After settling on a location for my self-directed residency I need to begin thinking about what I want to achieve during this time. The main aim for the research day(s) in Colne, Nelson and (possibly) Brierfield is to immerse myself in a location that is unfamiliar for an entire day.
This doesn’t sound like much time and ideally I’d like to stay somewhere for a longer period of time in order to familiarise myself and monitor how I adapt artistically, socially and practically however this ‘one day residency’ will be a step towards future (longer) residencies and hopefully will provide some experience and insight in order to boost future applications.
My interest in choosing a location as the starting point stemmed from a research trip to Penrith in November last year. I was actually there to research a place slightly out of the town but I spent a few hours in Penrith in between trains and buses just wandering around. I was alone in the town and although I spend a lot of time travelling solo between home and work, home and town or home and Hot Bed Press I don’t think I ever spend time on my own in somewhere that is unfamiliar to me. This sounds like I live a very sheltered existence and I suppose in some ways I do – I’ve never lived anywhere but Warrington (my hometown) and Manchester, I’ve only ever travelled out of the UK with family, friends or my partner and when I’m in the UK on trips away or days out I’m almost always with someone I know well.
Being alone in Penrith for those few hours felt strangely exhilarating and I felt inspired by the sights and sounds around the town. It’s a small town and I wandered up and down the same streets a number of times during the 2-3 hours I was there and this exploration and aimless wandering felt like something that I wanted to pursue further. After this experience I applied for a number of residencies feeling quite desperate to remove myself from my familiar haunts of Manchester and Warrington.
These applications were unsuccessful possibly due to the unclear motives and themes in my work – up to 2015 I identified myself as an illustrator however that role doesn’t seem to fit so well anymore. There’s a yearning within me to work without that label – I have no desire to stop taking on illustration commissions but I feel that being categorised in that role places limitations on what I can apply for and how my work is understood. Applying for residencies helped to realise that my work is erratic and lacks a distinct voice – as I mentioned in the first blog post I feel like I want to find out what it is I want to say as an artist and this self-directed residency is my first step.
Placing myself in an unknown town for a day will give me an opportunity to make a first impression. I’m keen to document this from the moment I arrive to the moment I leave, concentrating on my feelings and thoughts every hour in order to gather information that can be compared once I return home. This micro-residency will force me to stay in the town for around 10 hours (trains permitting) giving me time to develop an opinion and hopefully explore the area thoroughly.
I want to use the experience to assess a few things:
- My tendency to look down on small towns and villages and where this stems from/how will effect my experience
- What qualities make a place (un)attractive or (un)appealing
- The physical qualities of the town – the architecture, green spaces, graffiti, weather etc.
- My personal feelings – do I feel welcome, scared, invisible, alien, at home etc. – will this change throughout the day, do I feel self-conscious or silly wandering around and around
- What are the people like – is there a sense of community, are people approachable, are there distinct groupings
- What do people do in this town – industry, culture, sport etc.
During the day I want to set myself a number of tasks to focus my exploration – these will be things like:
- Making trails using mono-print lines overlaid on maps
- Setting a series of directions (made up)
- Stopping at certain times and staying in one place for a set period (while documenting)
- Walking through the streets concentrating on one detail – the tops of buildings, windows, signage
- Walking only looking in one direction and then repeating with a change or direction/street
- Walking without my glasses
- Only turning in one direction
Above are some ideas – these may change or develop and can be quite fluid but I want to have some structure to work to on the day.
The aims and points to assess are also an element of the project that may change – the experience is an opportunity to try working in a new way and responding to a new (and more personally led) subject matter.
