Learning to paint in Provence may sound fabulous and probably brings out the fantasist in us but arts and crafts are more realistic. Sure, there's is something irresistable about setting up an easel in a field of sunflowers and emulating Van Gogh or Gauguin, Matisse, Vlamick, Picasso or any of the artists who soaked their canvases with the sunshine of Provence and the south.
Arts and Crafts Classes in Beaucaire
But for those of us who can't even draw a straight line, the prospect of a painting vacation in France may be too intimidating to contemplate. What if we end up with a muddled puddle instead of a watercolor? With a bag of Ivory Soap Flakes instead of a soap sculpture? (first grade in PS 251, Brooklyn and the memory haunts me still).
Arts and Crafts is Playtime for Grownups
Now arts and crafts is another matter. You can squish your hands around in cool wet clay, splash a bit of color here a bit of decoupage there and it's playtime, creativity without performance anxiety.That's why I think the little town of Beaucaire has got the right idea. For a few years now, this historic village on the Rhone, where Provence, Languedoc and the Camargue come together, has been signing up to various government and regional programs that enable it to offer attractive, low rent studios to artisans who work in traditional arts and crafts of the region. In exchange, many of them open their studio's to visitors to explain what they do.
Many also give arts and crafts lessons. Ranging from short courses of a day or less to intensive, week-long programs, they are all geared to fit in with a vacation break in the South of France. Some are run as half day sessions, over several days -- so you can spend mornings in an artisan's studio, learning and playing with colorful, messy arts and crafts materials and afternoons exploring this senior-friendly part of France.
The Beaucaire Tourist Office can book you in for the courses and suggest accommodations in local hotels or B&Bs.
Consider these arts and crafts courses in Beaucaire
- Glass blowing
- Wickerwork
- Pottery and ceramics
- Stained glass
- Art Collage
- Lime faux finishes for walls and furniture
- Hand painted French Provincial furniture finishes.
Ferne Arfin is London-based, American travel writer and About.com's guide to United Kingdom for Visitors. She writes for the Sunday Telegraph and other national papers about France and the USA, and is the author of Adventure Guide to Provence and the Cote d'Azur.