Apartment art

As we travel Morocco on various mini-vacations, one thing Othman and I never fail to bring back with us is at least one piece of original art. We never have a large budget, but find a lot of pleasure in decorating our home slowly with pieces of art (bought directly from their creators the majority of the time) that each have a story and find a place on our colorful walls.

Joining our Moroccan art are various pieces from other sources, including France, Brazil, and the US, many having been given as gifts. There is even a painting from me! Conspicuously missing is the season series my sisters and I collaborated on last summer. I'm saving them for our next place, which will be chosen partly on whether it has enough kitchen wall space to accommodate them!!

For the purposes of this post I've focused simply on art that hangs on our walls. If I included other media—hand woven blankets and carpets, little sculptures, etc—there'd never be an end to this post.

The entryway:

This piece was acquired at the last Pages event, from the talented Moroccan
pop artist Mouad Abou Lhana, who is based in the north of Morocco.We fell in
love with his style and decided we couldn't leave the night without something!

This came from the streets of Essaouira during the 2013
Gnaoua Music Festival and is the largest painting we have.

I rotate different works of art, often my own paintings,
in this funky display case. Currently it holds a piece I
commissioned from my talented little sis Isabel last
Christmas, 2014.

This is the one painting of mine that is constantly on display, and is
the first I ever did, back in December 2013! See my post here about it.

The living room:

While we have lots of wall space in our living room, there
aren't any previously made holes for nails, and due to the
brittle quality of the paint we hesitate to make any. So these
two paintings, done on inside sections of cement bags, are
taped up and are the only ones. They are our most recent
acquisitions, purchased in Assilah a month ago. The artist
himself spoke to us at length about the symbolism behind
the figures,(two women in front of a window in the further
painting, and Gnaoua musicians in the closer) and we spent a
long time talking art with him in the morning sun.

Seeing as they're hard to see above, here is a better view of the two paintings!

The hallway:

These both have special places in my heart. The top was bought
on the boardwalk of Agadir during our New Years 2012 trip, and
was the first piece in our collection. The figures are traditional
Gnaoua musicians.
The second we got during a rummage sale in the spring of 2013
from a young Moroccan girl who painted it herself directly onto
the glass. If I remember correctly she was 10 years old, and the
 moment we bought it she phoned her mom half-screaming with
excitement that she had just sold her first work of art ever. We
both sincerely hope that she continued!

This lil guy is from Essaouira as well, and we got it during
the same music festival as above. It hangs right between
the kitchen and the second bedroom, and its vibrant colors
make it a favorite of mine.

The extra bedroom:

Gnaoua seems to be a theme in the art we buy, and this is again
from Essaouria, but from an earlier trip during New Years 2013.

This comes from Othman's family home, and was
done when he was only a preteen during a family trip
to Paris! He loves the misspelling that turns "Othman"
into "Hothman," and we keep it up for a good giggle.

Seeing as that was already on our wall during our mini-honeymoon to a
theme park in Minnesota called Valley Fair in August 2013, we thought
sitting for a caricature together would make for a fitting companion!

This is an old keepsake from Brazil, a doodle-turned-gift
from an ex of a cousin of mine, who was an artist. I've
always found it fascinating and have kept it for a long
time—I received it back in 2008!

Our room:

Another lovely I commissioned from Isa last summer, 2014.

Finally, a treasured handmade wedding gift from a good friend of my
mom's. It hangs above our bed and reminds us what our home is built on.