The artists' route through the valleys of La Cepeda

Lawyer, teacher, hotelier, painter, sculptor, ceramist and a host of other skills and activities make up the profile of a woman from León, María Jesús González-Espejo, who has come to rediscover her lost paradise in the municipality of Revilla. This artist, or better said, multifaceted woman, did not resign herself to rehabilitating a large house as mere rural accommodation next to the banks of the river Tuerto in La Cepeda. The region, nestled between Bierzo and Maragatería, today has barely three thousand inhabitants in the twenty or so villages that make it up. Despite its marvellous landscapes, it would be a faithful example of what has come to be called empty or emptied Spain.  

María Jesús, herself an artist, whose works are a melting pot of influences, where the elegance of Modigliani, the audacity of Picasso and the freshness of the naïf converge, discovered that she was not alone in her discovery of having rediscovered a corner of paradise. If her house, christened La Madrigata (www.lamadrigata.com), is a meeting point for intellectuals, writers and artists, the scene of filandones, fireside chats and essentially literary debates, she has also decided to set up a hiking route in which, on foot, by bike or by car, adventurers and visitors can get to know these villages through the artists who were born there, live there or dwell there, and in which they have made and still make works with a vocation for permanence.   

The route would begin in Otero de Escarpizo, where Benito Escarpizo has his home and studio, a painter of local customs who says he finds in La Cepeda an inexhaustible source of inspiration, the essence of which he captures in his works, now stored and arranged in a museum he has called La Ruinosa. A space full of history and art, which pays homage to the lands of La Cepeda and the people who inhabit them. From there he continues to pass on his legacy, through the numerous international cultural associations to which he belongs. 

González-Espejo visits him frequently, as his home in Revilla is barely six kilometres from Otero on foot. Almost as far as the village of Cogorderos, where Toni Soriano, another artist who has found his inspiration in these lands of León, has his home. This artist left his hometown, Xátiva, in 1978 and went to Gijón, where he discovered his passion for ceramics, in which he used the black earth technique to create new expressions and explore unusual forms. After a fruitful stay in Italy and Slovenia, Toni Soriano settled in Cogorderos, where, together with his Italian wife Carla, he fills his house every summer with artists from all over the world. Italians, Americans, French and Spaniards spend a season in the couple's residence, turning Cogorderos into a centre of creation and exchange of knowledge. 

A little further on, and to round off the route, is Vega de Magaz. In this village, crossed by the river Porcos, the Irish sculptor George Richard Burland has his studio home. Born in 1959 on a farm, he studied economics at the University of Dublin, but discovered immediately afterwards in Denmark his vocation for painting and sculpture. He arrived in Spain in 1987, where he began working in the studio and foundry of the Asturian sculptor José Luis Fernández in the Vallecas district of Madrid. 

Burland has created a body of work that fluctuates between figuration and abstraction, mainly bronze sculptures, although he has not neglected wood and stone, nor has he neglected graphics. Celtic traditions, experiences in Nordic countries and Mediterranean sensuality are some of the sources that shape his pieces. He has had twelve solo exhibitions and has participated in several group exhibitions, which have spread his work to collections in Ireland, continental Europe, the USA, Japan and South America. 

In these valleys of La Cepeda, time flows differently, offering a perfect setting for artists like María Jesús, Benito, Toni and George to display their talent. Far from the hustle and bustle of modern life in the big city, they have found their corner to create in harmony with the land and its history. The valleys of La Cepeda, a short distance from Astorga, are not only a hiding place for art, but also a place where tradition and innovation meet, giving life to works that will last in time.