One of the first artist friends I made after moving to Uzès is bringing his original art to town this summer.
Andy Newman, an American with deep roots in France, had read my blog and emailed to tell me about himself, that he and his partner had a home near here, and that he had painted original art of many of the scenes I had photographed of Uzès. We met on his next visit to France, and we’ve been keeping up with each other ever since. Now Andy’s bringing his artwork to town this summer. His exhibit is on August 5-18 at the art gallery next to the Tourist Office.
Visitors to Andy’s exhibit will love the paintings of places we know around this part of France. They’ll especially appreciate that many of the original art pieces are miniatures. You can pack them in your suitcase for your travels home or elsewhere. How good is that!
Here is a sample of the small paintings that will be available
Original Art by an American Artist with French Roots
Andy spends most of each year in Concord, Massachusetts, but his heart is in France, where he spent his early school years. Andy’s father was in the US Foreign Service. That meant they moved often when he was a child — from London, where he was born, to Paris, to Rome, then back to London. After attending university at Trinity College, Oxford, and fifteen years as a lawyer in Washington, DC, Andy found his life’s true meaning through art. In 1990, he had his first gallery show, and since then, he has exhibited his work in the US, France, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Canada, and Macau. His inspiration comes from artists such as Edward Hopper, John Collier, Honoré Daumier, and Mark Rothco.
Each summer, Andy and his family call Cavillargues “home.” The house they bought in the small town near Bagnols was built as two barns in the 1790s. It was converted into a house with a barn in the 1920s. When they moved to Cavillargues in 2005, they took the whole place apart and put it back together. The French community welcomed Andy’s family with open arms, and Andy’s work is displayed in the Mairie and Bagnols. An exhibition in Cavillargues is scheduled after the Uzes showing in August.
An earlier post about Andy is Amazing Proof That “Art Imitates Life In France.”
