Rae Begley, The End, from the series And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, 2016; courtesy the artist.
Sometimes sitting in an air conditioned studio under a bank of fluro lights, with a library of art books on hand and the art supplies shop just up the road, would seem like the perfect scenario for most artists. However, there are some artists who find that the challenge of the unfamiliar, even the uncomfortable, offers an incredible injection into their creativity.
Upon arriving at the iconic McMurdo Station in Antarctica, California-based Australian artist Donald Fortescue told ArtsHub: ‘It’s a bit like artists’ summer school.’
Fortescue is Professor and Interim Chair of Furniture Design, California College of the Arts, and is conducting his PhD at Australian National University (ANU). Last year he went to the South Pole under the auspices of the US National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.
‘I have been working for several years in residencies in increasingly remote locations (Iceland and the Svalbard Archipelago) and I find the constraints imposed by limited material resources and time, the possibilities of equipment failure and the need to be creative and responsive under challenging conditions to be inspiring, stimulating and productive,’ said Fortescue.
Today, there are hundreds of artist residencies offered globally, which allow artists to embed themselves in historic and fashionable art centres such as Paris, New York, Barcelona and Beijing. There are also an increasing number of residencies in more remote locations such as Iceland, Antarctica, isolated islands and dense forests. Many are linked to scientific research centres.
Perhaps it is because the role of artists in our society is changing; they are increasingly called to intervene in all kinds of social and environmental contexts
Donald Fortescue with his project for Antarctica; image courtesy the artist.
New trend; old desire
These more extreme residencies are not an entirely a new phenomenon. Sidney Nolan went to Antarctica in January 1964 along with author Alan Mooreland as guests of the United States Navy Antarctic Support Force. The National Gallery of Australia – which recently acquired a suite of five of Nolan’s paintings inspired by that experience, and which are currently on show – explained: ‘Travelling by helicopter between research stations, Nolan recorded his impressions in watercolour on 200 postcards, taken along for the purpose.’
In January 1987, artists Bea Maddock, Jan Senbergs and John Caldwell were also invited to visit Antarctica as part of the Australian Antarctic Division’s ‘Artists in Antarctica’ program. Maddock seriously injured her leg while alighting at Heard Island and was unable to continue to the mainland. However, her drawings of the coastline and Antarctic landmass from her cabin window of the ship, are celebrated.
The program still exists today, and will open again soon for applications for 2018/19.
Fortescue said he was drawn to Antarctica and the South Pole because his own research, in recent years, has been driven by the search for a common ground between science and art through the practice of fieldwork.
‘At the Pole I was working in collaboration with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory located there – one of the most extraordinary scientific projects on the planet … The project that I envisioned was inextricably connected to the Pole. It couldn’t have happened anywhere else. My work with IceCube was rewarding in ways I didn’t anticipate. And thankfully, all of the “sculptural instruments” that I took to deploy at the Pole worked perfectly. That was also something I wasn’t expecting.’
Fortescue spent four weeks in Antarctica, and said that working with scientists deepened his understanding of the natural environment and opened his eyes to all sorts of possible collaborations.
It was a sentiment that Rae Begley related to. She recently made a body of work inspired by her experience of the Ngozumpa Glacier and Gokyo Lake in the Khumbu region of Nepal – a self-funded residency that she felt definitely paid off.
Begley told ArtsHub: ‘The sheer scale of the Himalayas is difficult to describe and document as the landscape feels endless and there is so much detail to absorb. It is challenging to photograph, however what I loved about this body of work was how much more I discovered once my film negatives were developed that I couldn’t take in with my own eyes.’
Begley has previously created photographic series from travels and self-initiated residencies to the Annapurna region, a massif of the Himalaya’s in Nepal; Monument Valley on the Arizona–Utah border (USA); the regional town of Bungendore near Lake George in NSW; Hooneymoon Gap out of Alice Springs, and The Breakaways Conservation Park, a protected area in northern South Australia, north of Coober Pedy.
Rae Begley, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’, 2016; courtesy the artist
She continued: ‘I took photographs while I was walking and so there was a forced immediacy, rather than overthinking by returning over and over to one location it was the moment in time as I came across it … Photographs can make time stand still. I also really love the slow pace of working with film and printing, the way it makes the outcome feel more considered and meaningful, more soulful.’
The resulting body of work from Nepal, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (2016) was a series of photographs, video, an installation and an ambient sound work in collaboration with Erik Omen.
She explained: ‘The works hold space as majestic reminders that the earth is a living planet of complex beauty under threat; the fragility of the landscape has been preserved and is now historical documentation in the timeline of climate change.’
She added: ”’Harmony of chaos” are the words I would use upon arriving in Nepal and being in the city of Kathmandu day to day; it’s busy with all the people and traffic and there seems to be no rules.’
Begley’s was an independent journey of exploration, walking through the Himalayas over 20 days and making the work along the way. It was her second trip to Nepal, and she sees her residency as the first installment in a study of glaciers and an exploration of their decline in sacred mountain cultures.
How remote is extreme?
A remote location doesn’t always have to mean travelling 60 hours on a plane or seven days on an icebreaker.
Glass artist Kirstie Rae found the necessary isolation just an hour out of her hometown of Queanbeyan in NSW. She explained: ‘[I spent] five weeks living solo in Namadgi National Park in an old farming cottage restored by Kosciuszko Huts Association. Not remote, but definitely isolated’.
The residency was via a program run by Craft ACT, where the artist has the use of Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage – a 1920’s style pre-fabricated cottage refurbished for creative reflection and response to the incredible and diverse ecology that surrounds it.
‘For five weeks I lived alongside the valley’s pack of dingoes and watched them as they watched me. There is no phone coverage there. Rangers occasionally called in to see that I was ok,’ said Rae.
‘I was drawn to applying because it offered isolation and solitude, time away from the everyday and from the studio. Time out of studio is my thinking time. It’s field research time; time to read and to write. Research is so important to helping me understand so much around why and what I make … I was also keen on the opportunity as it is an area I have visited since childhood and loved,’ she continued.
The Ready-Cut Cottage in Namadgi National Park is having an open day on Saturday 21 April 2018 (bookings essential) where you can see the work of current residents: contemporary jewellers Simon Cottrell (ACT) and Vicky Shukuroglou (VIC), and textile artist and printmaker Rebecca Mayo (ACT).
Advice on going extreme
For artists planning on going to Antarctica to do their research, Fortescue stressed the importance of knowing what you are heading into and cautioned to expect the unexpected.
Rae’s advice is to take up these opportunities and leave your regular materials in the studio. The outcomes are often surprising, and always rewarding.
‘I’ve found residencies like this one to be incredibly valuable as they legitimise art practice time that’s not the actual studio,’ she said.
And for Begley: ‘The advice I would offer would be to find something that you are drawn to that speaks to your practice and allow yourself the time and space to fully explore it. For me, travel is really important, I need to explore and see thing that I find extraordinary and beautiful. Residencies or self-led travel for artistic purposes allow for a new perspective which can be really powerful for making new work.’
Fortescue said of artist residencies more generally: ‘Art-making is a remarkable privilege but it’s also a basic human endeavor. Residencies are an amazing way to meet people from all around the world and to engage closely with local communities. Apply now! Don’t be upset when your plans don’t come to fruition. Apply again and again.’
Five Remote Australian Residencies to consider
Feel like a change of environment in order to stimulate your practice? Then how about taking a look at these regional and remote residencies in Australia.
Bruny Island Foundation for the Arts/ Cape Bruny Residency (TAS)
International Art Space (spaced) – formerly IASKA (WA)
Spaced 3: north by southeast is a program centred on an artists’ exchange between Nordic and Australian visual artists spanning three years (2016-18) and presented by International Art Space (IAS). It comprises 11 residency-based projects that will take place in regional, remote and outer-urban locations in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Western Australia. Keg de Souza is currently completing an NES Artist residency in Iceland.
Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, Mount Beauty (VIC)
The Pickers´ Hut @ Glaziers Bay (TAS)
Art In Motion platforms Imagine Residency, NSW
Cowwarr Art Space – CAN Inc. (VIC)
Hill End Artists in Residence Program – Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (NSW)
The not-for-profit arts organisation FORM offers a residency program in which invites artists to explore distinctly Western Australian narratives, often bringing artists to remote parts of the state to create new works.
For more residencies internationally visit ResArtist or Residency Unlimited.
