Sheppard Fidler's thoughts to accompany "Building Notes" after her residency at Casa Regis

Ad infinitum

dark stirring

dust lifting

doors sweeping

scenes revealing

hinges rotating

keys turning

latches lifting

labels jangling

light meandering

glass squeaking

views stretching

reflections reaching

floors aching

spiders complaining

buildings voicing

space expanding

history performing

in outing

out inning

wind toying

air squeezing

fixtures flapping

walls talking

doors slamming

apertures filling

motion continuing

glass rattling

shutters opening

openings shutting

objects babbling

bangings clattering

light darkening

dark lightening

cups chattering

forces controlling

wedges efforting

bricks blocking

exchanges busying

movements recycling

interactions perpetualling

dark creeping

thoughts wondering

silence steeling

doors closing

hearts missing

time continuing

place enduring

space repeating

Thank you for not just following our news but being our news.

L. Mikelle Standbridge

email: infocasaregis@gmail.com

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