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Shkodër and the legend of Rozafa Castle

Shkodër Lake Fun facts about the city of Shkodër or Skodra (local name) 1. Shkodër has been around for at least 2200 years!  2. It’s the fifth largest city in Albania with a comparatively small population of  88,000*. 3. It’s only 90 km (55 miles) from Tirana or 1.5 hours by car. 4. You can hangout at Kolë Idromeno Street or lakeside in the village of Shiroka. 5. If art moves you, there are intriguing sculptures at the city park.  Have you seen an artwork made of artillery shells? You’ll find it in Shkodër. 6. If you’re interested in history, there’s  a rare collection of photographs from the 1850s onward of the cultural, social and political history of Albania at the Marubi Photography museum. 7. Albania shares Shkodër Lake with Montenegro where 2/3 of the lake ripple under blue skies. 8.  The Montenegrin border is just a few miles away from Shkodër and you can get a glimpse of its mountains across the lake. 9. Shkodër is the gateway to the Albanian Alps (Accursed Mountains). 10. Acco
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Vicente Manansala at the National Museum

I Believe in God, 1948, oil on masonite  One of the group of Thirteen Moderns and Neo Realists, Vicente Silva Manansala had the good fortune to study art in Canada, the United States, France and Switzerland through a number of grants he received from UNESCO, the French government and the U.S. State Department. He studied at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in 1950 under the mentorship of Fernand Léger, a renowned French artist and exponent of cubism. Manansala’s early works were influenced by Fernando Amorsolo whose paintings celebrated Philippine landscapes and local culture. Manansala’s oeuvres portray the working class like the fish and candle vendors, the man with the rooster, or the family praying together (above image). I believe in God is a painting completed by Manansala before he dabbled into cubism. The figures and forms are solid depictions of farmers in the rural landscape. Procession, 1948, oil on canvas 1948 was three years after the second world war. The Philippines was quite d
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Art in the Park at MACA

La Pieta, Pablo Atchugarry, 1983, Carrara marble Just as the world was coming out of the pandemic, the Museum of Contemporary Art Atchugarry (MACA) was inaugurated in January 2022 to great fanfare in the rustic town of Manantiales in Uruguay. Here in the wide open spaces are a museum, the studio of Atchugarry, a permanent gallery for his works, an amphitheater, a chapel, an art store, and seventy five pieces of sculpture scattered throughout the well-groomed grounds. Both local and international artists are represented in the Park and in the Museum. A day at the park is exactly what I needed after a big lunch at the seaside town of Jose Ignacio. Atchugarry was born in Montevideo and was encouraged by his parents to dabble in the arts at an early age. He had his first art exhibition at eleven years of age. As he matured and after trips abroad, he began to explore the use of various medium for his works including marble which he found in Italy and which is the material he uses the most f
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The Painted Eggs of Lucia Condrea

Lucia Condrea Art (Arta Condrea) In the small, peaceful town of Moldovita, a monastery with painted frescoes on its outer walls remains as vibrant as it was in the 16th century. It is one of eight monasteries in the Bucovina area designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s no wonder that artists like Lucia Condrea have flourished in these parts when the source of inspiration to paint and create beautiful things are in their neighborhood. Lucia Condrea has decorated eggs for decades and has won many awards for her artistry. At the International Painted Egg Museum that she established in Moldovita, there are at least 15,000 of these precious eggs. Over the years, Condrea’s technique has evolved into fourteen artistic styles for egg ornamentation. They are: relief colored wax, graphics from batik technique in black and white, lacery, antique works, abstract painting, old Hutul  sewing patterns using wax and natural colors, chromatic diversification, cubism in 3D, patterns from old ca
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