AZUL
Azul is a an artist‘s haven in rural Madison County north of Asheville, built and guided by Camille, a French woman who married an American who worked in the Hot Springs post office in Madison County. Her husband contracted multiple scherosis and died a number of years ago. But Camille, who is an artist in many mediums was determined to build a retreat for writers and other creative people, inviting them to spend a month or more at Azul concentrating on their work. Camille, a petit 81 year old who lost an arm in France after the Second World War when she picked up an unexplored grenade as a child is an intense live wire. Such was her determination that she excavated the basement of the main building with her one good arm, one wheel barrow full a day. Her vision and her drive has attracted financial support for the retreat through fundraisers and auctions. Once a month she and volunteers host a potluck which was the reason we were there.
The main building is a hodgepodge set of added on rooms with different shapes and fabulous stained glass windows and very ornate, almost Victorian woodwork and tilework. Every room is a work of art dreamed up by Camille. She led us through her current project, the rooms in which she is going to live when it is completed. There is an elaborate glassed in circular stairway, leading past beautiful guest rooms with a shower room extending out into space from the second floor, entirely glassed in so that you can shower in naked splendor for all the world to see.
In a couple of storerooms and a barn she has collected all kinds of tiles and glass and different kinds of wood for future projects.
There were about twentyfive people at the potluck, each bringing a special dish, almost all vegetarian. After dinner Camille gave a talk on honoring the earth, focusing on indigenous people, the Malungeons, a reclusive people of mixed European, African and Native American origin who lived in this area whose history is a mystery.
And then Josh Copus, the founder and owner of the Old Marshall Jail Hotel and
Restaurant in Marshall who was a master potter before he became a hotel owner, narrated a slide show about his many visits to Tasmania, Australia, where he leads pottery workshops at pottery festivals which draw potters from around the world. I met Josh last October in Letojanni, Sicily, where we were attending Rob Amberg‘s 75th birthday party. At that point Josh was escorting two Japanese women around Sicily. A month or so ago I videoed old time ballad singers whom he had invited into his cafe on the French Broad River. Josh is a fascinating person and a wonderful story teller. The evening at Azul was a marvelous evening.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 