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From Vision to Community: The Chateau d’Orquevaux Residency with Ziggy Attias and Beulah van Rensburg
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On the ReBloom Podcast, we had the joy of speaking with Ziggy Attias and Beulah van Rensburg, the creative forces behind Chateau d’Orquevaux. Tucked away in the French countryside, the Chateau has become a world-renowned residency welcoming artists from more than 125 countries—a true haven for creativity, connection, and inspiration.
Ziggy, an artist, designer, entrepreneur, and award-winning filmmaker, co-directs the residency with the vision of building community and giving artists a home to grow. Beulah, Co-Founder and Residency Director, brings over 20 years of experience championing artists. As a practicing artist herself, she guides residents through studio visits and critiques, drawing on her experience as founder of Van Rensburg Galleries and her role on the curatorial board at Artfinder.
Together, they’ve transformed Chateau d’Orquevaux into a place where artists from around the world come not just to create, but to belong. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation about art, belonging, and the transformative power of community. Listen to the latest episode of ReBloom wherever you get your podcasts.
Website: https://www.chateauorquevaux.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chateau_orquevaux/?hl=enThank You to Our Sponsors: Jet Creative and UrbanStems!
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Transcript
Introduction to Rebloom and its themes
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome to Rebloom, the podcast where we explore the power of change, rediscovery, and living with intention. That's right. We're your hosts, Lori and Jamie, two friends who really love a good story about transformation.
00:00:16
Speaker
In each podcast, we're going to chat with inspiring guests who've made bold pivots in their lives or careers. They've let go of what no longer serve them to embrace something more authentic, joyful, and true to who they really are.
00:00:31
Speaker
And the best part, many of them reconnect with passions or dreams they discovered as kids. It's about finding the seeds planted long ago and letting them bloom again.
00:00:43
Speaker
So if you're ready for real conversations about reinvention, purpose, and following your creative heart, you're in the right place. Let's dive in and see what it takes to re-bloom.
Lori's vision for artists at Chateau Orcava
00:00:58
Speaker
Oh my gosh, Jamie, I do want you to go Chateau Orcava one day and experience what i got to experience. I want that for all of my artist friends. And I actually have recommended it to many of my friends who have gotten to go there.
00:01:16
Speaker
Ziggy and Beulah have created, I believe, a utopian experience. It's beautiful. And we get to talk to them today. Oh, we, this is, this is just an amazing conversation. And yes, I i'm going to apply and I think all artists should apply and have this experience. They've created a beautiful space that is safe and nurturing and encouraging and lovely and wait till you hear their story and everyone is just going to be um filling out that application as well. It's beautiful. It's, it's a wonderful story. So enjoy everyone.
00:01:57
Speaker
Hello, my friend,
Hosts' excitement for the podcast and guests
00:01:58
Speaker
Lori. How are you today? Hey, James. How are you? We're going to have a really fun conversation today. We are. And you know, I really wish you were sitting here in my house in Chautauqua. That was so fun to have you come visit me this summer. We're scheming for things next year. so I'll be back.
00:02:18
Speaker
We are, but now we're in our very favorite space, which is our podcast. And we are welcoming incredible guests today. Do you want to tell us a little bit about them? So I think it was two years ago now.
00:02:33
Speaker
oh gosh, was it two years? I got the experience of a lifetime. I got to go to Chateau Orcaveau, for an artist's residence and it truly was life-changing on so many levels i was with writers and visual artists and musicians which was amazing and just we're still we still have a text thread going the 26 of us and we will be lifelong friends we've talked about wanting to go back as a group to the chateau
00:03:08
Speaker
um So the owners of the Chateau are Ziggy Attias and Beulah Van Rensburg, and they are both amazing people. So that's who we're talking
Ziggy's entrepreneurial journey
00:03:19
Speaker
to today. We want to hear about a little bit about their background and then the pivot towards this new life as Chateau art residencies directors.
00:03:29
Speaker
So let's start with Ziggy. Okay. Hello. Hi, Ziggy. Hi, Beulah. How are you today? We're doing all right, I think. We're doing all right.
00:03:40
Speaker
um So you've had a pretty fascinating life as a DJ and a restaurateur and an artist and like all the things. So I always ask this question. Jamie knows it's coming. Were you like a crazy entrepreneurial type of person as a kid?
00:03:59
Speaker
um i would definitely say that I've always been an entrepreneur for when I was very young. So I was always... um looking for ways to, to make money when I was younger and then to make a living. So, and then whatever my interests were at the time is i would always try to find a way to, can I make a living with whatever my interest is at that time?
00:04:25
Speaker
Um, and that's how worked my way here. That's a brilliant way to live life. I think. Were your parents very encouraging of that Ziggy?
00:04:34
Speaker
Well, I grew up in the 70s and 80s, mostly 80s. I didn't know if those parents were encouraging of anything. yeah But I could tell you that my father was an entrepreneur.
00:04:45
Speaker
yeah And um I think I followed in those footsteps. um
00:04:53
Speaker
ah it's took I don't think this is the podcast to talk about how encouraging or not encouraging me. yeah it's interesting It's interesting because we've had, you know, it's interesting and we're sort of about the same era.
00:05:07
Speaker
Many of the folks that we talked to, many of the artists in ah who had parents of that era, it was like get a job or get something, you know, it it had to be very structured and have purpose and, know,
00:05:19
Speaker
It's interesting how many of those folks did that, but then yet still found their way back to some heart-centered work. and And it seems that that's where you found yourself along the way. What about you, Beulah?
Beulah's path to gallery ownership
00:05:33
Speaker
um I definitely was very similar in the fact that I always had my own businesses and things. I came from a family, very similar kind of background, and my father was an entrepreneur and they wanted me to get a job very similar. And, uh, I being an artist, I always had, um, I always went in that direction and had my own businesses in that direction. So then I ended up in this situation.
00:06:03
Speaker
well So you were, are now in a different way, a gallery curator owner. So just tell us a little bit about your background too.
00:06:15
Speaker
So I went from having um my own businesses in teaching art and doing my own practice to then owning a gallery and opening a gallery in Hong Kong. And I had an art school in Shanghai.
00:06:27
Speaker
And then I had a gallery ah in Hong Kong, New York and Australia. And then it kind of pivoted to here. So that was quite... quite a large period of my, my career.
00:06:41
Speaker
And I learned a lot about being an artist and and having the gallery and curating aspect of that. And then, it all led me to this. You are quite, quite the power couple.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I'd like to say that although Buell is from Australia and I'm from New York, that we're always surprised by how similar our backgrounds are.
00:07:05
Speaker
Um, For us to meet in this junction of ah of our roads or our path is amazing because we have so many similar kind of experiences from ah the the types of parents that raised us and then the type of businesses and um whatever we did that neither one of us ever really had a proper job and we've always found a way to ah land on our feet.
00:07:35
Speaker
from our own ideas, ah it's where it's very unique, I think, that we both have such similar experiences. I don't think I know how you two met.
00:07:46
Speaker
Did you meet at the Chateau? and no we've we've known each other for a long time as a as friends. ah hu And because we had similar interests, you know we we met in New York during ah one of Beulah's art fairs.
00:08:03
Speaker
And I don't remember where i was now, but we met there and we became friends. we just so we when we'd see each other at the shows, we always had an easy rapport. We both had other lives at that time. And she was from Australia and i was from New York. And we had our own families that we were bringing up.
00:08:21
Speaker
um But for whatever reason, we didn't ever end up think we'd end up together because we're from such opposite parts of the world. But um we just had a friendship that It's probably better that we didn't live in the same town.
00:08:38
Speaker
But you know, sometimes it's timing. i mean, that's well, and and but now not only you in the same town, you're in the same country. You've both pivoted and you're both in France and you're both at this stunning, stunning chateau.
00:08:52
Speaker
So Ziggy, can you tell us a little bit ah about the chateau and how you guys got there?
Ziggy's acquisition of the Chateau
00:09:00
Speaker
How did how did that happen? Well, um
00:09:05
Speaker
my father and my stepmother, they they purchased the Chateau in the early 2000s, around 2005, I think it was. um And it was a place that they would go to maybe once a year, sometimes twice a year.
00:09:21
Speaker
um and When my father got older, he stopped they really stopped coming here. So for about four or five years, there was nothing happening with the Chateau.
00:09:33
Speaker
um And it was at a point in my life that I needed a change. And um I went and spoke with them and I said, if you're not like really interested, if you're not selling it, the place is just deteriorating, um if they would consider ah giving it to me or renting it to me or something, if we could work something out.
00:10:00
Speaker
And through different conversations, it ended up that they said that I can have the chateau and I could do whatever I wanted to do with it. um So that's how it started to go and into my direction um and later our direction. But you first were considering fixing it up and selling it, correct?
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah. Well, there was no way. i didn't have the funds or the ability to keep it. That wasn't and that was in even remotely on the table. But the first time I came here, know,
00:10:34
Speaker
you know back around 2005, 2006, I thought that wouldn't this be an amazing place to be an artist in. And it is ah And I found it so inspiring. And I thought that this could be, I always wanted to create a place that's sort of like a think tank for artists.
00:10:54
Speaker
I didn't necessarily think artist residency. um By the way, Bula was having her ideas for an artist residency that she wanted to create. ah and When I came here and I was starting to fix it just to sell it for whatever,
00:11:10
Speaker
um it remembered that idea of maybe doing something with it. ah I never really let that idea grow too much because it didn't belong to me. belonged to my father or the family, and it wasn't something that I had an option for.
00:11:27
Speaker
But when I was working on it, I thought, I wonder if there's a way to keep
Transformation into an artist residency
00:11:33
Speaker
it. You know, if, if, if it was a fantasy really it was, uh, because the hope was, is there a way to create this big idea and to, to offer something to artists and make it a place that, uh, the artists that come here will be part of building something for the future,
00:11:55
Speaker
ah that could be this utopian idea, which you can't do that. That's not possible to do, but but you are doing it. But you are doing it. And, you know, for our listeners, too. I mean, I have an 1890s house. The Chateau is very large. And even though it was given to you, um costs a lot to maintain. It costs a lot to fix it up. there's Problems are not small.
00:12:20
Speaker
They tend to be big problems. Leaks are big leaks and cracks are big cracks. And it's an older home. And it needed and so but so you started to think bigger. don't know.
00:12:34
Speaker
yeah Well, we put it out into the world on social media. Okay. And, uh, and to see if people are even interested in this residency idea and, ah the account started to get a following and it started to create ah a bit of a buzz, uh,
00:12:54
Speaker
while it was being worked on and trying to not repair all the leaks, we still have leaks, but. yeah That gives a charm. a French charm.
00:13:06
Speaker
um To, to, ah to put it out there to see if people were are interested if they would come here, because obviously we didn't, it's one thing to follow the accounts. Another thing for somebody to pay to come here.
00:13:21
Speaker
yeah so
00:13:24
Speaker
The calendar is being built for about a year and a half before we thought, you know what, it rains the least in the summertime. ah We don't need heat because didn't have heat at the time.
00:13:36
Speaker
ah Maybe we can offer a residency for like in the summer for about three months. Three months worth the time and then break it up into two weeks and four-week residencies.
00:13:49
Speaker
somehow by you know we were surprised as anybody we got 100 applications for 38 spots so that was the that's how it started and then of course the next year you worry if anybody if we already exhausted our whole social media following. yeah Could we get somebody else to come here? But that's how it really started. I'd been watching it for years and finally got up the nerve to apply.
00:14:17
Speaker
and then I got the acceptance letter like on Thanksgiving Eve and I was by myself and I was all excited. And then I'm like, oh, now I need to tell my husband.
00:14:30
Speaker
um But what I love so much, I mean, so many things I love about the residency, but I i think your curation of people is brilliant because you, it's young, old, um every, like,
00:14:48
Speaker
You invite people from all walks of life to be part of it. And musicians being part of like witnessing jam sessions and hearing writers speak and read. And it was magical. And I don't think there's anything like it.
00:15:06
Speaker
That's great. Well, and explain to us, Ziggy and Beulah,
Residency focus and artist support
00:15:09
Speaker
to a residency and how you like explain a little bit about what that looks like to you and how you bring all those people together, because our listeners may not be really familiar with a full on residency. They may be go on art retreats, but this is a little different. And so if you could walk us through that a little bit, that'd be great.
00:15:27
Speaker
So the residency is is after the application process and all that kind of thing. you you Everybody comes. And it's it's really a self-motivated residency. And that means you have to come here and you it's up to you what you do.
00:15:44
Speaker
you can you we give you time for you to make things. work. You get a studio space or a writer's space and you get time to work on that idea or you might be having a block in your creative, your you know, in your creativity and you get that time to go into your studio and make work. So there's in two weeks or three weeks you have a certain amount of time and we try and take away all of those mundane things that you have to do in life like cooking and you know, taking care of things. So then you can actually spend time in your studio working through the process of what am I doing? Where am I going? What is this? And part of our really, um our our thing is to try and build up everybody here to make the voice stronger, to make everybody's voice stronger. And I think that's a really important part of the mission of our residency is
00:16:41
Speaker
within the group as well. a lot of people have doubts. We're told by our parents to go get a job and get a real job and do all that kind of thing. And we're always doubting, I think, as creative people, what we can do and is this really work or is this going to be successful or is this good?
00:16:59
Speaker
And I think what we try and do is give people time and space to sit in the studio or sit at their writer's desk and do that. And we do have optional things that people can do. We've got life drawing and we've got a writer's director and I do a couple of studio visits and talks with people about their work and and we have an open studio and we we look at everybody's work and everybody kind of helps each other. And we're trying to form an artistic community where people can support each other within the work because I think that's, we think that's a really important thing
00:17:32
Speaker
that also helps in the residency that extends beyond, as Laurie said, they've still got the group going, everybody's still connecting and doing other things outside of that, which is really important as well.
00:17:44
Speaker
It must be so gratifying for the work that you're doing. to yeah so To not only, like I would be thrilled to see all the work that gets created there at at every residency, but then knowing that you're creating these bonds with people that go on for a long time.
00:18:05
Speaker
Yeah, it is really amazing. I think it's sometimes when you step back, it's quite overwhelming to actually really think about it and see what people are doing together because it's the actual people.
00:18:17
Speaker
They're doing it. bring them together. They're making it. They're creating the work. They're creating the bonds. They're making all of the things and, you know, we're facilitating it to come together, but they're really, they've really got to come and do the work and then they've got to connect.
00:18:34
Speaker
And I think people bring them their best self and they being bring their best ideas and their creative self, you know, to the residency. And it's,
00:18:45
Speaker
I don't know if it's us curating the group. I think it's the group curates itself really. um and it's really amazing. and And we're really lucky that we get to watch that all the time.
00:18:58
Speaker
And just to add two things, um, one about the group, um, we used to put a lot more thought into putting a group together.
00:19:09
Speaker
And then COVID taught us that it doesn't matter because so many people were canceling and we had to put together groups in the last minute and we're trying to fill spots and it all went to hell month after month after month.
00:19:22
Speaker
And those um residencies were amazing um without trying to manage it. So you, so you learn that the, the, the creativity that comes from the universe is worth something.
00:19:39
Speaker
And it seems to work. So after COVID, we decided to leave alone us tampering with the residency other than what we need to do to diversify the residency.
00:19:52
Speaker
More males in the residency because it's so predominantly females, you know, more people of color, more people from different countries, maybe a musician or two, maybe x amount of writers. So we try to just say, okay, for a residency to be successful, you don't want just plain air painters.
00:20:10
Speaker
You want a mixture of something. And then we don't care um
00:20:18
Speaker
who the people are necessarily in in regards to that. And then, and that kind of goes back to which we knew that even before we knew that early on that there's so many ways to get to creativity.
00:20:32
Speaker
Some people are born with it. Some people have to work on a craft. Some people have to get skills. Sometimes you got to learn how to use tools. You have to learn about color. Some people just know it naturally and all those things. So that kind of opens up the door to all ages should be welcome and people should learn from each other yeah because it doesn't, because we're not, it's not athletics here. It's the mind and the talent.
00:20:58
Speaker
So we are looking for certain types of talent to the best of our ability, but where you can't put an age, it's not an age thing.
00:21:08
Speaker
yeah Some people don't start painting until their partner dies or they get a divorce or who knows what. Some people start young, then they stop to raise a family and then they go back to to the work.
00:21:22
Speaker
So age is... doesn't relate to how many hours you have put into it and what your natural ability is, which can come at any time. When do you get through your psychological barriers and you're like, I'm free now?
00:21:35
Speaker
Who's to say when when any of that stuff is? So that opened up the doors to like, you know what? yeah You just need to be over 18 because people curse and drink too much sometimes.
00:21:46
Speaker
And then you can be as old as you want, um but hopefully not too old, but we have to help you going up and down the stairs or whatever that is. So if you fit into that criteria in between those two things, you're pretty good. I think I can make it.
00:22:01
Speaker
you You kind of made me tear up a little bit because I think ageism is a thing. And actually, in my own brain, I thought, oh, i'll not get it I won't get accepted because they'll think I'm too old.
00:22:13
Speaker
It does seem that there's... um people of a certain age that feel that way, they're like, oh, if you're not 25 or 30, you can't get in there. But because now we've been doing it for a while, if you take two minutes to look at our Instagram account, for example, and you look at the people that are there, you will see representation of who you are yeah in that.
00:22:35
Speaker
So we used to get, when obviously in the very beginning, which wasn't that long ago, um we only were able to pick from the people that applied. Right. That's what we had. But now because we've grown and everything, we have so many, there's so many more photos.
00:22:51
Speaker
um We used to get a lot of slack about, you know, people of color saying, how you don't accept anybody of color? We're like, well, just please apply because you're more than welcome to come here. Right. Right. Yeah. Get those kinds of things anymore because now the photos um represent who the, person who you are.
00:23:07
Speaker
And just one thing on that is one of the, one of the really beautiful things about that here is watching the emerging artists, the younger artists who are here collaborating with the older artists and people who have, you know, just watching those connections happen is amazing. And people like they're they're drawn to each other. And what comes out of that within the residency kind of happens naturally now. And it's,
00:23:34
Speaker
it's really amazing to watch. And it's really people giving each other this experience. And then also you're getting this youthful experience where you're like, i don't know how to use Instagram. Like, show me how to use Instagram, please. Yeah. That's, that's really, that's beautiful. I mean, it's neat. And that, and you do see that the wisdom and sometimes when it's the wisdom of others, not their parents or vice versa, then you tend to be a little bit more open-minded.
00:23:58
Speaker
Well, I want to go back um to that first summer. You opened up that first summer. You had your first set of residency or your first residency happening. What happened that summer that you went, wait a minute, this is pretty awesome.
00:24:13
Speaker
And this is a business and this is viable. and and And I'm sure you learned a lot that summer, um but you've grown from just one now to ah full year of residency, residencies, I should say. But ah Take us back there and what happened and how you grew from there.
00:24:31
Speaker
and um
00:24:35
Speaker
Well, you know, it's, it's in all of it's in steps. So, um, that first year, like I said, we were just amazed that people were willing to come here.
00:24:49
Speaker
Um, and there was only eight residents per residency. Now we're up to 30. Uh, ah so i don't know if we if we knew was a viable business um because we we never actually came at it from a business point of view we knew that it's not like we had the money to do it like just this philanthropic uh adventure or something um so we knew it had to work but
00:25:20
Speaker
It needed, it didn't need much for us to, we we were more worried about like, can we keep this place and try to do it again next year? Gotcha. So that year only represented that.
00:25:32
Speaker
It was like, oh, we can open up the application again in six months and see if other people would apply, you know? ah And we didn't have enough followers. so we didn't like, we didn't think that you don't know. Yeah.
00:25:46
Speaker
Yeah. well So then we, but then those people, obviously they were posting. So then they had some artist friends and they're like, oh, maybe I can apply it also. And it started to open up that door.
00:25:58
Speaker
ah So we were able to do it the second year, which so the first year was 2017. And then the second year was 2018. And we were able to go from three months to six months, still eight people per residency. Cause we didn't have that many rooms.
00:26:11
Speaker
um And, then we were able to try it again. But we're always worried about, yeah even today, you know will people apply? residency is bigger now, so you need more to keep it going.
00:26:26
Speaker
ah It gets harder to just think of it as, ah and that's maybe our fault because we grew fast, which is you you need to support all the people and the families and all the French people that work here now.
00:26:42
Speaker
So then you get nervous, like, you know, so the, the, in a way comes full circle. and Now you have the worries of a business, even though you don't want it to be a business, the whole idea was not even though it has to be a business, we don't want to come from it from that point of view. Right. Right. So we still try to make all our decisions as artists, but practical.
00:27:02
Speaker
no and I don't know if when you're when you're an entrepreneur and you're doing this kind of project like we're doing where it's just us, if you ever get to a place where...
00:27:15
Speaker
you have enough to just sleep at night comfortably. yeah yeah So we're we're still fighting the good fight, and ah and but we love what we're doing and the words getting out there we and we put everything back.
00:27:31
Speaker
um And sometimes we put more than everything back because we have to catch up with what we put into it that we're like, okay, we you know maybe we shouldn't do anything for a while so we could pay our bills. So all those things are still there, but we have the...
00:27:46
Speaker
you know, as entrepreneurs and as artists, we want to keep expressing ourselves in in what we're doing. So we're always trying to do the best and we're always thinking we come more from a hospitality point of view than a business person point of view.
00:28:00
Speaker
So that's just how we do it I don't know if that answers your question, but that's. does. It's amazing though. It's yes. Yes. Let's take a quick minute and thank our amazing sponsors.
00:28:11
Speaker
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00:28:23
Speaker
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00:28:38
Speaker
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00:28:53
Speaker
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00:29:06
Speaker
Thanks to our sponsors and thanks to you for joining us today.
00:29:12
Speaker
So um can you talk a little bit about how you're actually transforming the whole village? um you You shared a little bit about that with us when we were there about, I think you shared that some of the younger generation, they don't want to stick around and work the land or whatever was happening there and they're they're moving. And so you're kind of making this an artist's destination beyond just the chateau itself.
00:29:43
Speaker
and Well, um so we're in the French countryside, which is beautiful. But we think, or it's probably true, you know, the people that grow up here,
00:29:56
Speaker
um
00:29:59
Speaker
they don't necessarily want to do what their parents did, they don't want and there's not as much as many jobs as, or maybe the kind of jobs that they want. So ah if you don't want to be a farmer, or you don't want to work at a supermarket, or you don't start ah some kind of trade, and you have to get a job, you want to go closer to cities.
00:30:16
Speaker
So a lot of rural Europe, not just France, um there's a lot of homes available, and That's why you see these ah like schemes of selling houses for a euro in Italy, and now France is doing it, because they want these areas to stay viable.
00:30:33
Speaker
um So the village is quite small, and there was abandoned buildings and old barns and in the village itself, though we were able to work deals out with the people that owned them so we could turn them into...
00:30:50
Speaker
um annexes for the residency for the chateau. ah So that started to
Revitalizing the village through art
00:30:56
Speaker
happen. So we're in the process of building galleries. We opened up an art store recently. Oh, wow.
00:31:01
Speaker
that Amazing. We have an art store and then we have a beautiful antique store sign. So we have a fake antique store next to the art store. First store opening the village for 100 years. maybe years um But the art store works because we're so we we supply you know the the customer for the art store.
00:31:22
Speaker
um So we have ideas for the theater, i mean, for the place. And hopefully one day we have one. We got a building recently that we hope to create a movie theater. wow.
00:31:33
Speaker
well So the village is getting starting to get a life that's being supported by the artists that are here. um So assuming that continues, it's it's already a destination for artists. Yeah. ah And then, which is really what we're interested in. Right. Because we're actually not interested in creating a tourist town. Right. Right.
00:32:00
Speaker
But we know that that would help artists in the future. We just don't want to do that. Yeah. Right. Yeah. We want we want to build it for the artists. But, you know, yeah if you build it, they will come. So we believe it's going to become this art village that will have this dynamic feel to it because we're working on a sculpture park and we're we're creating the galleries and ah it'll be a very unique place because because of the fact that the artists who come here and there'll be the studios in the, as soon there's going to studios in the village besides the regular studios.
00:32:33
Speaker
So what happens is if you love art, more in the future. But if you love art, this will become a destination that you can come here every two to four weeks and just discover new artists.
00:32:45
Speaker
Wow. The base is there. Wow. And place is beautiful and all that. But there's always going to be new people. If you come here this year and you come here again six months, all the artists are going to be different than the studios. Right.
00:32:57
Speaker
And the work in the galleries. that The work in the galleries is isn't get work for sale. It's really about the artists who are coming here. It's all the work that some people have left work that's been created here and it will be that work on display to bring bring attention to them.
00:33:12
Speaker
So it's really trying to bring back attention to the work to... you know give the artist more of attention to their work. So people will come here, discover them. Hopefully they'll connect. People will like their work. And it's just doing a full circle and curators will come. And and hopefully that will just continually bring more support for them.
00:33:34
Speaker
For even past artists. Yeah. yeah Yeah. So are your entrepreneurial parents still around? and or what do they think of this? Oh, it is. ah Yeah, my father passed away in 2019, but he would have loved, I'm not sure how much he cared about art necessarily, but I think he would have loved the idea of what was happening.
00:33:59
Speaker
And although he couldn't really pull it off, he wanted... um Like when he purchased the Chateau, he wanted to create a legacy. i don't know if this is the legacy he was thinking exactly, but without him, we wouldn't have been able to do this.
00:34:15
Speaker
Yeah. So he did do that. It's just, it um it's not always the way you think it's going to be. And that's everything. Right. Well, that's important, too, because, I mean, to your point, I mean, you know, sometimes we head down a path and we're like, oh, it's got to look like this. It's got to look like that. And and particularly older generations.
00:34:33
Speaker
And, you know, I think kudos to you both because you saw this beautiful space, but you pivoted to actually what was needed. And truly needed is is a space for artists and residencies. I spend the summer in Chautauqua, New York, and we have a five they have a five-week residency here and a two-week residency here that's become very popular.
00:34:54
Speaker
And it's wonderful to see the arts here. We have a ballet, an opera, symphony, and and all kinds of students. and We're just about to finish the season. And, you know, you so I'm surrounded by arts all summer. And it's just, it's beautiful to see that growth and to see that ability to explore. And you're giving these artists that ability to do that.
00:35:16
Speaker
um And my understanding is, too, that the food is pretty good. oh yes, it is. Well, it's so nice that you don't have to even think about it. You just, you know, chef serves this incredible buffet. and yeah, it's amazing.
00:35:33
Speaker
you come back, we're building a, right now it'll be done in the middle of ah September. Sometime in September, we're building a big commercial kitchen. Oh my goodness. Nice. I want to come with my daughter because I want her to experience Wait a minute. Wait a minute. yeah i friend jamie my friend jamie I'm coming. I would love to come. Hey, Laura, what were some of your favorite memories of being at the Chateau? Oh my gosh.
00:36:00
Speaker
Well, I, I sort of hung out in my studio all day. i didn't even want to come up for meals. I, well, I did for dinners, but I just had snacks in my studio and I just like working all day on whatever I wanted to work on And then there was a musician, Michael in the studio next to me who was composing and playing music while I was working.
00:36:26
Speaker
i'm going to get teary eyed thinking about it. Um, The people I met there, like two of them are coming with me on, I'm teaching in Mexico City next year and they're coming with me. And it's like we still like all of us when we're in a city where the other people are, we connect again and share pictures and...
00:36:48
Speaker
um And the thing I love so much, like when I teach my retreats, I attract a certain demographic. So those are the people that I'm with, with those experiences, but the diversity of the group um in every way is what I loved. Yeah.
00:37:05
Speaker
And I love music and I never really gotten to experience musicians jamming together and how they just speak their own language and they say, you know, play C, hi, blah, blah, blah. And then they just start going. And that was magical.
00:37:24
Speaker
It was all of it, all of it. It was really great. I remember going into your studio and you were producing and then you started making the paintbrush sculptures.
00:37:36
Speaker
They were amazing. Which I snagged from your basement, I think. And just watching the ideas come out and the the energy that was going in to your work and seeing that evolve and watching that happen is such an amazing thing.
00:37:53
Speaker
experience to be you know to be able to go into an artist studio is is really a personal thing and then to be able to experience that and to be able to talk with people about their work all the time and to see that come out and see that kind of being drawn someone drawing it out of themselves in the studio is really a beautiful thing and the way they support everybody supports one another and my ma my other favorite memory was the cold plunge because I took my first cold plunge and I loved it Well, and i want to i wanted I want you to share, Laura, if you could, too, because one of the things you shared with me privately, and I hope I can share this, is now, Lori is, as we all know, an extremely accomplished artist. I mean, ah licensed, amazing, and just incredible, and watching her just whip stuff out very quickly, but you went with some trepidation. You went feeling, didn't you tell me you were feeling a little bit insecure? and Well, yeah, because...
00:38:49
Speaker
And I even shared this with the group because a lot of them were very fine art based and they had really deep personal meaning in their work. And my work is usually just colorful and joyful and tells a story.
00:39:06
Speaker
And I felt I got so much um support and in the work being just about that. but does Yes, it can that is and meaningful. It can be just that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that's the beauty of a residency is you get that validation, you get that support. Sometimes we have a lot of self-doubt and, or little self-doubt or however, but your work is meaningful and beautiful and touches so many people. And know you you're open for applications now, aren't you?
00:39:35
Speaker
for For what season? Yeah. when Most of the, well, it's 26 and ah it's going to start being 27 next month. Okay. oh how many are you doing How many are you doing a year now?
00:39:50
Speaker
How many artists? Like how many residencies? Oh, I think we do maybe 16 to 18, depending on how it comes together. Wow. It's in three weeks.
00:40:04
Speaker
weeks So it's three weeks, not ah two weeks and a month any longer? don't four weeks anymore, but we do ah two weeks and three weeks. weeks and three weeks, yeah. Yeah. And you also have some scholarships available, too, for some people, too. I saw that. Everybody who gets accepted gets a scholarship, which is called the Denis Diderot Grant.
00:40:25
Speaker
um And then we have one for artists that are 29 and younger, which is an additional emerging artist grant that we we can do about six a month.
00:40:36
Speaker
Yeah. That's fabulous. And, you know, I just want to add something that
00:40:42
Speaker
that that um
00:40:46
Speaker
our hope with the residency, and i think it's a big part of our mission, is you know We can't really change anybody's work or make it better or make it worse. That's that's up to the artist to do, to to do the work.
00:41:01
Speaker
ah What we hope is that when ah that once you get accepted, and in theory, we wish we could accept everybody, but we can't. ah And a wide criteria in how we choose people, you know which has to do from the work,
00:41:16
Speaker
from what they write, you know, it's, it's not like just about one thing. So it's not always obvious, but, um, we'd like to believe that, that you find this when you need us and that the experience here, that if we wanted anybody to take anything away, because life is difficult sometimes is that the fact that you came here,
00:41:40
Speaker
is something that becomes part of your history.
Residency goals and artist validation
00:41:43
Speaker
And it's something that you get to um carry with you forever. So when, because art is one of the most important things in our lives amongst other things, but art is definitely one aspect of, an artist considers himself an artist because they do work and they think creatively.
00:41:58
Speaker
And we hope that by ah the artists coming here, that when they have a low point or with things ongoing and when the work is being questioned, that they know that there was a place in time that a group of artists that they spent time with validated who they are as a person.
00:42:21
Speaker
And that feeling, we believe that even if you have it once in your lifetime, you know, you did something that the people that are your people, um, accepted who it is that you are.
00:42:33
Speaker
And sometimes you have to, you know, knowing your value is being around the right people. And we put ourselves in all kinds of situations. And sometimes it's just family. And sometimes it's a friend that's not really a friend, or it's just somebody who's jealous. We don't know, we can't, you can't control the world.
00:42:49
Speaker
So you got to find your value by surrounding yourself by the people that value you. And um We hope that this experience is it gives that to the history of the individual.
00:43:03
Speaker
And it's something that that can make them a little bit stronger moving forward into their lives and make them better people and produce better work. So we usually ask people to end with some advice, but I think you just gave the most beautiful advice ever.
00:43:17
Speaker
do you want to add anything, Beulah? Well, we just hope that it extends on and you already said it, that you're still in communication with the group and we hope that it goes back into the world because I think that then it makes all of it a better place because you've got that strength within each other. And we see the Instagram groups keep going and people keep talking and it amazes us how it does keep going because it can't end.
00:43:41
Speaker
at the end of the residency. It has to continue. Otherwise, what's, you know, then it's just a residency. We really do hope it goes back into the world and it spreads. I think that's a thing with creative people too. um i just taught in Vermont and we were talking around the dinner one evening about how we all feel like weird Barbie Um, cause you know, we have friends in our daily lives, but they're not always the creative people that get us.
00:44:11
Speaker
So almost at every retreat I teach, we end up with an ongoing text thread because the bonds that creative people make from the minute, like I hate going to a place where I don't know a lot of people and making small talk. I don't like that.
00:44:27
Speaker
But when I go to a retreat and I don't know a soul, but I know they're all creative It's so different because you just start right off like knowing you have a connection. Yeah. I like i like being weird artist Barbie maybe. That's what we... Yeah. But you know, it's so true. i I've been to a retreat and I'm a photographer and you know I'll spend, I'll take 200 pictures of a still life. 200. It's not even moving. It's not doing anything.
00:44:56
Speaker
But you know, when you're other people that are there and they get you and they're like, oh yeah, that's, you know. But you begin to see through someone else's eyes and you begin to feel that appreciation and and you don't feel weird. You feel, as we've said several times already, validated. And what an incredible space and gift you both have created for artists and how pleased you must be to see this grow and to keep your chateau.
Chateau's evolution and global connections
00:45:26
Speaker
You've kept the chateau. know, it's funny, Ziggy, I thought you were going to say that the first group came through the, I don't know, 2010s, because you took it over.
00:45:38
Speaker
And then you threw out 2017 and, And then let's not forget that we went right into 2020, not much after that. Brilliant. That's always lovely in the hospitality industry when everything's shut down.
00:45:49
Speaker
But how beautiful now that you've rebounded and you've got these 16 to 18 retreats that are happening. I mean, that's... I mean, you've got the Chateau, you're building and you're planting the seeds for everybody to bloom and keep re-blooming. And that's, that's an incredible gift you're giving everyone.
00:46:09
Speaker
What a legacy. What a legacy you're both giving to people through your dad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing. Amazing. Wow. All right. Well, my application will be in the mail soon. Um,
00:46:23
Speaker
It's online. Pardon me? the application's online. That's perfect. Even better. Yes. A little easier to get it to France. it's a little easier to get it there. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been an incredible conversation and ah we will have the links for everybody to follow ah Chateau Orcavo and and see all the see yourself and apply. and And they are accepting applications for 26 into 27 years.
00:46:52
Speaker
And Lori, what else do you want to say? i'm I'm pretty speechless. i I keep tearing up because i i love all the things you're saying, but I also keep, you know, going back memories.
00:47:08
Speaker
is it It was just, it was magical. And we had our dear friend Diane Kappa a few episodes ago, and she was just bursting. She was just bursting. She'd just come back.
00:47:20
Speaker
So it was a life-changing experience. And she's a seasoned artist who's been doing it for so long. and But I think it's amazing how just a couple of weeks can kind of reset. she's still bursting. She just had a show, and I just talked to her last week. and Yeah. Huge, huge. Yeah, it's amazing.
00:47:38
Speaker
Well, thank you both for joining us. And I hope one day to meet you in person. Thank you. Thank you. everyone Thanks, everyone. Peace, love and re-bloom. Life is too short not to follow your passions. So go out there and let your heart plant you where you are meant to be and grow your joy.
00:47:57
Speaker
We will be right here sharing more incredible stories of reinvention with you. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode of Rebloom.
00:48:08
Speaker
Until next time, I'm Jamie Jameson. And I'm Lori Siebert. Peace, love, and Rebloom, dear friends.