We were completely taken aback by the quality of applications that came in for the forthcoming residency, The Light of Things : Making Sense of Here. It’s not easy making a selection when you’re faced so many applications that shine. But we did it.
We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who applied: a revelation of a great deal of talent out there. After careful consideration, and many cups of coffee, we invited four people to join the residency in September. They each bring a different creative approach, and come with curious minds and an eagerness to take part in a wider debate about the way we as individuals and collectively relate to the places around us, the environmental concerns that cannot be ignored at this time, and the role that art can play in enquiry, collaboration, communication and action.
So alongside meandering conversations, visits to art collections, and wanderings in the woods, we expect there will be dancing, word play, poetry, image making, printing, and plenty of surprises.
Here’s a bit more about the September residents.
Emmie Coxey, Dancer. Emmie trained at London Contemporary Dance School then continued her training with Northern School of Contemporary Dance as a member of the postgraduate international touring company VERVE. Emmie has worked as a freelance dancer all over the UK and is now exploring her own work as a dance artist based in Cumbria. She is very interested in collaborative-based work combining dance with various other performance styles such as theatre, film, story-telling, live music, set design and installations.
Melissa Davies, Poet. Melissa is a poet recently returned to Cumbria. A short career in cancer care, followed by travel writing, somehow led to a winter spent running a Norwegian island retreat. Back at the foot of the fells she’s using this experience as material for her first pamphlet.
Anna Litchfield. Anna is an artist and arts professional. A fascination with the natural world drives her practice, seeking out patterns and intrigue in the smallest corners. Her work combines photography, text and printmaking to create images which are elusive or ambiguous.
Hugo Hunt, Photographer. Hugo is a 35mm film photographer who seeks inspiration through immersion in the natural environment. Spending a lot of time on the fells, Hugo tries to capture the magic of the Lake District including the human impact on the landscape.
We’re very excited to see how the residents discuss and develop their work, and what we all learn from our time together. We will begin with visits to the collections at the Wordsworth Trust and at Grizedale Forest, and meetings with the curators there. Following this, we will be spending three days in a quiet Lakeland valley, immersing ourselves in the landscape, whatever the weather.
You’ll be able to find out more about what happens through this blog: we’ll add a post in October, and each resident will also contribute a post. The work they produce will be shared in December 2019 here and on the Great Place : Lakes and Dales website. In 2020 it will be exhibited at the newly refurbished Wordsworth Museum as part of a larger group show, alongside the work of artists who join our 2020 residency (call out for this in Spring 2020).
Watch this space, and keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates.
Huge thanks to Great Place : Lakes and Dales for funding this residency, and to Wordsworth Trust and the Forestry England arts team at Grizedale Forest for working with us.
Update – a fifth artist!
Louise Beer
Louise is a UK-based New Zealand artist who uses light, darkness, sound and astronomically inspired forms to create objects, images and experiences that reflect the incomprehensible nature of Earth and the Universe. Louise is the co-director of Lumen, super/collider, Pale Blue Dot Collective and Print Science.
We didn’t expect to welcome an artist from outside this region before the residency in 2020, which will invite artists from across the UK to apply. But we’ve been able to offer a place to Louise thanks to funding from Friends of the Lake District, through their Dark Skies project.
Louise’s curiosity about the night sky and the emotional impact of darkness, and the ecological implications of light pollution will underpin her work during the residency, and she’ll continue to link with the Friends of the Lake District programme after spending time with us.
We look forward to bringing all five artists together, and in 2020 connecting them with a second group of artists for the exhibition at the Wordsworth Museum.
Sense of Here 