February 2012
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ESAV + a Few Quick Shots
I spent two days last week reviewing end of semester portfolios with the first year students at the new Marrakech Design School L’Ecole Supérieure des Arts Visuels (ESAV for short), where I teach a few courses in illustration.
ESAV is young new school filled with young ambitious Moroccans who really want to not only learn about the arts, but become young, functioning artists themselves. I love...
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Ethan Hayes-Chute + Marrakech Biennale
In partnership with the Marrakech Biennale, Zid Zid Kids is coordinating student art workshops with the participating Biennale artists. We are pairing the artists with the girls at the all girls dorm here in Marrakech to create dynamic works of art based on Portraiture.
Today, I’m super excited to work with American mixed-media artist Ethan Hayes-Chute in creating miniature habitats with...
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Creativity and Flying Machines at the French...
I decided to volunteer my time teaching art to my son’s third grade class at the French School. Since the French system is very rigorous on academics, there is little to no time for art (luckily for my son who loves art, this is my department!).
So, I’m going to come once a month to do something creative and his class is super excited about it. I am too!
Last Friday I dove in with...
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"Going under the Surface" →
An inspiring interview with Marrakech based record producer Nick Wilde of Marrakchi Records and photographer Lamia Naji here on The Avant Garde Diaries. I’m already familiar with Nick’s new work his album Caravane but need to learn more about this dynamic collaboration.
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Arabic Animal Alphabet Posters...
….sold on the streets of Marrakech, this one bought in 2008.
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Yto Barrada's Palm Installation at Louis Vuitton
It was a gorgeous night, one filled with good friends in an amazing setting. It was the opening for an exciting collaboration between artist Yto Barrada and the luxury brand Louis Vuitton.
Yto was invited to create and install one of her Palm sculptures inside the newly built Vuitton Boutique inside the Morocco Mall, Casablanca. She created a twin set of metal Palm Trees placed on red wagons.
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Favorite Kids Books: Space Alphabet by Irene Zacks
When starting a new creative project, I always dive into my wide collection of children’s books. We’re currently in production on an exciting upcoming project that hasn’t been officially announced yet and I can’t wait to share it with you. The new project led me to pull this old favorite off my shelves.
This awesome book is from 1964, was discarded from my grade school...
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January 2012
27 posts
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'New Indian Paper Art' School Book
A few months ago, the Marrakech French School where our children go to school, was selling this little book to each classroom for maybe 5 dirhams each (like 10 cents) with no explanations.
The front and back covers are written in English with the last line on the back page being the best. Inside, tiny, complicated illustrations of paper crafts are fully explained in complicated steps written in...
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2nd US Maghreb Entrepreneurship Conference
Last week was an exciting week for Marrakech and hopefully for the Maghreb region. Entrepreneurs, business owners, non-profits, investors writers, politicians from both the Maghreb and the US came together to discuss the vast potential of this region and begin to find ways to build upon this potential.
We had former US Secretary of State Madeline K Albright here, President & CEO of Aspen...
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Cinematheque Tanger
Busy making fabulous hand embroidered Zid Zid Computer Clutch Bags for the even more fabulous Cinematheque Tanger.
If in Tangier, this Cinema is a must-stop-place to see for all things cultural, they have their fingers on the pulse. If in Tangier this weekend, check out the festival happening now, on until the 21st!
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Favorite Kids Books: La fabuleuse cuisine de la...
I found and fell in love with this book in autumn, Paris 2009. I love it more for myself than for my kids. This gorgeously large format book is a visually rich journey of spices, countries and flavors, stopping in places from India to Morocco to China and beyond. For each spice, there are an accompanying 60 recipes and stories, all tailored with kids in mind (in reading w/o trying the recipes, I...
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Happy Galette du Roi!
Here in Marrakech we just celebrated the holiday ‘Galette du Rois’ (King Cake as we know it) in honor of the Epiphany which is January 6th.
On this day, you get to eat a yummy tarte which has a little trinket hidden somewhere inside. If you are the lucky one to receive this little gem, you get to wear a crown and you are entitled to become King of Queen for the day with your...
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Saying Goodbye to 2011 with Fire and Light
We said goodbye to 2011 with an amazing bonfire in the Marrakech countryside with marshmallows and champagne….
Alongside it, we had a poetic launching of a candlelit paper balloon where we waited in careful anticipation for it’s journey into the dark night sky to begin….
We all watched in wonder as it disappeared into a tiny spec, to be remembered...
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Dar Sanaa de Tetouan: A Tetouan Trade School
I will let these photos speak for themselves, this trade school we visited in the heart of Tetouan was simply stunning.
Created in 1919 by a famous Italian painter Mariano Bertuchi in order to preserve the traditional arts, this trade school offers free tuition to the students and they learn all the traditional arts such as painting, wood carving, carpentry, metal work, leather, embroidery,...