This month I had the pleasure of having a chat with Wayne Newman founder of CompetaArt. We talked about the talent and personalities of the various artists and wouldn't it be interesting to get to know each one individually. So, over the course of the next few months I will also be speaking to some of the group members about their work and life in Spain. To start the series off I thought it would be interesting for people to know a little bit more about CompetaArt, how it was formed and what they do.
Wayne moved to Competa over 6 years ago with his Spanish wife Aurora, he formally worked in IT and it was these skills that led to the creation of CompetaArt. It started with an artist friend asking Wayne to help create a CD which he could post out to exhibition halls. Wayne obliged and suggested a webpage would also be beneficial for self promotion. It was through this first web page that the idea of providing a platform for artists to come together both on the web and in person was developed. Wayne’s objective was to bring together artists and crafts people in the area so they could share ideas and projects common to all. What was initially a single web page for one artist soon became more than twenty pages showcasing artists and crafts people. Wayne then invited to them to his home for a glass of wine and as the ideas flowed, suggested they were now a group….. thus CompetaArt was born! Each artist has now their own page with a description of themselves and a photo display of works. The group now also meet on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.
Anybody is welcome to have a chat with Wayne with regards to joining the group and he describes CompetaArt as an incredible mixture of nationalities, personalities, skills which is democratically run.
One of their major projects is the annual walkabout the group organises. It is a walking tour of artist studios and exhibits, normally over the Easter weekend around Competa on both the Saturday and Sunday between 11.00am and 19.00. Wayne explained each member of the group helps with organising the weekend “for example I am in charge of logistics, Debbie sorts publicity , Karen the Swedish translation and we all pull together and work as fantastic team”. The walkabout is not only good self promotion for the artists and crafts people but also great promotion for the village of Competa. We are happy for others to join the walkabout for one year as an invited artist but after that they need to become a full member of the group to continue.
Also throughout the year CompetaArt hold other exhibitions. Last year they held exhibitions in Nerja and Kenitra Morocco and
after the walkabout and this year will be holding an exhibition at the Museo de Arte y Costumes in Competa from May 1st to July 15th.
I am really looking forward to meeting the CompetaArt members as they sound a really interesting group of people and I hope The Grapevine will do them justice over the coming months.
