From Yoonjung Kim

02.10.2012 - 20.12.2012

11 weeks and 3 days at the Trelex Residency

I started the residency with a planned project that I wanted to complete. This involved splitting a 20mm by 10m cotton rope into individual strands, rolling these into balls, each one numbered, timed and dated. I found the intensely repetitive and time consuming nature of this process worked well in the context of the residency as it allowed me to focus uninterrupted on the task at hand. However I still took occasional breaks from my work – the surrounding area providing a scenic respite.

Week 1 - String (120 balls), went to Nyon Castle and museums in Nyon

Week 2 - String (150 balls), started collaborative drawing with Melanie Ward

Week 3 - String (180 balls), went to see sunrise at Nyon and visited museums in Geneva 

Week 4 - String (210 balls), visited Art Brut museum in Lausanne

Week 5 - String (194 balls) finished, took video of string process

Week 6 - Mini-show with Nina Rodin, gave presentation at coffee morning, two days of collaborative work with Luke Ottridge; explored the woodlands around the studio, went to Geneva and Cern

Week 7 - Went to Geneva, Chamonix and Lyon

After completing the string work I wanted to make something site specific in the studio space at Trelex. I spent one week drawing a continuous pencil line in a repeated pattern on a moveable wall in the space (17.5cm x 401cm x 203cm). During this time I also worked on writing for a show I am organising in Japan in 2013.

Week 8 - Writing proposal, started drawing on the movable wall in the studio

Week 9 - Finished wall drawing ‘Serious Doodling’, made small objects using Sculpey clay and took video for collaborative project with Luke Ottridge

From the end of November it started to snow in Trelex. I took this opportunity to make some work outside – casting the snow into bricks (12 x 8 x 4 cm) I built a chimney like structure with my hands.

Following this I worked on two pieces of work using black PVC tape, inspired by four small pieces of tape left on the studio floor. I cut a roll of 2.5 cm wide tape into 3.5 cm long pieces, piling them on the floor, and a 2 cm wide tape cut into 3 cm long pieces, stacked vertically on the wall. I spent one day on each.  

Week 10 - Built ‘Snow Chimney’ (48 x 40 x 100 cm) in two days, made small objects with Sculpey for Christmas

 Week 11- Stacking pieces of PVC tape, application/writing for residency

For the final few days I worked on writing applications. I also erased my wall drawing, which took longer than anticipated, taking about six hours to rub out everything and paint two coats of white emulsion to return the wall to its original state.

The Trelex Residency was my first ever residency. Not only did it give me the time and space to focus on my practice, I also spent some wonderful time with the two residents whom I overlapped with, Melanie Ward and Nicholas John Jones. I’d also like to thank Nina and her family for their hospitality. 

From Nicholas John Jones

10.11.2012 - 13.12.2012

 

I was resident at The Trelex Residency from the 10^th of November 2012 until the 13^th of December 2012. 

Upon my arrival there was a deluge which verged on the biblical. Once this subsided there were a couple of beautifully crisp, clear days before a most incredibly thick fog, far thicker than I’m used to in England – something to do with all those mountains sticking up everywhere. It was highly atmospheric and I enjoyed it. One or two clear days, followed this time by the snow: crisp clear and beautiful, though obviously quite cold, perhaps even pretty cold. Had I stayed a little longer I could have gone skiing, but it’s probably good I didn’t as I’d only have hurt myself.

Now that I have been a good British person and got the weather out of the way, I’ll mention the location. Trelex is a quiet place about 20mins outside of Geneva, it has a bakery and a small village store (somewhat sparsely stocked, but I was very impressed by it’s keepers electric blue sweater and big orange hair, held together most satisfyingly by the thick frames of her thick lensed glasses). The locality offers scenic surroundings with quiet wooded walks close at hand. 

About 5km away, Nyon sits on Lake Geneva and is easily accessed by a short train journey from Trelex, though I found little reason to visit often. It is however worth a wander round if only for the stunning view across the lake. It has the usual shops and supermarket expected of a small town. There is a small art supplies shop predominantly stocking painting supplies, though these are pricey in Switzerland and worth bringing with you. 

I was rather conservative in my movements, preferring to stay in the studio, so the only other trips I made were up to La Givrine in the mountains behind Trelex, and to Montreux to head up to Rochers De Naye. Nina has lots of information about different things to do and places to go if you are feeling more adventurous than me.

Having looked in the face of adventure (or at least a very tidy Swiss version of it), only to then wrap up warm and stay home, what The Trelex Residency primarily offered me was quiet time and space in which to work. The studio spaces and two resident’s bedrooms are at the top of Nina Rodin’s three story home, but feel very separate from the goings on below.  There are lots of options regarding places to work, both in doors and out, but as my practice is primarily studio based that’s where I stayed. The studio space that I had was light and more than ample in size. Nina is very flexible (you may join her at yoga every Monday night if you wish) and generous in accommodating resident’s needs, which in my case meant making sure I was happy with the work space, bringing out a collapsible (but sturdy) table, letting me use her photo printer and offering to help me find the things I needed, not to mention putting up with my general grumpy old man demeanour.

Nina, an artist herself, has a wide range of interests and is very engaged in thinking and talking about current approaches to art. I got a lot from the conversations that built up over the course of the month as it really allowed us to get into the topics.  While I was there, YoonJung Kim was my fellow resident and for me (and I hope her) this worked out wonderfully – and not just because Yoon is a good cook. Yoon’s practice is based in sculpture and I enjoyed learning about it, her influences and perspectives, as well as our chit-chats over a glass of wine. 

Nina organises a coffee morning every other week to which people in the local area who are interested in art are invited. I was asked to give a small presentation about my works and influences for one such morning. Though informal, this was very good for me as it had been a while since I’d stopped and thought about my influences in this simple and direct fashion, and so became a good point around which to centre myself. 

Towards the end of my time at the Residency I cleared out the studio and put together a studio installation which allowed me to play with the presentation of my work and consider what I had produced without any of the pressure that might come with a formal exhibition. 

Overall the facilities, setting and dialogue, tied with separation from my normal situation allowed me to play with what I am doing and the finished works in ways that I would not have done otherwise and this has opened up new avenues of exploration for me. At the time of writing, shortly after the end of the residency, I feel this may have prompted a significant development in my practice, by making me think clearly about what I am doing and what I aim for. 

All about numbers

02.10.2012 - 20.12.2012

 

Some 'installation shots' of a mini-show we put on in the studio with Yoon Jung Kim. An opportunity for both of us to play with the possibilities in the new work, nothing quite finalised, but an informal moment of assessing where we are and enjoying the dialogue the work carries out without us saying a word... Later, we started a coffee morning gathering by looking at it again and hearing everyone first reactions to the work.

Like the Facebook Page

Little news flash: The Trelex Residency now has a Facebook Page. More photos and announcements about events at the Residency will be posted there. The blog will be continued as a log of the residents who have come, as a place to check availability and with comprehensive information pages (above in green). But please 'like' the page on Facebook if you haven't done so already.

http://www.facebook.com/TrelexResidency

A collaboration born in Trelex

Over dinners in the studio kitchen, Melanie Ward and Yoon Jung Kim started a drawing conversation...

...which turned into a blog: http://themoonyells.tumblr.com/

The atmosphere in the studio changes with every resident but these drawings are the best portrait I can think of for what the residency feels like at the moment: quiet, concentrated, quirky, disciplined with every day yielding new surprises for everyone. So infectious, I have started doing small pen drawings myself.

From Borowicz: Resident and Parent

25.08.2012 - 11.09.2012

When Nina offered me an opportunity of taking up an art residency with my daughter I was very excited. I was also slightly hesitant about being able to make the work and ensuring that both of us enjoy our time in Switzerland. Erring therefore on the side of caution (and due to my other commitments) I booked two weeks at Trelex. I can only stress that two weeks is a short time and I would recommend a stay of a month or longer at this unique residency. 

Being picked up at the airport and invited to share the initial meals eliminated any travel concerns. As I only had a couple of weeks, I decided to focus on exploring the immediate surroundings of Trelex and nearby town Nyon in favour of sightseeing Geneva (although this would be easy to do with kids). I found going shopping to Nyon easy, and my Nina loved these little train rides. I combined these trips with strolls around the historic town, relaxation at the lakeside and nice coffee. There are some attractions for kids in Trelex (walks, playground, exercise circuit in nearby woods, visits to local bakery for morning rolls) and plenty more in Nyon. The most surprising however is the house itself – large with numerous rooms often connected in a maze-like fashion. Combined with an enormous garden with a hidden play house, vegetable garden and swing/hammocks area, it creates an amazing adventure ground for kids. 

The family was very welcoming and little Nina quickly made friends with the other children - they all were sharing toys, films and even a few evening baths. The family invited us to join in their trips to the lakeside for an evening swim or to have a barbecue picnic in the woods. I will definitely miss drinking afternoon tea with two little girls who would kindly accompany me in a lady-like manner. 

The living/working space felt very comfortable and easy (all I needed to do is ask). Spacious studio areas were easy to rearrange depending on my needs and provided inspiration to keep going back to making. There was a variety of art supplies and tools to hand, plus and interesting range of materials in outdoor sheds which were great to use for temporary structures. I brought some materials with me including packaging and fabrics but also used the contents of the sheds and garage. 

I found making work in Trelex easy, at the same time enjoying trips out, playing with kids and experimenting in the studio kitchen. I also managed to squeeze in a fair bit of late night writing for my university essay (though sometimes I found it hard to stay away from the artwork). I was particularly keen to capture the lighting conditions in the afternoon and having my daughter nearby proved beneficial. She was happy, in exchange for a chocolate reward, to perform for my photographs and short films.

I arrived at the beginning of the residency with few ideas I wanted to test and possibly develop towards my upcoming show at the Slade. Much of my past work has referred to the idea of home as a spatio-temporal concept and the more recent inquiries dealt with negotiating perceptions about art, labour and the domestic. In a way the situation of the residency was a form of negotiation in itself. I have become intrigued by boxes as packaging but also temporary structures: Emptiness offers itself up as the box opens its folds. The surprise of the flat pattern, the icon both familiar and unidentifiable. Then the folds collapse back and carve out a bit of space. Walls are formed around a promise of home. For a short while the structure lies to us of its solidity until it dissolves again. 

During the last days of my residency I overlapped with Yuki Aruga and we started to strike up some great conversations. I would have loved to continue these as well as the conversations with Nina which I feel have also only been started. The final presentation to Nina, her husband David and a few local residents was not only enjoyable but it became a constructive critical debate. I particularly liked David’s comments on loose artist talk and contrasting these with his philosophy background and a need for making the arguments clear and understood (paraphrasing “you may not need to agree with me but I need you to understand me”). Many of the points raised still echo with me and I only wish I could have stayed longer...

About Anja Borowicz

25.08.2012 - 11.09.2012

I met Anja when visiting the Slade where she is doing the same degree I just finished. I was drawn to her studio wall because of the graph paper, indications of a systematic approach and the presence of concerns I interpreted visually to be similar to my own. Then we struck up a conversation about art and motherhood. Anja agreed to be the first resident to come with a child, an opportunity I was keen to provide as residencies around the world either explicitly do not welcome children or welcome them in principle but than have very little in place to help their parents be both parents and artists.

Whether all parents who come here in future will juggle Art and parenthood with the same virtuosity as Anja and every four year old will have such amazing capacity to entertain themselves as little Nina remains to be seen. But the whole family missed them when they left.

Anja Borowicz is, by her own admission, in a state of transition between painting and sculpture. She is exploring the notion of the domestic, through the use of household materials but also via a reflection on the negotiations between the opposed and conflicted spaces of the home and of the artworld.

Packaging from cereal, tampax and soap become minimalist sculptures in a formalist arrangement. The outline of a triple pack of socks ends up looking like a menacing weapon. Night time conversations take in the  the homeless, consumerism, russian icons, the power of the museum, our doubts about painting and out attraction to it, strategies of production.

I am completely drawn in by the meticulous presentation of a rainbow array of domestic liquids which Anja has used like paint and pigment in her work. Cleaning and beauty products take on the precious qualities of fine art media but one doesn't get a sense that Anja likes house cleaning or facials, on the contrary. Anja's work is persistently experimental, but too serious to be playful. It feels more like an expression of her frustrations with negotiating an unsuccessful compartmentalisation and resisting stereotypes. The gestures in her work have become lighter but tend towards something more and more personal, perhaps Anja's own sense of place and belonging.

The wall in the studio moved several times during Anja's stay: at an awkward angle first, then into a very open large studio standard and finally halved the space into something more intimate. The window which one often ignores other than for its light became much more prominent against the delicate and quiet interventions.

Anja took the opportunity of the residency to work with her daughter in a series of works with boxes reconstructed in transparent or diaphanous materials. The anonymous child packed in a box could be grim or claustrophobic. Instead she looks protected, as if Anja is trying to shield her.

More details of Anja's work can be found on her blog here.