Interviews and portraits

FR - Bernard Völlmy has always been a draughtsman, thanks to his work as a geomatician and watercolourist.

FR - Encountered in various exhibitions in Occitania, notably Notes estivales at the end of August in Vézénobres, Véronique Persy sculptes on inspired themes.

The generous curves of the body for poetry, animal or forest themes with a lively ecological conscience, chubby and friendly toddlers in the Stairway to heaven serie, lanky trees of life inspired by Gustav Klimt... this and so much more is Véronique's universe.

FR - When the Domaine de Malaïgue becomes a theatre stage and art gallery while hosting a book signing, it is always with the promise to be a good time for meeting challenging people and art.

It also makes us want to find out more about the careers of the exposed artists taking part in this multi-faceted exhibition, who are coming together in an art-filled rural setting.

Three forms of artistic creation, three ways of looking at the world and, in particular, at the nature that surrounds us....

Annette Charlton, editor of A French Collection website, shares with us her interview of Canadian writer Patricia Sands, a favourite France author who brings the magic of France alive on every page of her books, and also in real life on her South of France Memories Tours.

FR - Marie Schenck is a art teacher and cultural mediator at the MJC in Uzès, where she runs a number of art workshops and exhibitions.

Fasting is not just a matter of going without food, it is above all a philosophy of life, dedicated to well-being, offering our body and mind a well-deserved rest in our often overworked lives. It goes without saying that fasting will help you lose a few kilos, but that's just the icing on the cake...

Chloé Paule's shop and pottery workshop at the 25 rue de la Grande Bourgade in Uzès, with its ancient vaults and 1900s shop front, is the perfect place to start learning about pottery.

2nd part of our paper dedicated to Californian writer Jules Larimore (read the 1st part).

FR - Let's have a meeting in the heart of the Cévennes with the authors of Et elles sont parties book, published by Editions de la Fenestrelle.

To mark the release in bookshops of Elly Conway Argylle's novel, adapted for the screen by Matthew Vaughn, UzEssentiel's editor had the pleasure to meet Sophie Bastide-Foltz, who translated the novel into French.

FR - After Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879) of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, A book of the Cevennes published in the early twenties of Anglican priest, antiquarian and novelist Sabine Baring Gould, Notes from the Cévennes (2018) of British poet and novelist Adam Thorpe, comes the turn of Jules Larimore…

Want to know more about her and her love for writing? You are on the right page!

Our meeting with Sandrine Skiller at the Lussan se livre book fair at the end of August provided the perfect subject for our 3rd and final portraits of French crime stories writers.

As we had a wide-ranging conversation about crime, while she was signing her novel Quand le Diable s'invite au Paradis (2019) and her thrillers Les Flammes de l'Enfer ne Suffiront pas (2021) and Tes Ténèbres bâtiront Mon Paradis (2023), we agreed to have a literary meeting with a focus on her writings...

Frédéric Somon, a former gendarme specialised in criminal investigation, is now a deputy public prosecutor and a writer of dark, very dark, novels.

His 4th novel, Ichthus, just published by M+Editions, sends the reader right from the first pages into the disturbing depths of the human soul....

A newcomer to the French literary scene, Christophe Wojcik has delighted us with his first novel, which he describes as a "savourily immoral detective comedy".

But did you know that writing has been part of the author's life for years, and that Le portable (The mobile phone) is just the tip of the iceberg in his writing career?

Follow us and let's enter Christophe Wojcik's universe to discover the whole, or so, world of the writer...

The Galerie de l'Uzège in Uzès regularly exhibits Paul Meznage, a painter who is a regular visitor to this confidential place.

The editorial team took the opportunity of his last exhibition to lead you on a journey along the artist's imaginary and sparkling routes, full of of colour and landscapes that will lead you into a very personal and colourful universe.

As her latest book Un été à Cameline has just been publised in the collection Terres de France of French editor Presses de la Cité, we had the idea to push the door of Aurélie Haderlé's writing room to discover the world of this young novelist born in Nîmes.

FR - If you are interested in drawing, you will undoubtedly find all the inspiration you need with our guest, Patrice Biron-Vannier.

FR - Eric Ribot has always been an avid photographer and, through his pictures, he transmits his vision of the world and of everyday life.

FR - Painting, a youthful passion that has become a daily passion.

Philippe Vasseur began his career as an illustrator at Gallimard after getting a solid education at the Beaux-Arts of Paris and the Academy of Drawing in London.

FR - Poet, photographer, Sandrine Cnudde used to be a gardener and a landscaper. But her "nomadic nature" soon got the better of her and, in 2006, led her to travel abroad to discover the world.

UzEssentiel editor had the pleasure of meeting Nicole Besnainou, an artist who was awarded a prize by French Academy of Arts, Sciences and Letters last October, along with the painter Erick Millet from Bouillargues, among a selection of international artists.

FR - From his hometown Peterborough to Uzes, from London to Saskatoon, Canada, find out more about the many inspirations of British painter Oliver Bevan.

Meeting Laura was a real pleasure. Sculptor, sometimes calligrapher... Let's talk about a little-known profession, where art and creation are the key words.

FR - Native of the Auvergne region, in France, David Vernede has undoubtedly drawn inspirationfrom this rustic and rural territory.

From Biarritz in the Pays Basque to the château de la Rochepot, in Burgundy, from Giverny in Normandy to the small villages of Luberon, Carole takes us along her own private tour in France.

FR - Born in the north of France, Charles Flahault would gain fame in the south, in Montpellier.

Several years ago, Australian-born author and French teacher Catherine Berry convinced her husband to leave their comfortable, suburban life in Melbourne to go and … live in France with their three young children.

Living in Uzès for more than 12 years now, French painter Renée-Mireille Héaulmé is a self-taught artist with a very personal talent.

American born author Keith Van Sickle first visited France, and more especially Provence, almost 30 years ago.

As he and his wife described this early France encounter, “ it was love at first sight ” !

But it was not until 2008 that the couple decided to make the final step : to start living a part-time French life, “ between Provence and California ” .

FR - Named after its founder, David Jamin, the gallery - and workshop Jamin is located, since 2013, in a historic house with centuries-old vaults in the centre of Uzès, rue Saint-Théodorit, a privileged setting for his shimmering colours paintings, with frank and dynamic brushstrokes.

Residing in France since 1997, and more specially in Aix-en-Provence, Mary Lou Longworth left Santa Cruz, in California, where she had lived with her family for ten years, to live the French life.

FR - Agathe has been passionate about ceramics for a long time.

And, one day, she decided to make a rather drastic professional move and became a ceramist. 
 

FR - Originally from the South of France, and a Uzétienne by adoption, the painter Mireille Feuillie-Casalis loves colour.

"I was born in the middle of boxes of pastels and watercolours..."

From the Beaux-Arts of Nantes to the illustrations of her doctoral theses during her studies in biology, from the inspiring exchange with Moroccan artists, strong of their "non-figurative tradition, more open to form and decoration" during her years in Casablanca, to the artists' workshop she runs in Uzès from the end of the 70s, Mireille Feuillie-Casalis pursues her training and gradually returns to watercolour, an art all in delicacy and poetry.

Un site, une page Instagram, des box, A French Collection, c’est un peu tout ça à la fois, en fait.

Mais A French Collection, c’est aussi et surtout la touche de sa créatrice, Annette Charlton, une australienne tombée amoureuse de la France en 2009.

FR - Welcomed by Lynda and Gérard Bellaïche, UzEssentiel has discovered the creations of a very inspired artist.

FR - In 1834, Prosper Mérimée is thirty years old. Appointed inspector general of the French Historical Monuments, he starts to travel through France and its architectural heritage and tries to find a way to protect it.