Contac

Biography
One day, working on an enormous project, people started arguing, the language burst asunder into many languages, lack of understanding became commonplace.
I’ve never known greater lack of understanding than when one thinks one understands, one thinks people are using the same codes, but they’re not opening the same doors.
Words prove to be insufficient, irksome, evanescent.
At 17, a stay in Istanbul encourages me to express the Word in and of itself, a spectacular discovery. Learning Hebrew encouraged me to seize the flesh of the Word.
As a guide in the Sinai, I learned moderation, the essential, and this nourished my taste for the timeless and the universal.
My spatial poetry eliminates the superfluous. The same quality informs my choice of historical sources.
My meeting with Monsieur Petit, heir of a family tradition of illuminator-colorist excited my interest in stencil illumination.
To reproduce, make available and share a beloved image, retaining a mastery of image reproduction thanks to an art involving gestures and the senses: this sums up what I am today, an inner-directed route, open to all.
I travel using my feet, my hands and my mind, and make haste slowly.

1990 Training in Paris in pagesetting.
1991 - 1993 Training at the Ecole Française d’Enluminure (French School of Illumination)- Angers.
1991 - 1992 First prize of the Ecole Française d'Enluminure
1992 - 1993 Grand prize of the Ecole Française d'Enluminure .
1993 - 1994 Teaching at the Ecole Française d’Enluminure.
1994 Creation of the Festina Lente atelier at Fontevraud l’Abbaye.

Major Solo Exhibitions

2014 Médiathèque Loire-Forez, St Just St Rambert
2013 Maison des Associations, Courbevoie La Défense-Paris
2012 Reopening of the Atelier Festina Lente in Fontevraud l'abbaye
2010-2011 Worked, lived and exhibited in Tel-Aviv, Israel
2009 Médiathèque François Mitterrand, Montreuil-Bellay, Maine et Loire
2008 Médiathèque Equinoxe-Châteauroux
2007 Head office of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) - Geneva - Switzerland
Paris 13 University
2006 Roman Art Museum - Issoire - France
Sacred Art Festival - Saumur - France
2005 Library of the Natural History Museum. La Rochelle
2004 Municipal Gallery – Provo, Utah - USA
2003 Palais des Arts- Vannes (group exhibit)
2002 Salt Lake City- USA – Hope Gallery - Provo- Utah - USA
2001 As part of the “Journées Mondiales de la Francophonie” (International Festival of the French-Speaking World) : French Cultural Center of Haifa – Israel – French Cultural Center of Beersheba- Israel
2000 Centre Malraux- Neuville en Ferrain (with the Arab World Institute)
1999 Loudun (group exhibit) for Amnesty International.
1998 Médiathèque de Rive-de-Giers (Loire)
1997 Salon Régional des Métiers d’Arts (Regional Salon of the Arts Professions) of La Haye-Fouassière (group exhibit) representing the Maine-et-Loire.- Firminy Library (Loire)
1996 Studio Gallery- Raanana- Israel
Museum - School of La Perrine - Laval
1995 Salon des Métiers d’Art (Salon of the Arts Professions) - Lions Club- Beauvais.
International Arts and Folklore Festival - St Jean la Potherie- Brittany.
Book Fair - Loudun – Bressuire Museum- Deux-Sèvres.
1993 Municipal Library of Joué-les-Tours.
1992 Municipal Library of St Barthélemy d’Anjou.
1988 St Jean Gallery- Quebec- Canada.- Municipal Library of Angers

Many of these exhibits, in France and abroad, have included sessions to help expose children and teenagers to illumination, as well as lectures.
For twelve years, I’ve been collaborating regularly with the C.P.I.E Val de Vienne at the Abbey of Seuilly as a teacher of illumination.
My workshop has been featured on various television shows, notably on channels TF1 and FR3 in France.

Orders and Shipping :

If you wish to acquire an illuminated work or calligraphy, here’s how to do it :
Note the name of the work that you would like to order (example : Temple of Salomon) and contact me by e-mail or telephone at (+33)07 87 07 32 44 so I can give you the exact costs of shipping and method of payment.
Works are sent unframed only.
A certificate of authenticity comes with them.
Shipping costs vary according to the document format, shipping destination and insurance. Shipping takes place within 36 hours of receipt of payment.
In France :
By check, written to the order of “Richard LERAY – Atelier Festina Lente”
For France and abroad, upon receiving credit card number, expiration date, and the last four numbers on the back of the card.
VISA and MASTERCARD accepted.
This information can be communicated by e-mail, telephone or fax. Note that I am the only one with access to these forms of communications at the workshop.

For orders over 200 euros, payment may be made in two, three or four installments without incurring extra costs.