Ísland to Island - Reflecting on my time in Iceland
Yep, I'm back in the UK and back on The Isle of Wight and one thing I can't complain about is the weather. It's warm, sunny and it feels like we've gone straight into summer! A little peculiar after a month of -2°C to 5°C and generally being well bundled up!
I've been back over two weeks now which seems mad! I've mostly been catching up with people, getting my studio back in to working order and preparing greetings cards to be printed - something I mentioned in previous posts and will do an update about soon.
This is a slightly longer blog than normal and will serve as summary of my time on the Artist Residency at The Fish Factory Creative Centre in Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland. There's also a video of the interview I did with them at the end of this post if you'd like to hear me speak about my experience!
The main thinking before I went Iceland was wanting to look at what it is to achieve a sense of solitude, something which I think is debatably more achievable on an Island. This was an opportunity to look at how living on the Isle of Wight has influenced my work and to see how Iceland would further influence it.
My first painting while I was there represents that same strand of thinking. It was a result of having the first day by myself, taking in the scenery and sitting by the Fjord, taking photos and sketches of the mountains.
The painting that followed came about in much the same way after a walk I went on with fellow Artists Claudia and Susan. We made our way to the Saxa Geyser just outside of the main village. On the way we passed several houses which really stood out to me. They sit in the shadow of a sheer rock face and look out to the Iceland Sea, bracing all manner of weather that is thrown at them.
Following that I began a picture of the bird hide at the end of the Fjord but it wasn't what I envisaged so I've put it to the sidelines for now!
The next was of a storage shed which I found on one of my walks around the village. It was very well camouflaged, covered in grass and tucked into a bank like a hobbit house. I like the way it had merged in with the surroundings and looked as if had grown up from the ground like a squat, grassy hill.
The fourth and final picture I painted was of one of my favourite houses in Stöðvarfjörður, a wonderful blue, white and green mirroring the colours of the Mountains, Fjord and sky behind it. I don't want to ever analyse these pictures and their meaning as I'd like people to interpret them as they see them individually. I often feel we are given too much theoretical insight into Art at times which just puts words and ideas into the viewers heads which might have been totally different beforehand.
An Artist who influenced and inspired quite a few of us is Richard Long, a Land Artist who creates work from natural materials in nature or brings these elements into a gallery.
Funny enough he has now got an exhibition at The Quay Arts on the Island which was a welcome surprise when I returned! The exhibition opened last weekend and I will write about it in my next blog post.
Another Artist that influenced me while in Iceland was Dieter Roth, a Swiss Artist who lived in Iceland from 1957 on and off until his death in 1998. We watched a film about him which gave an autobiographical view of Roth and his work during this time. He was extremely prolific. Amongst many things he created Artist books (something which he is credited for inventing) furniture, installations, prints, sculptures, paintings and photography. A small part of the film showed some of his photos that he took in Reykjavik - 'The Reykjavik slides', a photo of every house in the city (31,035).
This is what led me to pastiche this idea and take a picture of every house in Stöðvarfjörður. It felt great to just go for a walk only taking the camera. I liked being able to capture something immediately and it made me really look at the subject, noticing things I wouldn't have necessarily when just walking by. Stones in the window that had been collected on walks, fairies, goblins and gnomes painted on rocks in the garden and bikes left safely unlocked outside. I feel like I gained an insight into the social anthropology of the area and perhaps even Iceland as a whole.
That's it now from me! Thank you so much for reading and/or watching! Xx
I've been back over two weeks now which seems mad! I've mostly been catching up with people, getting my studio back in to working order and preparing greetings cards to be printed - something I mentioned in previous posts and will do an update about soon.
This is a slightly longer blog than normal and will serve as summary of my time on the Artist Residency at The Fish Factory Creative Centre in Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland. There's also a video of the interview I did with them at the end of this post if you'd like to hear me speak about my experience!
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| Photos taken on the Isle of Wight earlier this year. |
The main thinking before I went Iceland was wanting to look at what it is to achieve a sense of solitude, something which I think is debatably more achievable on an Island. This was an opportunity to look at how living on the Isle of Wight has influenced my work and to see how Iceland would further influence it.
My first painting while I was there represents that same strand of thinking. It was a result of having the first day by myself, taking in the scenery and sitting by the Fjord, taking photos and sketches of the mountains.
The painting that followed came about in much the same way after a walk I went on with fellow Artists Claudia and Susan. We made our way to the Saxa Geyser just outside of the main village. On the way we passed several houses which really stood out to me. They sit in the shadow of a sheer rock face and look out to the Iceland Sea, bracing all manner of weather that is thrown at them.
Following that I began a picture of the bird hide at the end of the Fjord but it wasn't what I envisaged so I've put it to the sidelines for now!
The next was of a storage shed which I found on one of my walks around the village. It was very well camouflaged, covered in grass and tucked into a bank like a hobbit house. I like the way it had merged in with the surroundings and looked as if had grown up from the ground like a squat, grassy hill.
The fourth and final picture I painted was of one of my favourite houses in Stöðvarfjörður, a wonderful blue, white and green mirroring the colours of the Mountains, Fjord and sky behind it. I don't want to ever analyse these pictures and their meaning as I'd like people to interpret them as they see them individually. I often feel we are given too much theoretical insight into Art at times which just puts words and ideas into the viewers heads which might have been totally different beforehand.
An Artist who influenced and inspired quite a few of us is Richard Long, a Land Artist who creates work from natural materials in nature or brings these elements into a gallery.
Funny enough he has now got an exhibition at The Quay Arts on the Island which was a welcome surprise when I returned! The exhibition opened last weekend and I will write about it in my next blog post.
 |
| Stones in Iceland by Richard Long. |
Another Artist that influenced me while in Iceland was Dieter Roth, a Swiss Artist who lived in Iceland from 1957 on and off until his death in 1998. We watched a film about him which gave an autobiographical view of Roth and his work during this time. He was extremely prolific. Amongst many things he created Artist books (something which he is credited for inventing) furniture, installations, prints, sculptures, paintings and photography. A small part of the film showed some of his photos that he took in Reykjavik - 'The Reykjavik slides', a photo of every house in the city (31,035).
This is what led me to pastiche this idea and take a picture of every house in Stöðvarfjörður. It felt great to just go for a walk only taking the camera. I liked being able to capture something immediately and it made me really look at the subject, noticing things I wouldn't have necessarily when just walking by. Stones in the window that had been collected on walks, fairies, goblins and gnomes painted on rocks in the garden and bikes left safely unlocked outside. I feel like I gained an insight into the social anthropology of the area and perhaps even Iceland as a whole.
What I loved about being on an Artist Residency amongst many things was the opportunity for experimentation with my practice and the time and head space for trying new things.
In hindsight I might have stayed longer, maybe another month as it soon became apparent that it is very difficult to complete a whole project in a 30 days! In a way though it is great that I can continue the experience by continuing the work and perhaps on reflection think of new ideas and aspects of the experience that hadn't occurred to be before.
Either way I can't stress enough what a fantastic time it was and whole-heartedly recommend others to do the same. I have hardly touched on the subject of the people that I met. They completed the experience for me and made it extra special. It was not something I considered before before I went, in my head I thought everyone would largely keep to themselves but it was the opposite. Everyone I encountered wanted to create a sense of community and share ideas, stories, experiences, meals, new Uno rules and film recommendations! but still allowing each other to have time to themselves for working, reading and contemplation.
In a nutshell I bloody loved it.
If you'd like a audio-visual round up of my time at the Fish Factory Creative Centre then look no further! As the wonderful Nisa (current intern and social media/content creator/future aviation industry and cake making extraordinaire) has just sent me my interview which she filmed at the end of my time on the residency!