As I'm sat here besides my contently snoring dog, I'm feeling quite nostalgic for the summer that has just passed. While it's flashed by, there were so many highlights, that I feel like I would like to write a little about these last few months before we head into the cooler Autumn. (and I lose my mind)
With the start of the summer, I was invited to How the Light gets In Festival in Hay-on-Wye to be part of the Glitter Girl team. Rosie who is the boss lady gave me the opportunity to step into her sparkly world and since then I've spent most of my summer covered in glitter or finding it around me. The festival sparked a lovely friendship between us all and I was asked to volunteer at Nozstock festival with her in July. Needless to say, I cannot recount everything from that weekend on here (or at all) nevertheless it will stay in my mind as a fabulous, crazy mush of colour, music and love. I hadn't been since 2013, so it was a nostalgic trip to revisit the same place with different people!
Just before Noz, I went home to Hungary to make the annual summer trip to see my family. This is always one of my highlights of the year and I look at it as a little retreat from reality. Being around my Mama (grandmother) gives me the motivation and strength to be kinder and more gentle, her selflessness is always something I aspire too. Plus her cooking is off the chain, I always take stretchy shorts with me so after our three course lunch I can lie out on the swinging chair and fall asleep in the afternoon sun. We all know that's the dream right?
The goodbyes never get any easier, and while it's only 2 and a half hours on a plane, it's a very long distance when you miss someone. Luckily, I found myself to have enough money in my account for once, so impulsively bought a ticket back home for Christmas which I'm excitedly waiting for. I'll be ringing Mama to start stocking up the pantry for my arrival...you can never be too organised.
At the end of July, I was honoured to be asked by my best friend Lucy to attend her graduation ceremony at Hereford Cathedral. The day marked the ending of student life, but the start of her exciting journey into real life and I couldn't be any prouder of her than I am now. Spending the day celebrating with her parents and boyfriend was a great end to her hard work over the three years; through the all nighters, tears and paper cuts, she came through the other side as a talented, kind hearted woman with her sense of humour still intact. I hope I can share my graduation next year with her as we have been by each others side for over three years and supported one another when we needed it most. My life encourager, I love you Luc!
Throughout August I was in the middle of my first official dog sitting job, landed with a welsh collie called Jem. He is only one year old, and I'm not going to lie, my first thought was something like "Collie. Puppy. My house. Disaster" Im glad to report that I was so wrong. I had him for just under 4 weeks and the amount of fun my family and I had with him was unforgettable. He was so well behaved and considerate towards my dog who is definitely past his puppy playing days, I was taken aback by the bond they had together. What was also unforgettable, was when we went to the park and he rolled himself into poo... human poo no less and my job as dog sitter became very serious and very shitty. The bathtub has never had such a thorough cleaning in all it's life, and neither have I. (The perks of the job I guess) Just writing about him now, I realise how much I enjoyed his playful company, I look forward to meeting up in the park with his family.
Also, whilst Jem was staying with me, I went to visit my good friends who recently moved from Hereford to Bournemouth and who own the best Beagle in the world (my adopted son) A few days getaway by the sea with amazing company and lots of dogs was exactly what I needed. The change of scenery was refreshing and reminded me how much I would like to live by the sea one day, the wind in our hair and sand between our toes was all we needed. Thank you Ramirez and Cinthia for your kindness and friendship, we miss you here everyday.
Obviously, I will have to write a little about Cyprus as it's probably been one of the most profound, interesting and exciting trips I've ever taken, and independently too. I realised that there is no better time than now to do things, I booked this residency without knowing what to expect and I don't think I was ready at that time. It took a long time for it to come around I never thought I leave, but arriving there, I knew that it was exactly what I wanted and needed. Everything from the location of the college, the ocean, the other artists who have become friends, the space in the studios, it was all familiar to me as if I had experienced it before. I fell straight into the Cyprus artist life and I loved every minute of it. Even just laying in a hammock with a book and a coffee felt so important to me, and I was able to write a lot and reflect on life as well as art.
Being there I felt we were all part of a little community held together with creativity and stories, and that was something I had never really experienced before. Obviously in Uni we have a similar environment but it does feel different because of academic side involved in it, here there was no ego's and no deadlines, just genuine, heartfelt, hilarious conversations that flowed into the night. In those moments, I knew that I wanted to be nowhere else and it had me thinking about my future travel plans, about all the people I will talk to and all the places I will fall in love with.
This post is getting lengthy so I will bring it to a close before I recount every detail of every day.
The days have flown by; I have drunk too much coffee, smoked too much, laughed often and written mostly everyday. I have spent time with people I have missed greatly, I have met some beautiful, interesting people who have inspired me to be excited for life and embrace each day, I have said goodbye to an old part of me so that I can grow some more this year and the year after. I feel like I'm ready to get back to uni and begin creating crazy things with crazy people (my favourite) and become more independent in my life. Even just saying that makes me feel waaaay too adult.
As my sister says "I have an attitude of Gratitude" and everything this summer, this year has really made me feel grateful to be here and doing what I love.
x
Monday, 19 September 2016
Monday, 12 September 2016
Cyprus College of Art Residency Reflection
After being home almost a week, I think it's time for me to look back at my Cyprus trip, reminisce, and reflect on some work and my experience there.
The studio:
As you arrive to the college studios, you feel slightly overwhelmed by the space that is provided for you as you are still getting accustomed to the place and climate. It took me a couple of days to get the courage to go up into the studios and pick a space that I would call my own for the next two weeks, but I instantly fell in love with the bottom room of the building where dappled light streamed onto the walls around midday. Then it became my playground.
I had no intention of the work I wanted to do here, I went with an empty journal and mind and used only things I found on site and in Lemba. This was far more exciting as it meant I got to engage with the local surroundings and could explore independently, whilst documenting it with my camera and journal.
My inspiration came to me in the form of my first swim in the ocean. I was completely taken aback by the purity of the water and its clear colours. As soon as I got in, I felt at home and was floating on my back with the sun on my face (salt in my eyes!) and I remember that visceral experience so vividly that it stuck with me throughout my time there and still now. The water was like another dimension for me and that's what began my thinking into colour, form and line, and how I would be able to make something that felt immersive.
Taking photo's of the ocean wouldn't do it justice I feel, it's something so vast and encompassing that a single image can not convey that sensory experience- so I began collecting objects and putting them in my space. Blue items kept finding their way into it, I really believe the colour has a strong impact on how I connected to the water so it made it easier in a way to select certain things. The space was craving for things to be assembled in there and so I began arranging my found objects on different levels, hanging some, standing others up around the space. Each element worked well on it's own but together they created an almost micro submerged world, where each part was perfectly in balance and co-existing. Just like in nature.
It was important for me look at the environment I was in then, how the various layers of the land formed around me and what it meant to be in such a different landscape than what I was used too. With this new mind-set, I began to experience my surroundings differently, looking at the space, colour and line and how each connects to the other in nature. This led me to many discarded objects that I found around the college site (some previously made by other artists) and I re appropriated them as part of my installation, using the whole space (after some discussion with a fellow artist) as a canvas to work on. There was a lot of movement in the space and it was freeing to work in such a physical way with no restrictions, it allowed me to try a lot of things out and document what was successful, and what wasn't as great. I kept coming back to the notion of interconnectedness, and how all elements of the natural world link in with one another, I applied this to my space and it began to unfold in front of me quite organically.
With it being so warm and having lights in the studio, we could work into the night as we pleased and I seemed to have a lot of creative energy in the evening and wanted to discuss work with fellow artists there, two of which also did installation/ site specific works. It was really helpful to receive other's opinions on my work in progress, I find the conversations you have spontaneously with other artists in the moment quite enlightening and I was able to take away useful things from that.
By this time, I had just been scuba diving, which was an intense, incredible experience for me and it opened up a whole new perspective, literally. Being submerged under the water as opposed to swimming on the surface, gave me such visual stimulation as well as the feeling of weightlessness under water which is difficult to describe if you haven't experienced it for yourself. My sense of time was non existent and you forget where you are as you swim across the sandy floor bed and between coral. This made me feel so much more connected to the work I was creating and I began painting on a piece of found canvas cloth, geometric shades of blue and green which I felt was a side piece to the installation as they all shared this subject.
It seemed as though I got more work done in the last 5 days than altogether, and we had an informal group event where we invited each other and Margaret to our studio spaces to discuss our work and ideas. Seeing people in the installation I had pieced together was really special and the feedback I received was so very encouraging. I wanted the space to be a tangible, interactive representation of my experience there, as well as push my boundary of creative response. This was my first time working in a space, this big, independently and it was so exciting to be able to watch the slow process of building something from nothing.
I photographed my space as it evolved and also did a couple of videos in the space at different times of the day when the light transformed the way it looked. That was one of my favourite elements of the room, when the afternoon sun filtered in through the corrugated plastic roof, it left patterns on the wall as if it were reflections of the waters surface. I felt submerged in the space and watching the light move around the studio added to the surreal atmosphere of it.
On the morning when I was due to leave, I visited my studio for one last time (obviously it would be difficult to take my piece home on the plane..) and experienced it in it's eerie solitude. The gentle movements of the hanging frame, the light on the wall, the chipped tiles and various shades of blue around the room looked a little sombre but I was proud that I could leave a part of myself there and take a part of Cyprus back with me.
The studio:
I had no intention of the work I wanted to do here, I went with an empty journal and mind and used only things I found on site and in Lemba. This was far more exciting as it meant I got to engage with the local surroundings and could explore independently, whilst documenting it with my camera and journal.
My inspiration came to me in the form of my first swim in the ocean. I was completely taken aback by the purity of the water and its clear colours. As soon as I got in, I felt at home and was floating on my back with the sun on my face (salt in my eyes!) and I remember that visceral experience so vividly that it stuck with me throughout my time there and still now. The water was like another dimension for me and that's what began my thinking into colour, form and line, and how I would be able to make something that felt immersive.
Taking photo's of the ocean wouldn't do it justice I feel, it's something so vast and encompassing that a single image can not convey that sensory experience- so I began collecting objects and putting them in my space. Blue items kept finding their way into it, I really believe the colour has a strong impact on how I connected to the water so it made it easier in a way to select certain things. The space was craving for things to be assembled in there and so I began arranging my found objects on different levels, hanging some, standing others up around the space. Each element worked well on it's own but together they created an almost micro submerged world, where each part was perfectly in balance and co-existing. Just like in nature.
It was important for me look at the environment I was in then, how the various layers of the land formed around me and what it meant to be in such a different landscape than what I was used too. With this new mind-set, I began to experience my surroundings differently, looking at the space, colour and line and how each connects to the other in nature. This led me to many discarded objects that I found around the college site (some previously made by other artists) and I re appropriated them as part of my installation, using the whole space (after some discussion with a fellow artist) as a canvas to work on. There was a lot of movement in the space and it was freeing to work in such a physical way with no restrictions, it allowed me to try a lot of things out and document what was successful, and what wasn't as great. I kept coming back to the notion of interconnectedness, and how all elements of the natural world link in with one another, I applied this to my space and it began to unfold in front of me quite organically.
With it being so warm and having lights in the studio, we could work into the night as we pleased and I seemed to have a lot of creative energy in the evening and wanted to discuss work with fellow artists there, two of which also did installation/ site specific works. It was really helpful to receive other's opinions on my work in progress, I find the conversations you have spontaneously with other artists in the moment quite enlightening and I was able to take away useful things from that.
By this time, I had just been scuba diving, which was an intense, incredible experience for me and it opened up a whole new perspective, literally. Being submerged under the water as opposed to swimming on the surface, gave me such visual stimulation as well as the feeling of weightlessness under water which is difficult to describe if you haven't experienced it for yourself. My sense of time was non existent and you forget where you are as you swim across the sandy floor bed and between coral. This made me feel so much more connected to the work I was creating and I began painting on a piece of found canvas cloth, geometric shades of blue and green which I felt was a side piece to the installation as they all shared this subject.
It seemed as though I got more work done in the last 5 days than altogether, and we had an informal group event where we invited each other and Margaret to our studio spaces to discuss our work and ideas. Seeing people in the installation I had pieced together was really special and the feedback I received was so very encouraging. I wanted the space to be a tangible, interactive representation of my experience there, as well as push my boundary of creative response. This was my first time working in a space, this big, independently and it was so exciting to be able to watch the slow process of building something from nothing.
I photographed my space as it evolved and also did a couple of videos in the space at different times of the day when the light transformed the way it looked. That was one of my favourite elements of the room, when the afternoon sun filtered in through the corrugated plastic roof, it left patterns on the wall as if it were reflections of the waters surface. I felt submerged in the space and watching the light move around the studio added to the surreal atmosphere of it.
On the morning when I was due to leave, I visited my studio for one last time (obviously it would be difficult to take my piece home on the plane..) and experienced it in it's eerie solitude. The gentle movements of the hanging frame, the light on the wall, the chipped tiles and various shades of blue around the room looked a little sombre but I was proud that I could leave a part of myself there and take a part of Cyprus back with me.
Friday, 9 September 2016
Cyprus College of Art (journal extract)
I would like to share some parts of my travel journal that I kept as I went for a residency at Cyprus college of Art, Lemba. I wasn't able to blog whilst I was there.
26/08/16
The place is not how I imagined at all, in fact im not sure what I expected.
Accomodation is basic as was promised, but my rooms simplicity is actually comforting and its a forgiving shelter from the intense sun. The rooms are scattered across various levels of rough steps and under shady leaves of trees, a hammock (which i am currently lying in) is strung up between two branches and overlooks the kitchen block and then the valley below.
Around the living space there are chairs with an assortment of cushions, old armchairs and tables that are used as little meeting hubs where we can sit and eat aswell as chat into the night.
You can laze around all day, there is no sense of urgency here and time becomes non existent, the sun moving around the sky is the only reminder of time passing.
Tiny stray kittens have made their home here and welcome food and affection from us, I relate to their timid nature as I am just as much a stray here as they are.
After wandering into the kitchen which houses all sorts of oils, spices and mismatched mugs, im eating (again) local bread with hummus and cherry tomatoes which will make up the majority of my diet for the next few weeks aswell as coffee, pasta and peach slices.
The humidity makes it hard to eat full, big meals so snacking is my last resort.
My first full day here has been spent wandering around Lempa (the village im staying in) and aclimbatizing myself to the almost unbearable heat. Reading and water are helping me through the day aswell as chatting with the other artists and photographing the college.
Around 3pm we walked down through the valley which is a mix of scorched dust and lushious green foliage with purple flowers and pomegranates. We reached the sea, and by that time I was ready to dive into the glistening waves, I've never experienced water that is as clear and warm as that and I lost all sense of time as I floated on my back in the aquamarine water which had a strong saltiness to it.
26/08/16
The place is not how I imagined at all, in fact im not sure what I expected.
Accomodation is basic as was promised, but my rooms simplicity is actually comforting and its a forgiving shelter from the intense sun. The rooms are scattered across various levels of rough steps and under shady leaves of trees, a hammock (which i am currently lying in) is strung up between two branches and overlooks the kitchen block and then the valley below.
Around the living space there are chairs with an assortment of cushions, old armchairs and tables that are used as little meeting hubs where we can sit and eat aswell as chat into the night.
You can laze around all day, there is no sense of urgency here and time becomes non existent, the sun moving around the sky is the only reminder of time passing.
Tiny stray kittens have made their home here and welcome food and affection from us, I relate to their timid nature as I am just as much a stray here as they are.
After wandering into the kitchen which houses all sorts of oils, spices and mismatched mugs, im eating (again) local bread with hummus and cherry tomatoes which will make up the majority of my diet for the next few weeks aswell as coffee, pasta and peach slices.
The humidity makes it hard to eat full, big meals so snacking is my last resort.
My first full day here has been spent wandering around Lempa (the village im staying in) and aclimbatizing myself to the almost unbearable heat. Reading and water are helping me through the day aswell as chatting with the other artists and photographing the college.
Around 3pm we walked down through the valley which is a mix of scorched dust and lushious green foliage with purple flowers and pomegranates. We reached the sea, and by that time I was ready to dive into the glistening waves, I've never experienced water that is as clear and warm as that and I lost all sense of time as I floated on my back in the aquamarine water which had a strong saltiness to it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)