Artist in Residence 

In May I headed off to Portugal to attend an artist residency in a tiny village named Arraiolos, two hours inland from Lisbon. The residency included a group of 9 artists from around the world,  we all stayed in an old 18th century manor house together and did our art everyday for a month. There was a mix of artists;  a dancer, a poet, textile designer, a natural dyer of fabrics and embroiderer, a few painters and a photographer.

It was great to see how other artists develop their ideas, experiment with them and how and what they want to communicate through their art.

I was so inspired by being somewhere so far away and different to Melbourne. The food, the rituals, the way of living and the landscape. I spent everyday going off to the town square and drawing the people there, I would then come back to the studio and make gouache drawings and sketches. I would also walk the narrow streets and gather more inspiration from what I was seeing, hearing, experiencing and the people I was meeting in the town. Church bells would be always ringing and the swallows would always be flying.

The other artists, the dedicated time to focus on my art practice and the many museums and galleries that I went to see in Spain and Italy after I had finished the residency, taught me so much.

I went over there with a specific project that I will be continuing to explore over the next few months and then I will have an exhibition of my works in February next year. I feel so grateful to have had this amazing experience.