Here are some images forwarded to me by the Here Is Where We Meet group, in residence currently at The Queen of Hungary Project Space. They are ‘in conversation’ tomorrow evening with Nell Croose-Myhill of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art. Dominique Rey
‘Day Two. Natalie worked from early morning – Tricia and Bev turned up later, well, it was Sunday…Another intense day ‘trying to get it right’ at least for the late comers who spent the afternoon painting – and later discussed. Painting – such a tricky pursuit – and a whole history of experts to follow. That’s why it’s good to talk about it now and make it contemporary, because there is no one right way. You just know when it turns out right and when it does what you want it to. At the Q of H, we all have direction, we are all focused. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.’ Bev Broadhead et al.
‘Day One of Here is where we meet…Wow, the weather was dramatic when we arrived at The Queen of Hungary Project Space to set up for the week; Bev then Natalie then Tricia – as if orchestrated to allow the space to evolve. Of course it wasn’t orchestrated, but I think these types of coincidences will be cropping up all the time while we work together. With our individual aims for the next few days in place, we settled into the luxury of having time and space to work. Thank you to Stephanie and Chloe for making us feel so welcome – it’s a great space for our retreat!At the end of the day we sat down and returned to our original stimulus, John Berger’s Here is where we meet and how we are all working through processes that involve painting as a common denominator, but critiquing each others’ individuality. How often do artists work in isolation without that professional development and feedback from other professionals?
So, until Wednesday, more of the same – work, discuss, work – as much as we can. And then, Wednesday evening Nell Croose-Myhill is coming to lead a conversation and see what we have/haven’t achieved. You are all invited to join the discussion about self motivation, process, outcome, autonomy….drawing the line? 7 – 8.30pm. Today, Day Two…’Bev Broadhead
Imogen Ashwin Residency – Day 2 Sunny, windy, thudding clouds. Feeling more at home in my comfy white space, especially with the sun warming the windows so that I didn’t need to cling to the heater. More trawling through old images; more words and phrases; a growing sheaf of spidery diagrams. Exchanging a few friendly words with Chloe. Wondering what will emerge from the seeds scattered on the white surface. Trying to clear away the cobwebs. Tomorrow will be the day of reckoning – the balance at the pivot-point of the week – when I’ll need to start nurturing the new shoots. Imogen Ashwin
Imogen Ashwin Residency – Day 1. The first day in the Project Space: cold and peaceful with lovely white walls and no distractions. The cold was a bit of an issue but was partially alleviated by a drawn-up-close heater and by the chain-imbibing of hot drinks. A day for starting to untangle the wool: of scanning through skeins of potential source material on my laptop, noting recurrent themes, pulling out key words, thoughts and insights. Big spidery diagrammatic lists ensued and will hopefully provide a jumping off point for tomorrow. Imogen Ashwin
