L'Atelier Nomade

Ivan Seymus

  • The oldest house in Oppède-le-Vieux

    The oldest house in Oppède-le-Vieux

    Oppède-le-Vieux, our residency of the past twenty years, is perched on a rocky outcrop in the Luberon region of Provence. It’s known for its medieval architecture, rich history and vegetation. But also its desolation and silence. The name says it all, ‘vieux’ (old in French), and I wondered what the oldest house in the village… Continue reading

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  • A Double-chambered Vessel

    A Double-chambered Vessel

    It was during the time I had just begun my first lessons in graphic techniques at the academy. My greatest source of inspiration were the drawings I had made during a long stay in Mexico. (More about that in this blog post: Mexico, my plein air sketch roots.) The archaeological sites of Tula and Teotihuacan… Continue reading

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  • Thinking through making

    Thinking through making

    As part of the deep mapping project around Saint Augustin, I set out to better understand how building a new site in the 12th century might have unfolded. Instead of relying on written sources alone, I chose to explore this through making. Not far from the location I was documenting, I constructed a larger-scale sculpture:… Continue reading

  • Coup d’État

    Coup d’État

    What’s on my desk, and in my head When you draw what’s on your desk, almost on automatic pilot because you know all that stuff by heart without even looking, all sorts of things go through your head. Like this story … The hidden life of stationery And then, the calculator seized power. The stapler… Continue reading

  • Mexico 1986, my plein air sketch roots

    Mexico 1986, my plein air sketch roots

    While unpacking after moving between houses recently, I stumbled upon one of my first sketchbooks with plein air sketches. A pack of memories came back to me, together with the rediscovery of my roots of why I write and draw. I must have been around 19 years old at the time. Of course, I sketched… Continue reading

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  • A commissioned travel journal

    A commissioned travel journal

    Almost without exception, my travel journals are for personal use. It does happen that an isolated drawing ends up as an illustration in an article or book. But then, it is out of his original context. So when the Deputy Creative Director of Road & Track (Hearst magazines) contacted me, I was challenged! If I… Continue reading

About Me

World citizen with a notebook in hand to write, sketch and tell stories with all senses present.

This blog is a zibaldone in itself — part notebook, part stage, where fragments turn into text, images, and sometimes motion. Mostly on keeping a zibaldone, Provence, sketching and stories of all kind.

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