This week I’ve finally made some progress with Think, Question, Print and I’m hurtling towards my first residency day in Colne, Lancashire.
I haven’t been completely neglecting the project over the past few weeks though; I’ve been making plans for the exploration during residency days and I’ve also been in contact with In-Situ in Pendle. I mentioned the In-Situ in June after coming across their work while looking further into Nelson and Colne as potential locations for my one day residencies. Based in Brierfield (just next door to Nelson) the artist-led organisation runs a number of projects in the local area with a keen focus on social engagement and the aim of injecting arts and culture into everyday life. The nature of these projects and the underlying ethos of In-Situ really struck me and I planned to make contact with them in the hopes that they would be able to offer some form of feedback or support for Think, Question, Print. My intention was to contact the organisation after I had started producing work however an opportunity came up sooner in the form of an open call for artists to exhibit at The Shop in Nelson a creative space run by In-Situ. I received an enthusiastic response and today made a trip up to Nelson to meet with Elly Langlois to discuss the project a bit more.
It was a short meeting but a positive one and I feel confident that In-Situ will be supportive throughout the project. They’ve offered me a space to work from in The Shop when I’m in Nelson which is fantastic as will hopefully create opportunities to meet some local people and gather some feedback about the project and the work that I’m making. It feels good to have the support of an established organisation and this relationship will hopefully create further links with artists and the public and aid in my professional development.
At the moment it’s difficult to discuss the project at length as so much of the outcome is dependent on the residency days in Colne and Nelson. This way of working feels very new to me and at times a little bit daunting; I’m so used to working on briefs or commissions with a very distinct theme or aim at the end of them so having this much freedom is a little disconcerting. Mostly I work at a desk at home or in a communal studio environment so actually drawing and documenting on the street will be a bit of a shock to the system. I think it’ll be in a good way and despite my fears I’m still looking forward to shaking up to my traditional way of working.
My first residency day will be this Friday (12th August) and I’ll be wandering around Colne for the entire day recording my findings and building up a body of research to then respond to. I’ve planned out random trails and written up a set of instructions to follow throughout the day which I’ll photograph and post up tomorrow.
