La Napoule

January 4

La Napoule itself is sort of a sleepy seaside villa resting on the shores of the Mediterranean. Sort of boring, actually and appears to be a retirement community. Because it is off-season, many of the restaurants and hotels have shut down. Susan and I walked to the mall to have a look around. They have a great grocery store, sort of like a Super Ralphs. It is all very quaint - stone walls and cobbled streets.

I have this huge studio, which ironically is only designed to do design work (drawing, painting etc) It's kind of too bad because it could be a terrific machine room or something of that effect. The one occasional problem for some of the artists is that is is chilly in some of the studios. I sort of lucked out because my studio is attached to the chateau and is actually just off to the kitchen. I have a space heater which works okay for me since I just sit at a table and draw. There is a strange here in this studio since there are these huge towering figures all around me, peering down as I work.

My France Residency

I received my first residency abroad, which was awarded to me by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991. Just after I return, I am going to have a solo show at Peter Joseph Gallery - the residency period will be for drawings and sketches in preparation for this exhibition. The residency was sponsored by the Pew Foundation at the Henry Clews Art Foundation in La Napoule, France. for more information, go to

January 3, 1992

The flight was horrendous - would almost NOT ever go to Europe ever again because the trip was pure agony. To make matters worse, I sat next to a Frenchman, who I swear, had never bathed in his entire life. Thought I would die.

Other than that, getting through customs was nothing and the La Napoule staff picked us up. The other artists (met at the airport) are quite nice. So far, Americans only. Funny thing is half of them are from Philadelphia. (3) and the other 3 are from North Carolina. 2 painters, 3 sculptors and 1 writer. The folks from Paris are also sculptors.

My bedroom overlooks the ocean - I love it -my bed is really comfy. The Atelier is huge. I have Henry Clews' (the guy who started this place) original studio. My intent is to design as much work as possible.