A leap on from my last posting back in January. Where to begin? The above, two titles of work made during a recent 4month residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. This a-n Mentoring Bursary was to help support me applying for suitable residencies, and IMMA was always the dream, this being my first ever residency.
So, I arrived in Dublin back in April, grey skies and rain, rain, rain – it rains often in Dublin. Everything was just as I’d hoped, amazing folk working at the museum, so incredibly open and supportive. The location itself was dreamlike; a historic military hospital modelled on Paris’ Les Invalides, set in 48 acres with a meadow, graveyard (Bully’s Acre – Dublin’s oldest) and formal gardens. Days soon became filled and as much a routine as back home. Although there was no pressure to make finished work, somehow ones own internal pressures take over, fed by a concern to make the most of this valuable time. I quickly adjusted to my studio space, enormous compared to what I’m used to. I attended workshops At Fire Station Studio’s, ventured off on road trips to research ‘thin places’, and welcomed many, many studio visitors.
When I got home I needed to decompress and take a bit of time to reflect, something I wasn’t prepared for. Many shifts had taken place, what I had hoped to happen. I worked to a larger scale than I was familiar with and I have many thoughts stirring on how/where I need to place my work. And, unexpectedly, I’m already considering applying for another residency, for next year, somewhere more remote.
In a few weeks I will have my final session with mentor Rosalind Davis, a chance to look back and plan forward. It’s been quite a year!
