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Art in your neighbour's house

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Brussels

By Angélique Berhault Parcours d'Artistes or Art Route 2010 is the occasion of seeing artworks in artist's houses in Saint-Gilles. Organised by the Culture Service of the Commune, the event is a success since its creation in 1988.

To understand what the project feels like from the participants perspective, Cafebabel Brussels decided to have a conversation with Antonia Donate, a painter who has taken part in the project for 14 years.

An intimate trip...

Questioning Antonia Donate is an easy task. The delightful and smiling lady answers to everything with her bright smile and her sunny Spanish voice melody. From the moment you step into her house, the beautiful, colourful and alive paintings propel you into her bubble of lively ideas. She said spontaneously that taking part in 'Parcours d'Artistes' simply means to "open my door to any visitor! My artworks are on display in my own living-room and anyone can come and see them." The idea of "Parcours d'Artistes" is also to visit the artists' ateliers. Most don't mind, but Antonia Donate prefers to keep her creative space private. But the warm and hearty welcome you get worths it as she loves receiving people. "The thing I like the most about 'Parcours d'Artistes' is that the visitors are in a party mood! They are happy to walk around and step in different houses, discover totally different type of art... And their interest in art is actually growing each year. So it's a lot of fun!"

… in artists lives & approaches

When you enter the house of Antonia Donate, you can only be overwhelmed by the power of her colourful paintings. She usually works on the same thema for 5 to 6 years. For 'Parcours d'Artistes' she exhibited artworks from the sky, the birds, the sun, the flowers, the human beings, and the rainbow series. The latest one, 'Rainbow' focuses on feeling the colours. She said "I feel them, I am melting with them and I just put all my energy into painting what I feel, what I see, what is inside myself. And when I am working on a particular serie, I just need to see the colours I work with all around me: in my pallet, on my paintings, in me! Just everywhere. I feel a deep connection with them, and then I paint."

It is easy to establish a deep connection with artists who open their house's door to you. So do not hesitate to take part in the next session on May 23, otherwise you'll have to wait until the next one... in 2012!

More information on Parcours d'Artistes

And from the 7 to the 16th August 2010, Parcours d'Artistes will take place in Namur