I was very excited this week to hear I’d been successful in
my application for the Armchair Artist Residency at the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge in Canterbury. It’s
an amazing building in the centre of Canterbury, and houses the library as well
the museum.
I learnt the value of residencies a few years ago when I occupied
the Little Blue Hut for six weeks. When you’re busy with the daily slog of
work, house, pets, plus trying to squeeze in quality family time, it’s often hard
to find the time to be creative, it’s often hard to justify taking time out from
necessary chores. Residencies give space to think and feel, and they give a
justification for ignoring other demands, these things are incredibly valuable
to creativity.
Also, working in different places, responding to different
environments and people takes us out of our comfort zone and often produces unpredictable
results. In my application for the residency I explained how, in addition to
the collections in the museum, I was looking forward to exploring the
interaction between the artifacts and the community visiting the museum. I’m
always fascinated by relationships that develop between people, places and
objects, however, I’m almost expecting something unexpected to happen and for
my work to take off in a completely different direction. I can’t wait till
January to find out…
and to find out if there is an actual Armchair involved…
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