Artist Development Residency - Longton

 

To embark my residency journey, I was excited to be offered the space to create some art. I felt the support from the Urban Wilderness team and the space offered me everything I needed from ventilation, big bright windows, space for activities to extra art equipment if needed. 

The original plan was to set myself a theme to explore. I chose technology, how it has affected our lives and how we see it developing going forward. It has been a theme that I always wanted to delve into, after reflecting on the subject matter and various conversations with friends. By the end of this residency, I would like to have a body of work that will help inform my practice and develop my artistic skills/processes, as well as producing a variety of artworks that can be selected and displayed in an exhibition format.

I decided to make use of old canvases I had laying around the house as well as old pictures frames from charity shops, which I always aimed to make use of artistically. I wanted to use this week as an explorative and playful period, enabling me to experiment and play around with materials and imagery. Usually, I always have an image in my head that I will then try to replicate onto canvas. This time I wanted to try a different approach where the idea would develop the more, I work on the image, thinking less and doing more.

The canvases were primed with gesso, and some were plastered and sanded to create a smooth finish to paint on. this is when impostor syndrome started to kick in, I was faced with blank canvases that I was hoping to play with, but the ideology to tackle my process in a different way, led me to psyche myself out and not create anything at all. Every idea that popped in my head was quickly crossed away, as I began to think too hard about how the concept is going to be conveyed through the right imagery. I felt like I was spiraling down into a hole, mainly pressure based. 

Rather than staring at primed canvases in frustration, I decided to go home and invited my friends to a well being walk. This was done to clear my head space, enable me to connect with nature and have some insightful conversations. This had a very successful outcome as I then became excited to make art again and the process wasn’t as daunting anymore. Conversations with friends made me see different perspectives of how they view technology and its impact on their lives/ life around them, and this kept sparking different imagery and starting points I would hope to develop.

Back in the studio, I decided to add some colour on the prepped canvases. I allocated background colours which then helped me understand what image will complement the base foundation. I tried different methods such as blending colours straight onto the canvas to create light to dark gradients. Some were block colours and others had multiple paints which were scraped around the surface, creating a “glitch” effect. The techniques I decide to incorporate whilst building on my imagery include repetition, precision and various line and mark making.

From this process I have enjoyed being open minded to slow down and to watch the art take form. The progressive thinking of the next step made me understand what I wanted to work on more and what I wanted to change completely. Being alone in the space also allowed me to self-critique and to trust my own instinct. I am striving to make sure the slow start does not affect my development as there was a lot to learn and reflect on from that experience.

The first two weeks of this residency consisted of thinking, planning, developing and constructing. There are artworks that are still in the process of achieving completion, however there are attributes that already stand out as points of improvement and alteration.