I don't have any other requests to be an Artist in Residence at the moment though I am open to offers if there's any organisations out there!

 

Artist in Residency in Jersey

I was very excited to be chosen as the Artist in Residence for the Jersey Arts Trust, this is my diary. Please look at the photos in the Gallery which accompanies this Residency. The Residency happened in the first part of 2008 and culminated in an exhibition at St James from May 13th to 25th

May 17th 2008

   My residency is ending with an exhibition of my work, tied in with the Open Studio event organised by the Jersey Arts Trust. My exhibition is at St James with the private view on Tuesday 13^th at 5.30. The Open Studio event involves about forty artists and gives the public the opportunity to visit the studios of local artists and see what it is they do. Last weekend there was an event at the Royal Yacht and many of the artists had a piece of work on display giving a taster of what is to come. Although this exhibition only lasted a couple of days it was obvious that Jersey has an art community to be proud of and that visiting the studios will go some way to making Islanders more aware of this. Studios open at different times and details can be obtained from the Jersey Arts Trust. 

 I am rather sad that my residency is coming to an end and this is my last article for the JEP though you can read more news by logging onto my web site at http://www.lisa-macdonald.com/ . The story doesn’t end here though because next month I have been invited to do another residency in Cardiff. A group of Jersey Crafts people are exhibiting there at present, thanks to Art in the Frame and later on in the year the Cardiff crafts people are coming here. If you have relatives or friends in Cardiff or happen to be there yourself, the exhibition is at Craft in the Bay and is run by the Makers Guild.

 But back to this residency!

 I was lucky enough to work in Rouge Bouillon and St John’s and created two exciting projects. We decided to make the day at St John’s quite an event and both Year 5 and 6 worked in their hall on a portrait project that was inspired by my work. Concentrating on identity, the children were asked to make their piece about an aspect of themselves. My own work in this area had been inspired by visiting Corfu with the Jersey Arts Centre’s production of “My Family and Other Animals”, the story adapted by Daniel Austin about Gerald Durrell’s early life there. This was a rare insight into the lives of many extraordinary people there and has been the starting point of much of my work since. My paintings are about identity and include questions such as “Who are you?” and “Where are you going?” I discovered in St John’s a rather enthusiastic interest in wealth with several young artists focusing on the importance of money - “How rich are you going to be?” This is no doubt an indication that the next generation of businessmen and women entrepreneurs are ready and waiting to maintain Jersey prosperity!

 At Rouge Bouillon the project was to create an alphabet as a celebratory piece for the school to celebrate their centenary and I worked with the lovely Nicole Preece and her Year 5 class. They were a hoot and made me feel especially welcome. We used different techniques to create the alphabet and had loads of fun fusing plastic and making felt. By providing the young people with a number of different techniques that they have explored, they have created a really unusual piece of work. I am hoping that as many of you as possible will see this during the exhibition. It’s going to be open from Tuesday 13^th – Sunday 25^th May and is at St James. Monday, Wednesday and Friday 4 pm -7pm, Tuesday and Saturdays 10 am – 4pm and Sundays 2pm -5pm.

 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the JEP to allow me to use the paper to tell of my work as an Artist in Residence and to thank the Jersey Arts Trust once again for its support and belief in the work that myself and my predecessor Rob Allen have carried out – I hope to hear about the work of our successors in the not too distant future!

 

March 22nd 2008

What a month it's been a bit of a busy blur.  I have worked in a number of schools and got extremely excited about the work .    I will be posting photographs soon

"It started with an Egg"

 The plan was that the children from St Clement's nursery class would come across me in the meadow, crying, but holding an ornate egg..

"I found this and I don't know what to do.  Will you help me?"  From that moment the story they created would belong to them with a little direction thrown in.

 The value of art education is in the process of creation and with Jane Bravery, teacher at St Clement's nursery, we had been working on this scenario for a little while.  We hoped to create a magical world of discovery for the children where they learnt through play.   It was of great value that we were able to utilise an outside space to create the work and with expert help of Alcindo Pinto who provided plant knowledge and much valued practical help and Raewyn Greggain, who has been supporting the artist in Residence scheme but is herself a sculptor, we endeavoured to help the children build their own story.

 Very early Raewyn and myself had crept into the meadow and hidden various helpful props which would endeavour to help the young children in their building.  We had a great deal of willow and built a few more complicated shapes which we know the children would struggle with, a skeletal beginnings of a nest, a few willow shapes that might come in handy and Alcindo kindly brought some greenery for the children to find and use.  We hid these things around the site for the children to find along with some beautiful feathers, kindly donated by the Durrell Trust and some pampas grass. We did not need to import mud, we had that in abundance !

 The children rose to the challenge with great enthusiasm and decided immediately that the egg needed a nest, a mother and some monsters to protect them from harm.  The mother was a dragon bird and the monsters made from mud and stuck to the surrounding trees.  The children were divided into groups under the watchful eyes of members of the nursery team, Natalie Pretty Shelley Jehan, Paul Hargreaves and Lou Jouanne who helped to encourage the children to build and weave into the shapes. The dragon bird sprung into life  magically and effortlessly as the children moved from one activity to another.

 The setting and the weather suited 'I Am Going On A Bear Hunt' inspired story, only the bear was ousted for the dragon bird by Jane, as the magical breath of the beast warmed the flasks of hot chocolate in the 'bon fire' they had built to keep warm.

 Over the next few weeks the work will continue as the story develops further in the classroom and when the children come to see their work in the exhibition at St James' in May we are hoping to add another chapter.  Whatever happened to the baby dragon bird?

 My thanks go to John Guegan for his fabulous photos and Highlands for the loan of the audio equipment. 

 

Feb 22nd 2008

 The opportunity to take the role of artist in residence for the Jersey Arts Trust was enough to have me whooping for joy. Recently they secured funding for two residencies and are hopeful there may be others to follow. My residency is the second one of this series. My predecessor, Rob Allen, worked in the three months prior to Christmas, primarily with secondary school students and was one of the artists chosen to have an exhibition in the Berni Gallery at the Jersey Arts Centre to celebrate their 25^th anniversary. My residency is running until April with an exhibition in May.

 An Artist in Residence is the term used by organisations when they sponsor an artist to come and work with them. This can be a commission to create a site-specific work or work for an exhibition, to stimulate creativity within their work force or to work in the local community or a mixture of these things. They are usually given some financial support or a chance to sell their work, a studio space and someone within the organization will take them under their wing. In my case, at the Jersey Arts Trust, that person is Raewyn Greggain. 

 Getting this artist to be in residence however has been wonderful. Thank you, trustees! Being an artist is an enjoyable but hard slog. It’s not like the old days when you could almost take for granted that if you were any good there would be a few rich patrons ready to adopt or commission work from you at regular intervals, although if there are any out there I would love to hear from them! 

 Now you learn to be grateful for any support that you can get, have to be passionate about what you do and frequently have to juggle several jobs working long hours to make sure your own work does not fall by the wayside. Being an artist in the twenty first century takes a great deal of determination and considerable organisational skills. 

 I have chosen to create work for an exhibition and to complete three projects in primary schools. With school budgets stretched, offering to come in and work with students was welcomed with open arms. The schools chosen are Rouge Bouillon, St John and St Clement: Rouge Bouillon because it is their centenary year, St John’s because the Head cornered me early on and St Clement’s because I am interested in improving my own practice as an artist working with very young children and believe this nursery teacher to be a thoughtful and inspired practitioner who is open to valuing process more than product.

 I have been working for a number of years in various different media throughout my life as an artist and teacher and my work has been featured in a number of international textile magazines, and is in Embroidery magazine this month. I was one of a group of Jersey artists who exhibited in Harrogate in 2006 and will be showing in Cardiff in the spring, with several other Jersey artists. I probably would not have been able to raise my profile so dramatically if it had not been for Art in the Frame and Pat Robson and Liz Le Gal know, I hope, how grateful many Jersey artists are for their support.

 My work in schools starts in early March and I am busily preparing an egg to be used as an inspiration for work with St Clement’s nursery children, and am rushing around gathering resources for the other projects. If you would like to get in touch either to chat about my work, set up a residency in your organisation or pop in to see exactly what I am up to, please phone Raewyn at the Jersey Arts Trust and if we don’t meet,  I’ll let you know how I got on.