Camon owl? 
Automatic translate
San Mathieu de Trevier is a small town in the south of France. He is famous for being at the foot of the peak of São Lu ("The Holy Wolf"), surrounded by vineyards, which is recognized as a natural monument. Many artists live in this city, and two of their associations, Arthur and Vandemeer, work here. In the city, which is 20 km north of Montpellier and 30 km from the Mediterranean Sea, there is a post office, city hall, police station, a large supermarket, as well as Emma’s House - the residence of artists, writers and representatives of other creative professions. I ended up in Maison d’Emma, thanks to my French friends - artists Pierre Rustico and Catherine Smena from the Arthur Association.
The history of this amazing house is as follows. On the bank of a small river (knee-high water in summer), on Frog Street, there was a two-story house. On the ground floor there is a store where they traded in the old fashion, directly from the bags that were on the floor, and the second floor was hostess Emma. She was alone. When heavy rains began in the autumn, the rivulet overflowed the banks and the water approached the threshold of the house, all the neighbors rushed to the aid of a lonely woman and carried bags of groats and flour to the second floor, as the first flooded with water. In gratitude to the residents of San Mathieu de Trevier, Emma bequeathed her home to the city so that artists, artists and writers lived in it. And for more than 10 years, the city hall together with the association of artists and art lovers “Vandemeer” has been hosting guests from all over the world. The jury reviews applications and selects residents who, after a two-month stay at Emma’s House, leave one of their works for a collection of contemporary art.
The Vandemeer Association annually organizes exhibitions in Compotel next to the Roman Fountain, where 7 to 10 artists are selected who are paid for accommodation in Compotel and meals plus one and a half liters of wine per day. This was in 1999, when my personal exhibition was held in Montpellier. As Catherine wrote to me, the association found for me a small house with a courtyard among the vineyards. It turned out that Emma’s House is located on the road to Compotel near the Roman Fountain, near markets, a bakery, a restaurant. The house impressed me with its size and capabilities, and I realized that I would be very lonely alone. I called my friend Arthur Jan in Paris and invited him to come with his work and arrange a joint exhibition. We wrote on a fabric the “Week of Russian Painting” banner, hung it on the facade of the house, printed invitations and posters on a color printer, and carried them on our bicycles to the companies and offices of doctors, lawyers, and to the residents’ mailboxes. We hung posters in all strategic places: on the doors of restaurants, shops, the city hall, the post office and the liquor store, where we usually went with a five-liter canister. Wine in these areas of France is famous for its taste and is inexpensive - less than 1 euro per liter. In the gallery on the ground floor we made an exhibition of our works, prepared refreshments, bought white and red wine, laid tables in the courtyard, hung our works on the blank wall of a neighboring house. People came to us, the exhibition was a success, in addition, we were the first Russian artists in this town. Most of the visitors found out about our exhibition from a poster hung on the door of the Cooperative wine cellar. One Swiss who has a summer cottage in the south of France and who specially comes for wine in San Mathieu de Trevier bought a small job from Arthur.
We talked a lot with our French friends, traveled with them to the sea and to the surrounding cities - Nimes, Arles, Marseille. I remember one trip to the sea in three cars - swimming under the starry sky, dancing in the sand - and this is at the end of October. Arthur liked this town so much that, having grown rich a year later, he bought a house in San Mathieu de Trevier, no less than the Maison d’Emma, and he comes here every autumn where he works, drinks wine and fries a barbecue. And I began to persistently learn French. They speak only French, few speak English, and one or two people speak German, but no one speaks Russian. So if you are asked: “Camon owl?”, Boldly answer: “Owl”, which means: good. For artists who know the language and have the opportunity to visit France and become a resident of Maison d’Emma, we inform you of the address where you can send a resume with photographs of your works: Mairie - 34270 - ST.MATHIEU DE TREVIERS Association Vendemiares
Author: Mikhail Mantulin , artist ) about the author )