From Ranadip Mukherjee

01.06.2015 - 30.06.2015

I was working one full month in June 2015 in Trelex. Probably I was the first Indian artist,who worked there. It was a nice experience. Very calm and silent. Nina, the founder of this residency, is always very generous to the artist and extremely helpful lady. I shared my studio in Trelex 1st couple weeks with a Video Artist Ilana Simons from USA and next few weeks of my stay with an artist from Israel Rona Shahar. 

I travelled all the way from Mumbai the business capital that is where I paint and have my studio and it is said that 'Mumbai never sleeps' from there when I reached Trelex in the small village of Switzerland first that touched me was an amazing silence that was exactly the silence I wanted to feel and capture through my colours. This journey of mine to Trelex will always stay in my heart. Maybe, I'll come back once again. Thanks to Nina Rodin.

From Ilana Simons

01.06.2015 - 19.06.2015

What makes the Trelex Residency so unique is a certain special system of lawlessness and anonymity –a residency model that’s based on trust. There are no applications, no fees.

Nina calls it the Trelex Model, and is in the process of exporting this dreamscape to other locations like Peru and Pakistan.

Four years ago, Nina turned the top floor of her own home into an artists’ retreat with the desire to have likeminded makers in her space.  After art school in London, she moved with husband David (a moral philosopher) and their three kids to the Swiss town of Trelex, with the small population of about 1,400. Nina found herself in a bright studio with views of the Alps, but watching the cows and missing the productive chaos of human voices. She restructured her home off a unique ethical gamble: you might invite artists/strangers into your house and trust them, off the bold fact that they’ve traveled a long distance to show up and make things with you.

There are already many residencies available, Nina says, for artists who go to art school and build CV’s angled for a life in the art market. But there are almost no opportunities for artists without that CV— imaginative minds who work almost secretly but might find themselves especially triggered, wired, and driven by this stretch of free time in a grand space in which they are asked nothing about who they are or what they promise to produce. If someone knows herself to be invested in making art, reads through the Trelex website without much guidance from outside sources, requests an occupancy, and buys a ticket to Geneva six months in advance (which is about how quickly spots fill up), then that person is invested. And, when we arrive, we see the full gift: the huge house lined with vines, the strawberries for picking in the garden, the bikes and cars available for use, the mountainsides striped with hiking trails. The surprise of the gift is enough to set an unusual mutual generosity into motion. People generally worry about what others think of them, Nina says. If you enter someone’s house, and it’s beautiful, and she asks nothing about who you are, you have some impulse to return the spirit. Just so, her house holds the trail of past creative minds that seem to have lived there, open—pastels left behind, charcoal pencils, Japanese paper, twelve bottles of glue, chocolate in the cabinets, a bottle of wine. Nina herself offers an almost endless supply of other things for making art. Then that’s what happens: you show up and you make art.

I shared my three weeks of residency with an Indian painter named Ranadip Mukherjee. Nina met us both at the airport/train station and invited us to scour the airport supermarket for a while before driving us back to the house.

The two artists in residence at any one time sleep in the loft upstairs, which also houses the studio, made of about 700 square feet with moving walls and windows for natural light. Nina and her family live on the first two floors. There is a rather neat division: you get to know the dog, the brilliance of her kids (one has unbounded knowledge and passion for Greek myth), and some rooms in the house itself are great reading hideaways, like this veranda on the second floor where I had wine and wrote romantically.

Ranadip usually woke up earlier than I did and would quietly start his watercolors by the rising sun at the open window. I am a video artist so the trajectory of my day was more scattered: filming Nina’s daughter (an excellent actor; she has insights into American culture), or painting trees in the garden for set pieces, or doing set pieces of Freud and a collage of Nina.

I took many day trips: Geneva is a good one, for its museum of contemporary art (MAMCO), where I enjoyed the short films of one queer sexualized wonderkind whose name I’m not remembering. Another great outing is to Lausanne, for the Collection de L’Art Brut, all art done by true outsiders, most of them in mental institutions. Both places are accessible from right outside Nina’s house, via train.

I took daily bike rides into Nyon, where the food shopping is best.  I did a daily runs to Crassier, a neighboring town, for which I passed through the most beautiful white/green striped landscapes with lake far below.

I came back home to New York with little nuggets on psychology from Nina. Questions asked: How does she handle the diversity in her house--the minds that come through which annoy her with their politics, or their rudeness, or their myopia, or whatever might bug her?  Smiling wider than the rim of her coffee, Nina said, “But I love and hate everyone. There is no other way of knowing someone.” It takes balance to welcome the differences in and engage with it. Her life has taken on the task of that engagement. Then: how does she trust that she’s not opening her house to freeloaders? “I ask that anyone who comes read the website and, without much dialogue, buy a ticket across the world.  That shows someone’s commitment, doesn’t it?”

True.

---

Me: I’m Ilana Simons, an artist and psychologist who lives in NYC and was delighted to share Nina’s space for three weeks while I worked on my video about heartbreak.  See some of my videos here: https://vimeo.com/ilanasimons

From Emelye Perry

18 - 30 May 2015

Emelye Perry
Making Art in Residence during Early Parenthood


I came to Trelex in May 2015, over two years ago!  Growing and raising children seems to have stalled the writing of this post somewhat.  In fact it’s taken me about an hour to write this paragraph (all 4 sentences) as my toddler son can’t seem to resist the number pad on the computer keyboard and I keep having to delete numbers!  I’m determined to write though as my time at the residency had quite a profound effect on me and I think it’s good to share.  

Trelex for me was about so much more than going on an artist residency. As a mostly 'stay-at-home mum', it  was also a break from family life and the first solo time away since becoming a mother, my daughter was 2 at the time.  I had found early parenthood very difficult and leaving my daughter, which I found such a hard thing to do, ironically turned out to be a crucial step in settling into my new mother self and in recovering from the shock I had experienced in becoming a parent.  I cried the whole way there and travelled with mixed feelings of guilt and worry but also excitement and a sense of knowing that I needed this time to create and reconnect with my work. Dealing with all of these mixed emotions was all made easier because I knew I was going to a place of understanding.  I had had a Skype chat with Nina previously and we had spoken at length about motherhood and I was taken with how willing she was to work with me to find a way for me to pursue the opportunity to go to Trelex.  I had such a strong sense that Trelex was a place where all artists, parents included, were not only welcomed but celebrated and encouraged.  

The space at Trelex is wonderful, a professional working space with plenty of room to spread out. I got to work setting up my space.  I didn’t really go to Trelex with any set plans of what to do.  I just wanted to spend some time reconnecting with my art work and seeing which direction it may be taking.  This creative freedom was also of great value to me and I would have felt intimidated if I had had to come up with something finished or that had to be based around a certain theme.

My desk space at Trelex looking over the garden

The first couple of days I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of time I had.  Having gotten used to doing everything around the constant demands of a young child it became apparent that I had mostly lost any ability to focus for more than 20 minutes and it took me a bit of time to settle into a child-free rhythm.  I thought I would start by reviewing my previous work.  It had been at least 4 years since I had actually made any gallery work and it was good to go over some old films and share these with the other residents.  I came to realise that because becoming a mother had changed me so profoundly and since I had had quite a bit of time out, I was no longer on the trajectory of my previous work.  I wanted to try some new ideas.  

‘I Did What I Thought was Right’ 2008

I have always been interested in craft but in recent years I had gotton really into knitting and yarn based crafts.  There is something about the colour, texture and tactility of working with yarn which I am really drawn to.  I am also interested in associations (or mis-associations) these materials and processes have with femininity and domesticity.  A lot of my previous work had been quite cerebral and I wanted to do something that came from a more emotional place.  I wanted to try and start from a point of what I FEEL like doing rather than 'what could I do to get these ideas across?'.  I also wanted to work with raw-materials and get away from the computer, and even get outside if possible.  

So I grabbed some wool and went outside.  The space outside is large and full of potential. Nina showed me a small shed at the bottom of the garden and told me about a previous resident who had set up a performance/installation inside, it sounded inspirational.  

 

The weather was clear and I spotted a couple of rows of trees which looked inviting. I had long had ideas of using nature as a canvas and I also wanted to scale up some craft techniques.  So I decided to weave.  With the trees as my loom pegs I set up a large scale loom so that I could weave in a spiral.  I didn't really know where I was going with this piece of work but I was enjoying working with the yarn and being outside, I felt quite connected to nature and kept visualising myself as a spider or bird creating a nest.  

 

 

I only got so far with this piece of work, I wanted to carry on weaving to make it huge but I just didn’t have the time, what I did try was putting it in different places and environments.  I liked the idea of a piece of work that moved and that changed depending on it's context.  It still sits unfinished in my studio at home, one day it will come out again and grow.

I started two or three other pieces of work at Trelex both of which have yet to be resolved.  I'm ok with this, it was so great to have the creative freedom at Trelex to begin new ideas.  Maybe one day I'll return when I have work which is nearer the end of it's life.  I did manage to take some good images of one (untitled) piece of work.  Nina was invaluable in helping me take some clear pictures.  Photographing my work is a skill I have not quite mastered yet so it was great to have someone there to help.   I almost felt I had enough material to put a proposal together.  

 

   

Top and left and right: untitled knitted and performance piece 

Bottom: beginnings of a quilt project ‘I put you in the bin’ and beginnings of knitted wall hanging

As well as the house inside and out being a wonderful space to work, the equipment in the studio was also brilliant.  Printers, cameras, espresso pots! were all available and it is a dynamic and inspirational living and working space.

I visited Nyon and Geneva whilst I was there.  There are hundreds of galleries in Geneva but unfortunately I picked a day where they were ALL changing exhibition!  Never mind, I started a little project taking pictures of the closed galleries.  I did manage to catch an excellent political film at the modern art gallery though (unfortunately I can’t remember the name!).  It was good to get out and about and soak up the city. 

 

‘Closed Galleries, Geneva’ 

I can't thank Nina enough for her generosity and for having me in Trelex. When I research other residencies the criteria can be so strict and off-putting, you must go for this amount of time, be this or that kind of artist and once you’re there we’re not letting you out! If you don’t like it, tough.  Or it costs a small fortune or there’s a lengthy application process.  Opening up residences for all kind of artists from all kinds of social, cultural and economic backgrounds is for me the real strength of the Trelex residency, it creates such a diverse and unpretentious atmosphere.  At a time when I was feeling isolated, exhausted and overwhelmed by motherhood but with more creative energy than ever Trelex was a saving grace. 

I was also very lucky to have the lovely Isabel Moseley and Abi Box working alongside me and were very patient with me as I probably bored them to death with photographs of my daughter, thanks for listening! 

Soon after I left Trelex I became pregnant with my son who is now 16 months old, hence why my art is still sitting in bags in my studio.  In writing this blog I have uncovered some of it.  In many ways it makes more sense now and it's nice to have had the distance from it.  I still have very little time to invest in my art but knowing that Trelex exists and feeling part of this wonderful community keeps me going and gives me hope.  One day, hopefully, I'll return.

From Isabel Moseley

05.05.2015 - 26.05.2015

It's 6.20pm and I’m sitting beside Nina in her van, rounding the grassy corner into Trelex. The witches hat church spire peeping between the hills at a new arrival to the village.

In the morning the clang of cowbells resounded in the mountains and the nights rain made the trees such a shade of green that they looked more alive than anything ever had.

Walking around the village it struck me that the houses looked as if they had been carved out of cake using a large bread knife. On the horizon blue clouds skimmed the mountains and seemed in danger of being snagged on the jagged peaks. A thousand leaves gently fluttered in the breeze and sitting by the open kitchen window I basked in Swiss sunlight.

In the quiet bustle of Geneva I crossed a bridge that ran over a river dashing by. During the heat of the day I visited MAMCO and was reminded of Terry Gilliam’s fantasy film Brazil – the space seemed to recall a pasts idea of what the future would be; great big turquoise doors and windows set into a sturdy industrial building encrusted with contemporary artwork – completely wonderful and the space itself was a work of art. Switzerland is the very quiddity of good design and absolutely everything is beautiful.  At lunchtime Nock circus was in town and its tents gathered in the square like a pack of scarab beetles with their great spikes looming into the blue sky.

The following week in Trelex I had begun to produce some new lino prints spurred on by the geometric architecture I had seen in Geneva. It was very difficult not to be inspired and productive when surrounded by other creative people and for three weeks I lived and breathed art. 

On a warm Tuesday morning I heaved a sigh as I waited in the airport for my flight back to Birmingham. My experience was unforgettable – I’m so happy to have met Nina and all the other residents and I look forward to returning soon…

Isabelmoseley.co.uk

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From Andrew Osta and Ninfa Cuervo

14.04.2015 - 19.05.2015

I came to the Trelex residency together with my wife for five weeks starting in early April. My first impression was that the house, the studio, the location, and the surroundings were just perfect.  It was all so welcoming and comfortable that I was able to begin creating work almost from day one.

Walks and bike rides served as the inspiration for many of the paintings I produced in Trelex. I found the European village setting charming, and going out into always gave me a sense of gratitude and well-being. While inside, I immersed myself in reading some of the art books available in the studio library. Although I’ve been painting for 10 years, I somehow felt like a student, and consciously worked on studies from nature, as well as from art books. I didn’t feel any pressure to perform or produce works, but I tried to experiment with something new every day.

Forest Sketch #1 Ink on Watercolor Paper, 9x12 inches

When we arrived, the mustard fields were just beginning to turn bright yellow, and when we left, the wheat was the most gentle of greens. Some of my favourite paintings of this time captured those moments. On cold and rainy days, I did not have to go anywhere, because the house itself provided wonderful views from the windows, which I could paint from the comfort of my studio.

Nina was helpful in every way, and I know that my wife was very much encouraged by her. She came as a beginning photographer with not much direction to her work, and many doubts about it. By the time we were leaving, her photographs gained a much more unique character, and she continually surprised me with really great shots. She said she felt like an artist by the time she left, which was the goal.

For most of our stay, we were the only residents, but in the last 10 days, we got to meet 3 more artists. It was all very comfortable and the sharing of ideas and experience within the group was beneficial to everyone. I had a little show in the studio, which was not well attended because we didn’t plan or promote it very well, but I believe Nina will eventually move future shows to the first floor of the house, which will provide easy access from the street. With proper planning and advertising, there is definitely a lot of potential in Trelex for relatively well attended and successful shows. I was very fortunate because I met some great people through the English speaking church in Nyon, and they bought a number of paintings, which helped a lot with the cost of our airfare and other expenses

Overall we couldn’t have been happier and are very grateful for what Nina is doing. We are contemplating the logistics of doing a Trelex style residency in our studio in Mexico, but that project is still in its very early stages. One thing for sure, Trelex is an experience. I hope to come back some day, to catch up with what Nina is doing and to become closer friends as well. From Mexico,

Andrew Osta and Ninfa Cuervo

Note from Nina: though it may be possible to find a more permanent display place in the house in the next year or so, the emphasis at The Trelex Residency is as a place of production, artistic development and research. Though some artists have sold work at shows we have organised for open studio evenings, this is very rare even for well-attended shows advertised long in advance. Artists should not for a moment contemplate funding their stay from potential sales. Switzerland is an expensive place but such a strategy could leave you uncomfortably out of pocket. So do not budget around selling work in Switzerland.

From John Appleton

27.03.2015 - 13.04.2015

JOHN APPLETON :TRELEX RESIDENCY : A BRIEF CONVERGENCE.

I think to myself before I board the plane to Switzerland how did I manage to come, so close to lunacy, before jetting off.

The Night before I was helping the Host' and other ex residents of Trelex, with their show. Pretty Peeved an excellent high energy show, by very different and dynamic Artists.

Many events of madness , breaks ins to late night drinking with a dash to the airport with one eye closed and coffee consumed, some how in the hazy morning rush, I had landed in Switzerland.

I quick meet and greet at London at city airport I had met my comrade, for the next two weeks Eva. Picked up by our hosts partner we were whisked to the van with an adorable dog, to the charming town in Trelex.

It was like ghetto to heaven, I had dropped into a Valhalla for producing. The studio was brimming with tools for creation. An atmosphere beyond complementing an artist, of hundred years ago. Eva and I were both perplexed and amazed. London harbours an artist that mainly sees such large spaces once a week, in the heart of different gallery districts. Most of the time we spend hours wishing we were elsewhere. Instead we hunch over our desks and computers in shoe boxed studios. We had arrived in a place where cows bells and bird song reigned together, with ice cream conned horizons.

So here we were planning logistical movements for the next few weeks and getting to know each other. Within the space were our separate rooms and small kitchen, which we shared. It was a basic set up, thought out and perfect for artists perusing traditional practice. Eva had trouble with the lack of technical advancement however began use the space in a more guru like way.

I could see this was going to be a place to decompress, so I wasn't worried about creating as such, but giving myself the time to digest the last few years and carefully pull out some of the more, estranged ideas.

For me at least I started to connect with older thought's. I guess the landscape directed me there. Atmosphere, environment clearly are important to my work. I have always relied on them for subject matter. Even now as I gear up for another show, I connect with my time at Trelex. I chose now to examine, prepare and test. I limited my palette to Black and White and graphite, taking away any attachments to painting.

I should have given more time to experiment, in retrospect. However the value I have from this experience now is coming to fruition. The paintings are more structured and detailed. Collage has become a new way to process and examine.

Eva's work was channelling the semiology of digital spaces. Using google maps to navigate and find where memorable events had happened in in her life. Combining this with the frustration of not being able to access them, due to being 'off the grid'. I liked this, as memory is selective. The jarring of these video works and the skittering screen, evoked ideas of trying to run in a dream, but not moving. I felt her videos were successful in activating the relationship to our own subconscious and the want, to remember.

Apart from studio time, a brief visit to Lausanne, and the Art Brut institute.

This was a first hand at understanding the brain and its powers. Interesting to say the least. Its best to see for yourself. The range of art and special exhibitions are dumbfounding. For myself, seeing these artists and their creations only fuels me. It's the visionary aspects of art making, which I have not dealt with for some time, but this does appear contorting in my paintings, every now and then. Alchemy is as strong a word as you will get, out of a high art establishment. Words like visionary scare the bejesus out of traditional scholarly types these days. Any whiff of incense is quickly edited with bleached texts and statements of enduring confusion. My point is letting go and let the madness consume your work,  maybe isn't a bad thing.

Anyway that's some of my experience at Trelex, well worth it, good for the soul. Next time I will produce a body of work and maybe get interactive, more community minded, so as to process ideas with a environment that nurtures.

www.johnappleton.co.uk

From Abi Box

12.01.2015 - 03.02.2015

Residency Garden Snowed Under

On 12 January I arrived at Geneva airport with a suitcase full of more paint than clothes to spend three weeks as an artist in residence on the Trélex Residency programme.  The residency was founded three years ago by artist Nina Rodin and takes up the top floor of the her family home in Switzerland.  Nina and I came to know one another during our BA studies together at Camberwell UAL and so I’d been keen for a while to come and spend time at the residency and work alongside each other again.

Abi in the Trelex studio making paintings

The set up is a self contained live in work space complete with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom and a large studio space with plenty of light, shelves full of books and materials and two movable walls.  I shared the studio with both Nina and fellow artist in residence Rebecca Molloy and although we did a fair amount of wall manoeuvring we chose mostly to arrange the space to be as open plan as possible.  The windows look out on to the garden which is surrounded by countryside and in the distance the mountains.  Trélex itself is located on the northwest side of Lake Geneva, in the district of Nyon, it’s a small town with a bakery, restaurant, post office and little shop - which I saw open only once in my whole time there.

Local shop

I went with the intention of getting stuff done but in reality three weeks isn’t that long and between the three of us we had a lot to say.  So our time was split generously between making work and talking about work.  Actively sharing thoughts, challenging one another on our ideas in an effort to refine what the point might be or to push a concept further.  I completely underestimated how much input I would receive simply by working in the same studio space as Nina and Becca, I was pushed even on a technical level in terms of my use of colour and painting technique, I really tried to keep an open mind and to listen properly.  Since being back I’ve missed working in company, there’s something better about being able to spread a conversation out over a longer period of time, with space to think in between comments and come back with thoughts as and when they come to you.  In the same way I also found suggestions would sink in better, you don’t forget because the conversation surrounding them is ongoing.

Painting detail, Abi Box

We also made time for adventures.  There’s so much countryside in the surrounding areas to explore, early on in the trip we took the bikes out into the forest to experiment with some installation ideas.  I had in mind an idea to light a fabric forest fire and take photographs for incorporating into my series of forest fire paintings and Becca took a can of squirty cream to use in a series of short forest graffiti video pieces.  We spent a number of afternoons going for walks and when it snowed we built a snowman in the garden with some less than conventional fixtures.

Rebecca Molloy on the way to the forest

On a few occasions we went further afield and took the 30 minute train journey to Geneva for exhibitions and sightseeing and nearer the end of our stay we hosted a open studio coffee morning where Becca threw everyone in at the deep end with the squirty cream videos.  On the last day we took the train up to St.Cergue and went snowshoeing through the woods and over the mountains and were wowed by view over Nyon and Lake Geneva. 

Snowshoeing in St.Cergue with Becca and Fanny

This is only a short summary of our time in Trélex - I did also write a diary of sorts, a little each day, which has been mostly for myself (so not to forget) but it also goes into much more detail and has links to extra bits of information etc…  12 Jan (day one)  > >




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