A Portrait of the Artist ...

Jess - a self-portrait

Helen Ranger recently caught up with artist Jess Stephens, Cultural Co-ordinator at Cafe Clock. Here's what Jess has to say about her role at the Clock and life in Fez:

Before settling in Fez, I was a practising artist and teacher in Barcelona, Northern Spain, for eight years, involved in exhibitions and creative projects. Catalonia's capital city is rich in culture platforms and programmes.

I'm here in Morocco to realise a desire to set up an artist's residency programme in a rich and interesting culture, where visual artists, musicians and the literary can be inspired and informed, exchange ideas and share knowledge.

I first came to Morocco with this dream in 2005, and spent my adventures investigating potential tranquil locations close to an imperial city. Fantastic Fez being one of the capital cities for artisans and large enough to house the necessary requirements for my residency project, it was not long into my research that I discovered the nearby old Jewish town of Sefrou: perfect for both stimulation and focus.

With the thirst to realise creative projects in my new-found life, I was generously offered a rich platform for culture by Mike Richardson. His newly restored 300-year-old dar that houses Cafe Clock provides just such a platform, perfect for crossing cultures and borders.

As Cultural Co-ordinator at Cafe Clock, I am thrilled to amalgamate my skills as an artist, event organiser and teacher into a programme of visual art, multi-media, live music, lectures and calligraphy workshops. To aim to inspire and end up being motivated is a thrill.

Clock Culture strives to mix nationalities and cultures whilst intertwining traditional and contemporary creativity. Clock Culture and the artist's residency plan are closely related and one will feed the other.

One of our strengths at the Clock is the informal and welcoming environment, which encourages all people to dip or dive into a usually intimidating culture pool. Four months into the action, artists, musicians, artisans and the literary are getting to know Cafe Clock as a meeting point where we endeavour to collaborate, demonstrate, experiment and inspire, in addition to challenging ourselves. It's an approachable, unpretentious and refreshing environment to visit and spend some time. Tick, tock, tick, tick.

Clock Culture's future, we hope, will continue to develop openly and creatively as it has so far. The culture team and cafe staff are all stimulated and fired up for the next phase. We are programming language conversation groups, more music evenings, exhibitions and themed evening events. All in all, it's about collaborating with other organisations and creative individuals and contributing to the rich tapestry that is the Fez medina.

At present Clock Culture and Cafe Clock donate a percentage of concert ticket sales to Makadamat Ata3 who assist children in the medina to acquire reading glasses.

For the programme of events at Cafe Clock, see www.cafeclock.com.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news