I have been back in Manchester since Sunday and settling back into the old routine. It was my birthday on Tuesday, which has made me feel very reflective about the past few years and looking ahead. However can you ever look to far into the future being an artist? I think not. I was pleasantly surprised to read that my a-n blog in August made the top ten, zooming in at no.7. So big thanks to all you readers. I haven’t made it into the studio this week as simply getting back to working in the shop and being at home has been enough to deal with. I have been reflecting on the self-made residency in Finland since named by Anna as the Unknown Road Residency due to the summerhouse being situated on a road with no name. At the beginning of the journey I had no idea of what I was going to do, leaving inspiration to happen when I actually arrived at the place. Creativity will always emerge in some shape or form although you still have to keep working at it to actually make something happen. Should an artist residency necessarily be about making something? Could it not simply offer time and space to think which may or may not evolve into work at a later date? Being at the summerhouse really made me appreciate the many distractions we have in our daily lives. It amazes me how any of us make anything and what an achievement it is when we do. Even though I was in a forest for ten days in a totally different environment I was still drawn to the things around me. A performing blind, and a performing tablecloth objects, which we assume are pretty mundane transcend into a moving image. From this experience Anna has seen the potential of the summerhouse for other people to use for a residency although has some reservations, as it is her family home. Anna got lots done she managed to draft out her proposal, meet a new artist and have a new space to exhibit in 2012. I know how busy Anna is working at the gallery and for HESA INPRINT (http://www.hesainprint.com/) she really needed this time out for her own work. I learnt from re-doing The Eventé performance that this piece can travel and could be extended further by introducing more participatory activities. Although I did not get the chance to promote The Eventé I can see the potential of doing this on the street and would like to experiment with this in the future.
