Granada Hotels “Adopt” British Artist

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(Free-Press-Release.com) June 17, 2009 --

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Granada Hotels “Adopt” British Artist

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http://granadastudiovisits.com

Granada, Spain, June 19, 2009—Hotelkeepers in the Spanish city of Granada have “adopted” British painter and printmaker, Maureen Booth, as one of the city’s cultural attractions. Maureen, born and raised in Manchester, UK until the age of 25, came to Granada and never left. Her painting and etching studio is located in a village outside of this fabled Andalusian city since the early 1970’s. It recently occurred to Maureen, affected like all artists these days by falling gallery sales, to propose to a hotel-owner friend that the hotel recepcionists collaborate in promoting her work by offering an “excursion” to visit her studio.

“I have discovered over the years,” says Maureen, “that a visit to an artist’s studio is a powerful incentive to buy art. Perhaps it’s the aroma of linseed oil and turps, but everyone agrees that art buyers are more susceptible in an artist’s workshop than in an art gallery.”

It was Maribel Porcel, proprietor of the Hotel Alixares, adjacent to the Alhambra´s renowned Generalife Gardens, who suggested that Maureen prepare a discreet display to place on the hotel reception desk, inviting guests to “visit an international artist’s studio.” “We’re always looking for attractive excursions to offer our clients,” says Maribel, “and I found this one very compelling, both for its cultural content and the fact that it’s free. It’s a lovely service for our guests.”

After her initial success with the guests of the Hotel Alixares, Maureen began to offer the concept to other fine Granada hotels. She met with and immediate positive response. “Granada is a city whose livelihood is based largely on its cultural offerings,” says Maureen, “so they tend to take good care of their writers and artists.” Today Maureen receives visits from ten of Granada’s most-select hotels. “I dedicate one or two days a week to receiving visitors to my studio, in groups of not more than six people” she says, “and it has been a rewarding experience, both economically and in human terms. One of my first visitors was the distinguished Mexican painter, Luis Filcer, who liked my solar-plate etching technique so much that he came back the next day and did a quick solar-plate etching course with me. Now he’s introducing the technique in Mexico. Another inspiring case was a 17-year-old girl from Alicante who, after visiting my studio with her parents, decided to come to the University of Granada to study fine arts.”

Maureen’s artist’s-studio-excursions initiative now has a name—Granada Studio Visits—and a website, http://granadastudiovisits.com, and is fast becoming a popular stop on the itineraries of international art lovers visiting the city of the Alhambra. “This project has been very fulfilling,” says Maureen, “thanks to the extraordinary cultural awareness and cooperation of Granada’s hotel keepers. The only problem I can foresee,” she adds, “is finding enough time for painting and printmaking to keep the wheels turning!”

More information can be found online at http://granadastudiovisits.com

Granada     studio visits