Refreshed by all the kind posts to my last entry, I'm putting up the stories and pics from Morocco. Having left Algiers via 5 or 6 checkpoints in the airport (witnessing one man being led away by a security agent who was saying "you will not be flying today"... never a good thing) I was relieved to land in the more relaxed, security-wise, country of Morocco. Met in baggage claim by an embassy driver, delivered to a really nice hotel, life was pretty good.
While in Morocco, I had the tremendous honor of meeting with our the US Ambassador to Morocco, Ambassador Samuel Kaplan and his wife Sylvia. But no photos were allowed inside the Embassy, so you'll have to believe me. I gave them a copy of my book "Desperate Households". They are originally from Minneapolis, and therefore knew Stone Soup from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Casablanca has an extremely romantic association for Americans, thanks to Hollywood... and it is a great place, but not necessarily what you think. While "Rick's Bar" does exist...
... and it is on the waterfront, the Atlantic Ocean is off to the right... Rick's located at the far end of the line of buildings, center.
But Casablanca itself is a economic center and not much of a tourist destination. There is a beach...
And there are modern neighborhoods and downtown...although you still see donkey carts hauling trash and landscaping waste. And Morocco, for all it's progress, still has a 50% illiteracy rate.
Throughout Morocco, I had a great time with the consulate staff who set and kept my itinerary. Below... our driver and Cultural Affairs Specialist Raddadi in Casablanca taking me for coffee by the seaside.
The Cultural Affairs office at the US Embassy had arranged for me to visit art schools and meet journalists and cartoonists in Casablanca, Rabat, Tangiers and Tetouan. I was extremely impressed with the schools, which ranged from Fine Arts (Beaux Arts) to Graphic Design to Advertising Design and PR.
The Fine Arts school in Tetouan also featured an American Fullbright scholar, Eric, who teaches printmaking and paper making and paper sculpture. I met 3 other Fullbright scholars who were working in the vicinity... Tetouan made me want to go back to art school and live the life of a student!
Here is a collection of photos from those visits...
Above, a meeting with the editor of Canal Libere, a satirical weekly in Casablanca, and the editorial cartoonist. Editor Abdellah Chenkou on right, cartoonist Naji Bennaji on left. I started my career at a newspaper similar to this, so it was a real treat to meet with them.
Note: A local cartoonist was, that day, in trouble for an offensive (subjective) cartoon he did about the Prince's marriage to a German woman. "Trouble" in the rest of the world can mean jail time. A lively discussion of censorship ensued.
Below, celebrated Moroccan political cartoonist Belaid Bouimid met me at my hotel, and flattered me with two cartoons...
Above, the monkey represents a local voter who does not understand politics outside his region.
Below... well, the three guys represent a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian... and the extent of their willingness to compromise and co-exist.
Below, students from L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Casablanca...
The school grounds... complete with resident sculptures...
from the Com Sup School (Graphic Design). These were some of my favorite students to visit, very lively and appreciative. Very down to earth.
I included the following cartoon (from Veterans Day a couple of years ago) in my presentation, and these great students not only GOT it, but applauded. I was very touched.
From IHB Art Media...
From the Artcom School...
I didn't make a presentation here :-), but I had to capture the cartoon influence on a daycare center in Rabat...
And capture what the consulate staff referred to as "satellite farming"...
Scenes from outside the palace walls in Rabat...
And the old city market, called the Medina...
Above... lanterns. I would have brought home a trunkload if I could have!
Then, the whirlwind continues. On to Tangier.
Below... I spoke at an amazing place called the "American Legation" (TALIM)...
This was a fascinating place, and truthfully deserves its own post.
BUT, life is short and deadlines are shorter and more demanding. So I have clipped a bit of info from their site for you... but visit their site yourself. You'll be dreaming up ways to visit in person by the time you are done.
From Wikipedia:
The American Legation, located in the old city of Tangier, Kingdom of Morocco, commemorates the historic cultural and diplomatic relations between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Morocco.
The museum serves as a cultural center for the study of Morocco and a museum on Moroccan-American relations and artists of Tangier. It includes a room devoted to the expatriate writer and composer Paul Bowles. The museum also features a library and conference center. Thor Kuniholm is the current museum director.
Kenneth Lisenbee recently emailed me with some corrections to this post, and let me know that the Paul Bowles official site has even better information than Wikipedia, I recommend it. There is also information about many other writers, contemporaries of Bowles, including his wife Jane.
I genuinely hope to get back here some day...
From the American Legation Site:
http://www.legation.org/
The Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) is the only historic landmark of the United States located abroad, designated as such by the U.S. Department of the Interior. From 1821 until 1956, the U.S. diplomatic mission to Morocco was located here in the old walled Medina of Tangier. With the end of the French and Spanish Protectorates in 1956, all diplomatic missions moved from Tangier to the capital, Rabat. The American Legation building continued as the Consulate General for another five years until a new Consulate General was built outside the old Medina...The Society has since operated a museum and cultural center at the Legation with one American employee, the Director/Curator. The Tangier American Legation Museum Society (TALMS) changed its name in 2008 to Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM).
http://www.legation.org/
Signing the guestbook... what an honor.
Below...
A gin and tonic on the rooftop of the American Legation, provided by Thor Kuniholm, Resident Director of TALIM... Tangier and the port were behind me but not visible in this snapshot. Trust me, it was extremely memorable. Thanks Thor! (And Matthew Long, right, Cultural Affairs Officer, who made it happen).
With regret for not having more time in Tangier, and vowing to return, I travelled to Tetouan and was greeted at the School of Fine Arts by this amazing banner.
Above... the director of the school, me, Eric the printmaking Fullbright, and a school professor. By this time in the trip the edges of my brain were getting fuzzy and my record-keeping lax, so my apologies for not having names. This school was in a wonderful bright, airy building, filled with amazing sculpture (some of it by the accomplished director) and a lot of lucky students.
The director gave me a print of one of his pieces, and I left my remaining travel copy of "This Might Not Be Pretty", book 7, with him for the school library.
Reviewing student work... these students were all extremely talented with amazing drawing skills.
I have since received more student work to review from members of this class, including the young women who were a bit shy and did not want to wrestle the men for table space. Women Artists of the World Unite and elbow your way in!
Below... hearts getting broken in art school? Losing your heart to art?
The work of two women ...Sarah el Ghouan:
And from Batoule Alimam...
There is really no equivalent for what I do, the newspaper comic strip on a daily funny page, in Morocco. I believe these artists will pursue fine art, advertising art, comic books they self publish or maybe find a publisher for in France... but by the same token their work can then be very free and inventive. Rather than the "hard line" common to comics in the US, they use a "soft line" also common in European cartoons.
Our "hard line" makes our work more suitable for licensing... you know, toys and lunch boxes and such. But the soft line is fun to look at ... I hope to see more.
Finally, after too short a visit...scenes from Tetouan. The view from the art school, and downtown...
Well, that's all. My amazing adventure to North Africa ends.
After this, a long ride back to Rabat and Casablanca during which I learned a lot more about the workings of our state department abroad, and the upcoming visit of Madam Secretary (Hillary Clinton) to Marakkesh (a frantic time for all staff and some cancelled Halloween parties)...
...and a VERY long trip home from Casablanca to Frankfurt to San Francisco to Eugene, and back to work.
Thanks to all who made this trip possible. I hope I've made some lifelong contacts, and will be sending creative wishes to all the artists I met. And creative freedom.
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Since I've returned, I've received work from artists I met. This, from the Institut National des Beaux Arts in Tetouan, courtesy of Said Nali. It references me saying I can't work without coffee... here thestudents are on coffee, drawing coffee, affected by coffee:
Now... 10 days to work and catch up before we head to Thailand and the Women Build for Habitat for Humanity.
Who planned this???
Secretly? I love it.
Looks to me as though you had a great time in Morocco. (Wonder why I keep hearing Bob Hope and Bing Crosby sing "We're off on the Road to Morocco"?) Thanks for sharing your pictures and memories with us.
I'm looking forward to your trip to Thailand and all the pictures that you will bring back to us.
Posted by: Illanoy Gal | November 03, 2009 at 02:47 PM
Great stuff, Jan, thanks for the kind words and for your visit to Morocco. Hmmm, the only photo of me in here shows me having a drink.... ;-)
Posted by: Matthew Long | December 03, 2009 at 11:21 AM
Oh how marvelous that humor is international.
Posted by: eddie | January 28, 2010 at 07:07 AM