ENVIRONMENT
Do Picho is beautifully located just outside Palas de Rei in central Galicia, surrounded by fields, farms and forests, a 25-minute walk through the woods or a 2-minute drive to the village.
Far from being fashionable and cool, Palas itself and Galicia more broadly attracted Do Picho’s founder exactly because they were a bit out of the way, eminently more affordable, beautiful in a more rugged way, with a thriving but often hidden cultural scene, steeped in tradition while keen to innovate, and full of wonderful people. In short, this is a great environment for an artist residence.
THE RESIDENCE
Artist residence Do Picho is part of Finca Do Picho which was rebuilt in the 2000s by renowned Galician architect Pedro de Llano. It includes the residence, a large garden, the house in which Do Picho’s founder and president lives, and two separate, smaller living units. These units each contain a bedroom and a bathroom and are most often used as accommodation for the volunteers and interns that are an important part of the Do Picho team, but are sometimes rented out to pilgrims or others who seek accommodation in Palas de Rei.
The residence itself offers a serene and spacious environment with exceptional natural light. It consists of three bedrooms (one of which can easily be converted into an additional atelier space), a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom, and a large common space ideal for art projects of all kinds.
It offers a lot of space and light and tranquility for artists who want to come on their own. At the same time, there is enough space for those who want to come with a loved one or even their family, or for two or three artists who want to submit a collaborative project and work together in a common space. With ample room to work, relax, and enjoy, the residency provides a great setting for artistic exploration and collaboration.
PALAS DE REI
Palas de Rei is a small town of about 3,350 people, located on the most popular route of the Camino de Santiago, the Camino Frances, in the Province of Lugo and only a 4-day walk from Santiago. From late March to the end of October it welcomes visitors from all over the world who stop here en route to Santiago, while in the remaining months it is a much quieter village, nevertheless providing all services and benefiting from its vicinity to Lugo, Santiago de Compostela (with its airport at only a 45-minute drive from Finca do Picho), and some of the most beautiful beaches on the Galician coast.
ENVIRONMENT IN DANGER
Palas de Rei is surrounded by beautiful lands and close to many attractions. Currently, however, Palas itself and central Galicia as a whole are threatened by the project of the construction of a mega pulp factory by the Portuguese multinational paper company Altri at the border of Palas and the adjoining municipality of Melide. “The project is a monster that would cause total devastation in our region”, according to the head of communications for the Ulloa Viva platform that brings together neighbours and environmental and other associations and stakeholders that are fighting against the project (for more information about the current stage of the fight against ALTRI, see the Facebook page of Plataforma por unha Ulloa Viva). This is why Do Picho is so committed to the protection of the environment, seeing art and artistic expression as a potentially very important part of a much broader fight for life, the environment and human rights.
