Artist in residence: Brie Adkins
We were very excited to receive Brie Adkins as the first artist in our new artist residence. This talented Muralist flew all the way from Alberta Canada to our little town of Polopos Spain to do a residency the whole month of October 2022.
We were delighted to have a muralist as our first artist as it was a great way to start off with a bang to let the village know that we are serious about putting Polopos on the map as an artistic village. A colourful mural in the open space is a big statement, so it had to be relevant to Polopos.
“The power to do my own thing from place to place has been invaluable. I got to test my own limits and ideas, I got to bring my own concepts to life. Proud of the progress I made during this artists residency, and excited to learn more”
Mural in Polopos by artist in residence Brie Adkins from Canada
While giving Brie the freedom to decide what she wanted to paint on the wall, we also wanted to guide her and help her to make this first mural a succes. Together with her we explored to village, brought her in contact with locals, and talked about what makes Polopos, Polopos.
Brie chose three elements that are typically Polopos to incorporate into her mural. Swallows, a fig, and false pink peppercorns all of which are very present in our village. The birds fill our streets and trees with song and joy, the figs are harvested after the summer and used in many of the local traditional dishes and are part of the local economy, and the pink peppercorns fall from large trees spread across the town and surrounding mountains filling the air with a sweet peppery smell.
The wall at the lower entrance to Polopos before the mural was made.
It was a joy to have Brie working on the walls of the old bakery of the village. The villagers would walk by and admire her at work which created exchange and conversation in the local bar where our artist in residence would sip local wine and practice her Spanish. Every day there were new inhabitants that would come and have a look and see how the mural progressed.
During her residency at the Art Association Polopos, Brie had the opportunity to participate in Granafest, a mural festival where talented street artists gathered to paint a large wall in the community of Chana in Granada city.
Now Brie’s mural in Polopos is a must-see when visiting the village and we hope to add many more artworks in the years to come.
