Summer’s Creative Pause: Morocco and Spain Await
May 13, 2025 | By Marla Emory
Two weeks until summer break, and I’m buzzing with anticipation. As a design professor with 27 years of crafting beauty—through architecture, interiors, and art—I find my work endlessly rewarding. Watching my students at Louisiana Tech grow, their ideas blooming like spring vines, is pure joy. But summer? It’s a gift. A moment for my creative soul to pause, reflect, and dive into the world’s colors. Welcome to Colour Culture, where I share that journey, and this summer, it’s taking me to Morocco and Spain.
Teaching design is like tending a garden—you nurture, guide, and marvel as new perspectives take root. My students inspire me daily, but the long arc of academia can be intense. Summer offers balance—a chance to create without deadlines, to sketch without grading, to simply be a designer again. This year, I’m packing my curiosity and heading to Morocco and Spain for three weeks, adding a new continent and three countries (Morocco, Spain, and a likely hop to Gibraltar) to my travel tapestry. I can’t wait to see how these places shape my creativity.
Morocco promises a riot of hues—think Marrakech’s spice markets, azure tiles, and intricately carved doors that whisper stories. Spain, with its Gaudí curves and Andalusian patios, feels like a canvas of history and light. Doors, my obsession (yes, I photograph them everywhere), will be my lens—thresholds to new ideas, each one a portal to a culture’s soul. From Fez’s weathered cedar to Seville’s vibrant ironwork, I’ll be sketching, snapping, and soaking in textures that might spark a new project, maybe Link to door photography blurb.
This trip isn’t just a vacation; it’s fuel for Colour Culture. Many of my professional projects thrive on community and context, and Morocco’s souks or Spain’s plazas could inspire fresh ideas for it Link to food park blog. My students will hear about it too—I’ll weave these colors and stories into next quarters lessons. For now, I’m dreaming of tagines, flamenco, and the unknown. Where does summer take your creativity? Share below—I’m curious!