Studio Golondrina is situated in the ancient village of Cañada de Benatanduz. At an altitude of 1442 meters, Cañada is the highest village in the Maestrazgo, a wild, ruggedly beautiful and little-visited region of Aragon, northeastern Spain.
The studio occupies the old stables and corral of a typical Aragonese mountain house, perched on the upper slopes of the deep limestone canyon that gives the village its Moorish name. Hundreds of nesting swallows - golondrinas - are constant companions from Spring to Autumn.
Work on the house is on-going but the sculpture studio will be open to visiting artists from May to September 2011. The house is top left in the following picture.
The view from the studio is inspirational.
Cañada de Benatanduz is a hardworking farming village, famous in the region for wheat, potatoes and lamb. The tough landscape, turbulent history, extreme winters and very isolated location have produced a ruggedly independent, warm-hearted and welcoming community.
Studio Golondrina is a small-scale addition to the green tourism initiatives that are helping to counter depopulation in the Maestrazgo. Cañada de Benatanduz is a tiny community; to keep the project in scale, studio places are limited to four at any one time.
