Atelier
Festina Lente
16, allée Sainte-Catherine - 49590 Fontevraud l’Abbaye
- France
Phone : + 33 (0) 241 381 569 - e-mail :
atelier.festinalente@wanadoo.fr
Biography
One day, working on an enormous project, people started
arguing, the language burst asunder into many languages, lack of understanding
became commonplace.
I’ve never known greater lack of understanding than when one thinks one
understands, one thinks people are using the same codes, but they’re not
opening the same doors.
Words prove to be insufficient, irksome, evanescent.
At 17, a stay in Istanbul encourages me to express the Word in and of itself,
a spectacular discovery. Learning Hebrew encouraged me to seize the flesh of
the Word.
As a guide in the Sinai, I learned moderation, the essential, and this nourished
my taste for the timeless and the universal.
My spatial poetry eliminates the superfluous. The same quality informs my choice
of historical sources.
My meeting with Monsieur Petit, heir of a family tradition of illuminator-colorist
excited my interest in stencil illumination.
To reproduce, make available and share a beloved image, retaining a mastery
of image reproduction thanks to an art involving gestures and the senses: this
sums up what I am today, an inner-directed route, open to all.
I travel using my feet, my hands and my mind,
and make haste slowly.
1990 Training in Paris in pagesetting.
1991 - 1993 Training at the Ecole Française d’Enluminure (French
School of Illumination)- Angers.
1991 - 1992 First prize of the Ecole Française d'Enluminure
1992 - 1993 Grand prize of the Ecole Française d'Enluminure .
1993 - 1994 Teaching at the Ecole Française d’Enluminure.
1994 Creation of the Festina Lente atelier at Fontevraud l’Abbaye.
Major
Solo Exhibitions
2008 Médiathèque Equinoxe-Châteauroux
2007 Head office of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) - Geneva - Switzerland
Paris 13 University
2006 Roman Art Museum - Issoire - France
Sacred Art Festival - Saumur - France
2005 Library of the Natural History Museum. La Rochelle
2004 Municipal Gallery – Provo, Utah - USA
2003 Palais des Arts- Vannes (group exhibit)
2002 Salt Lake City- USA – Hope Gallery - Provo- Utah - USA
2001 As part of the “Journées Mondiales de la Francophonie”
(International Festival of the French-Speaking World) : French Cultural Center
of Haifa – Israel – French Cultural Center of Beersheba- Israel
2000 Centre Malraux- Neuville en Ferrain (with the Arab World Institute)
1999 Loudun (group exhibit) for Amnesty International.
1998 Médiathèque de Rive-de-Giers (Loire)
1997 Salon Régional des Métiers d’Arts (Regional Salon of
the Arts Professions) of La Haye-Fouassière (group exhibit) representing
the Maine-et-Loire.- Firminy Library (Loire)
1996 Studio Gallery- Raanana- Israel
Museum - School of La Perrine - Laval
1995 Salon des Métiers d’Art (Salon of the Arts Professions) -
Lions Club- Beauvais.
International Arts and Folklore Festival - St Jean la Potherie- Brittany.
Book Fair - Loudun – Bressuire Museum- Deux-Sèvres.
1993 Municipal Library of Joué-les-Tours.
1992 Municipal Library of St Barthélemy d’Anjou.
1988 St Jean Gallery- Quebec- Canada.- Municipal Library of Angers
Many of these exhibits, in France and abroad, have
included sessions to help expose children and teenagers to illumination,
as well as lectures.
For twelve years, I’ve been collaborating regularly with the C.P.I.E
Val de Vienne at the Abbey of Seuilly as a teacher of illumination.
My workshop has been featured on various television shows, notably on channels
TF1 and FR3 in France.
Getting to Fontevraud l'Abbaye >> print
Orders
and Shipping :
If you wish to acquire an illuminated work or calligraphy,
here’s how to do it :
Note the name
of the work that you would like to order (example : E04_Temple of Salomon) and
contact me by e-mail
or telephone at (+33)2 41 38 15 69 so I can give you the exact costs of shipping
and method of payment.
Works are sent unframed only.
A certificate of authenticity comes with them.
Shipping costs vary according to the document format, shipping destination and
insurance. Shipping takes place within 36 hours of receipt of payment.
In France :
By check, written to the order of “Richard LERAY – Atelier Festina
Lente”
For France and abroad, upon receiving credit card number, expiration date, and
the last four numbers on the back of the card.
VISA and MASTERCARD accepted.
This information can be communicated by e-mail, telephone or fax. Note that
I am the only one with access to these forms of communications at the workshop.
For orders over 200 euros, payment may be made in
two, three or four installments without incurring extra costs.
