Close to the city of Pamplona (Navarra, Spain) you can find the winery Otazu a nice and cute place to learn firsthand about grape harvest, and Autumn is the right season to do it. And even more important for the Patrimonio para jóvenes project; this place is full of beauty and art.Surrounded by a wonderful landscape, the winery has five buildings and all around you can also see contemporary sculpture in a great mix of old and new.
St Esteban Church (Romanesque style from the XII century) , a medieval defensive tower (XIV century) a Renaissance palace and the old and new winery. The old one , built at 1840 is now the office of the company and includes a small but interesting museum.
How did we work? A few days before the visit, students received information about the main sculpture in the museum: a piece of artwork made by the spanish artist Manolo Valdés, “Ariadna“
I sent them a picture of the sculpture, and more, I asked museums to participate at the event. How? By sending us images of “Ariadna” from their permanent collections. The Prado Museum sent us a link with Ariadnas at this museum ; Ariadna . The Lazaro Galdiano Foundation sent beautiful pictures of fans with Ariadna and Bacus from its collection
We also remembered a visit to the Würth Museum where there isn´t any image of Ariadna but you can find a great Lillie by Manolo Valdés and Lillie is the emblematic sculpture at the Würth Museum which welcomes you at the entrance of this amazing building .
With all these images and the mithological story of Ariadna, each participant did their personal artwork , so we not only visited a museum but we had to think and create some “art work”. The goals were to be creative, learn and participate. And we had a lot of fun!
Here you can see some pictures from the room where the charming Lise Boursier on behalf of the winery prepared some exhibition space for us. Simple, cheap, easy but at the same time pleasant and friendly. And this is possible only by spending hours working and thinking about the activity.
From here, I want to express my gratitude to the winery for all the hospitality they showed us and its interest in spreading the knowledge of its very nice colllection of art.
During the visit , we also focused our attention on the friendly sculpture “Obtusa” by Rafael Barrios an artist from Louisiana (USA) with Venezuelan parents.
Not commenting on everything or give too many explanations and keeping the students from getting bored are very important points for me. So we learned a bit just about Rafael Barrios and the Spaniards Manolo Valdés and Jose Manuel Ballester
After this art session adults over 18 were able to enjoy a wine tasting. This is a good moment to mention that wineries and good wine have nothing to do with being drunk. Good wine which is very typical in Spain with food (meat, fish…) is only appreciated in moderation. And by chance I´ve found this web have a look wineinmoderation
We tasted the wine with bread, cheese and “lomo” a typical spanish cold cut made from pig. Again, here you have , as always on this blog, some places that perhaps you wouldn´t find in a tourist guide book. However, if you come to Navarra try to visit this winery. Visits in English are available.
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Looking forward to hearing all of you!
