drooling wolves
see detail

‘These wolves are both tender and aggressive. It is like they have a desire that they can’t communicate so they begin to drool’ this comment was absolutely spot-on. Goes to show how in tune with each other this little group has become.

***

Someone has borrowed Werner Herzog‘s ‘Grizzly Man’ from the library. We all arrange to meet up and watch it in the lounge on the big screen. This film is a particular favourite of mine, and I certainly didn’t mind watching it again. I feel amused at this perfect setting to watch it in, especially knowing the bears are beginning to emerge somewhere out in those woods.

***

setting up the exhibition

I throw back my curtains expecting glorious sunshine and jolt back to see heavy snow tumbling and the trees roaring in the wind. We set up for our self-organised exhibition. More of a showcase for each other and anyone else that is still around, it is a great chance to have a final look at each others work and discuss it all in one place. I choose just two pieces, the drooling wolves and the strange root girl. I set up a relationship between the two - the wolves drooling down from the wall and on a perfectly sized plinth the strange root-girl lies flat, her ’tail’ stretching out towards the wolves. It certainly makes it feel like the residency is drawing to a close. Afterwards I pre-book my coach to take me to the airport in a few days time.

drooling wolves' and 'root girl' in exhibition

***

Last open studio. I lay out the drawings for the final time before they are packed away, not to emerge again until Manchester. Seeing the 10 together, I begin for the first time to understand the narratives that are emerging and a certain common feel throughout. This is a collection I see as one large piece of work made up of composite parts. Not near completion yet, but once back home I will add more images created with the memories of this environment

As I pack away, I feel another energetic rush of inspiration from the whole of our visual arts group. Sad to be so close to leaving, but I am filled with excitement as to all the projects I have in progress back home, and how much knowledge, ideas and energy I am taking home with me.

studio

I tidy out my studio. Leafing through every mark that I have made over the past month, working through my collections of photographs, cuttings and writings, reflecting with a sense of nostalgia as though I have been here for years. My journal of writing almost full, this text barely scratches the surface of the activities, the collaborations, the laughs, the life stories, and the adventures to squeeze creativity out of every possible scenario. As I dismantle the last evidence of me from my microcosm I created in this studio, I project my thoughts to waking up back home, my own reality, as if this were some dream. I think about going back to my own studio, refreshed and my mind clearer. I am excited about the possibilities and I know this experience, this place and the people I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with will continue to inspire and influence me for a very, very long time.