I began my first artist residency at Kulturschapp, a former freight depot in the village of Walferdange, Luxembourg back in mid-February. At the time, I was blissfully unaware that this would later become one of the hardest projects I’ve undertaken.
Idea vs Reality
I’ve worked in unusual places before, but never in a location layered in so many histories.
From old lift machinery built into the floor to metal hooks and former pulley wheels lining the stone and brick, this industrial building wears many cracks, holes and patches, from a life along the railway.
The sudden thundering sounds of a train speeding by takes some getting used to, but after working alone for hours on end, you start to welcome the noise - a reminder of the world still moving outside.
Thinking about trains as a symbol of escape, freedom, progress and adventure; a journey from here to there -it’s a strange time in history to find myself working next to the train tracks.
Arlanda Express, February 2020
Before the lockdown, I took a brief one day research trip to Stockholm, paying close attention to artwork exhibited in public transit space.
In Sweden the subway system, known as the T-Bana, is often referred to as the world’s longest art gallery with 90 stations designed by artists.
On my commute, I came across new-to-me Swedish artists: Signe Persson-Melin and Anders Österlin. Together in 1957, they created a collaborative series of abstracted traffic signs in geometrically patterned tiles for the T-Centralen Station.
I kept thinking about abstracted shapes, where they come from and how we interact with them; the windows we look through to the arches we walk under.
Play and assemblage of shapes and forms became a central theme during my residency at Kulturschapp, culminating in a final installation titled, “Excavated Reveries.”
Unfortunately due to the coronavirus, the exhibition is postponed, but I am adapting to our new reality by featuring this series of collages and sculptures as a virtual vernissage.
Installation View (Grid Side / Pink Side), Kulturschapp, April 2020
Detail (Left) “Unpredicable Loops" (Right) “Shelves too Small to Hold Anything Useful,” Kulturschapp, April 2020
With many pieces throughout the installation created from recycled materials, such as salvaged metal, domestic ephemera and collected paper advertisements, there is an underlying curiosity about the relationship of people to their surroundings.
The symbolism in the places people carry with them are embodied in souvenirs and each composition is a collection of objects as memory markers.
(Left) “Positive Interruptions Are Like Gaps In the Clouds” (Center) “The Mountain in your Mind’s Eye” (Right) “In The Blue Hour” Kulturschapp, April 2020
“Stuck Underneath The Weight of My Days” Kulturschapp, April 2020
Throughout the residency, ideas shifted as access to materials became limited. I scavenged and substituted empty toilet paper rolls and cardboard for less accessible wood; surprising myself with the materials I had on hand and experimenting with paper maché and plaster.
I was reminded that the very act of making is a form of resiliency. From the beginning, I pushed myself to use this time and space as an opportunity to work differently, roll out 10 meters of paper, suspended as curtains or test new ways to translate flat drawings and prints as sculptural forms.
I also started new experiments, keeping a little notebook where I recorded a stream of consciousness list every day (with some entries a day late) and a walking journal. Partly inspired by the literary style of Jenny Slate in her book, “Little Weirds,” and to pay closer attention to little big things.
This daily practice was my own way of training myself to attempt a consistent routine and record my train of thoughts. I reveled in the slower moments embodied in the color, shape, or texture of nature’s visual elements.
I found myself attracted to the budding yellow and pink blooms, chasing the golden light and smiling in the sunshine; looking up to clear blue skies and feeling a soft sadness about the color blue, wanting to hold onto what was never within my grasp.
As fortunate as I was to have an artist residency like Kulturschapp as a refuge to escape to during this strange time, it was difficult to stay focused and have the headspace for creating. I had to regularly remind myself to be kind and adjust my expectations as everyday tasks felt harder to complete.
(Day 35 of quarantine) Words of encouragement from my former painting professor, Maja Goldewska. I still remember being asked if a group of us wanted to exhibit in a one day show, she said “It is crazy, but you can do it.” I’m still doing it.
Big thanks to Joël Rollinger, Artist & President of Kulturschapp, for this opportunity and to Spencer Gaddy for being my forever artist assistant.
