Carme Solé Vendrell or the illustrated herald
You've seen her creations in children's magazines, at the theatre or on the face of Laia. And the fact is that the herald of La Mercè 2024 is a specialist in turning life... into an illustration.
What would life be without images, portraits, drawings or illustrations? You wouldn’t be able to imagine it, neither you nor the herald who will open Barcelona’s Festa Major this year. We are talking about Carme Solé Vendrell, an illustrator, drawer, painter and sculptor who has also made incursions into the world of playwriting. Even those who do not know her name have surely seen her visual creations.
You will find Carme Solé i Vendrell in the Saló de Cent of Barcelona City Hall on Thursday, 20 September, at 19:00, acting as hearld for the festival of La Mercè (the proclamation is broadcast in the square, with sign language translation, on a large screen), an honour that this year goes to a native of Barcelona born in 1944. She studied at the Escola Massana, where she specialised in painting. She has exhibited in Barcelona and Madrid, but also in Paris and Taipei, among other cities around the world.
In the Catalan capital, we know her especially for the style of her drawings, which have illustrated books of all kinds and are a regular feature on the pages of publications such as Cavall Fort, among many others. Do you want to know more? Well, just think that it was also her who gave shape and image to the gegantona Laia (based on the drawing she did for the poster of the Santa Eulàlia festivities in 1998) and you will get an idea of her particular style.
She is a lecturer, responsible for illustration courses and collaborates with publications such as Pomme d’Api, Cricket and Ladybug, but she has also been involved in charity work with UNICEF. The artist has many more dimensions than you might think. In addition to working in the field of drawing and illustration, she has made incursions into the world of the stage as the author, director and scenographer of the play Colors.
She has made sculptures such as La més petita de totes (2019), Alícia (2019) and Abraçada (2022) and since 2014 she has promoted an international campaign for children’s rights, WHY?, which, in the form of an exhibition, was recently shown at the Museu de Valls. Have you been to Madrid recently? Well, perhaps you have seen the exhibition in which it has just taken part, at Biblioteca Nacional.
If you want to know what advice Carme Solé i Vendrell gives you for the celebration of La Mercè in 2024, come toPlaça de Sant Jaume and listen to her proclamation, but before you come, check the website of La Mercè for information on this year’s herald.
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