Alchemy Island Spring, May 6 - 21, 2024
I have so much enjoyed my many adventures with Alchemy over the years and one of my favourite times was spent at Gibraltar Point in 2019. The conversations, the food and the inspirational locale helped me to focus and be present. The Alchemy Residencies in general have exposed me to wonderful benefits and learning experiences. For example, in last year’s residency, one of the benefits I shared was the synergy I shared with while living a group of artists. Adriana Ciocci was working on creating natural dyes from the local plants and she inspired and helped me to create a great yellow ink/dye from yellow flowers (wild snapdragons) which I used to dye small sheets of Stonehenge paper. I used the small sheets to do some quick gesture drawings of the grape vines and new grapes.
My focus at the Island Residency, as in previous years, is to be present and explore the ‘terroir’ of the place where I am working. It’s about a specific place, time, and location. The themes of process and materiality are also central to my creativity and output. Creativity often involves a deliberate and repetitive process. It is an engagement in various stages, such as planning, creating, and refining. These processes, for example, can be structured with meticulously layering of colours and line or simply allowing the wind to create imagery. Materiality will be explored using a variety of mediums: paints, markers, natural dyes, graphite, acrylic skins, and digital tools. The physical properties of these materials will influence the creative process. While on the Island most of my work will be created on Stonehenge paper and later be re-invented, embellished and finished in my studio.
I did spend time starting with my plan but in the end materiality of medium became the focus of my explorations. I had a prolific studio practice, but I would have to say that my kitchen practice was just as strong.
Focaccia - bubbling yeast, pre-bake and final bread. It was delicious.
I usually keep a daily journal while on these retreats. This time I didn’t open my journal until there was 3 days left of the retreat. Here is a list of the hi-lights of my two weeks:
beautiful light filled studio
prolific amount of studio time and practice
alchemy charcoal
plein air talk and guided exploration
kitchen practice - I worked on two dinners, helped with others and did baking in between
working with Melissa, Claire and Katie on gel prints
chatting with Katie, Emily, Rachel and Camilla.
Luisa Milan’s talk (and feeding Louisa)
Gaye Jackson’s walk and talk along the coast
My first day - I was up early and found Emily in the kitchen already. We are the only two morning people and enjoy the
quiet time we spent there before anyone else is up. After breakfast I went for a walk to Hanlan’s dock and documented
interesting colours and shapes as I went. After that I came back to the studio and created my first painting - acrylic on
paper of red dogwood and the pond.
Our second day started with an island tour with Susan and Linda, local island women, filled with fascinating history and anecdotes. I realized after the walk that the documentation was almost exactly the same photos that I took in 2019. I’m obviously attracted to certain qualities of old willows and other plant life on the island.
Later in the day I created a kinetic wind drawing just outside the building using one of the beautiful
willow trees. I also started a red leaf painting of a sky shot of a red maple. I finished this painting the
following morning.
We spent Thursday working in the Gibraltar Point Garden - weeding, transplanting and cleaning the walkways.
On Friday, Melissa and I made a trip to the St. Lawrence market. We were given a list and power-shopped through the market getting everything on our list. Later that day I worked on another work on paper - it’s still not resolved - but someday. I also played with the gel print pads and created some interesting plant imagery.
On the following Saturday we worked on the front garden, doing the same work as on Thursday. That day there were additional volunteers from the community, mostly studio artists of Gibraltar Point. I played around with some paper that Claire had left in the art supply closet. These turned into some lovely pieces.
At 10 am we met with Gaye Jackson. She took us on a 2 hour plus walk along the coast telling us environmental stories and explaining the flooding and erosion that has been going on all over the beaches. After the walk I completed a mix-media painting of Old Man Willow/Here Be Dragons which I’ve decided will be for my mom. It depicts her Celtic/Norwegian heritage in the body of the work. I then started my kitchen practice and I prepared the ground pork and onion for Monday’s dinner.
Monday was my night to make dinner. Melissa offered to help and to come and learn about Sicilian dishes. I made ‘mpignalata, a bread dish stuffed with sauteed ground pork and onions and then rolled into a pinwheel. I also served a mushroom risotto and the fennel and orange salad with capers.
On Tuesday it was a simple gel print day and cyanotypes off the end of the dock. That night we had a great bonfire where we toasted marshmallows and Camila made some charcoal from willow branches.
The next morning I was excited to find the willow charcoal on the table. I grab some and went outside and started some sketches. The first of the lighthouse and the second of Old Man Willow, my favourite tree in the park.
On Thursday we spent a lovely morning listening to Leida and Jim talk about their Plein Air work. They have a group that meets regularly on Wednesday mornings at 10 am to wander the Island and create art. Leida is also a founding member of the Gibraltar Point art space. If it was not for her the old school would have been torn down. Jim showed us how he plans for his plein air excursions and the handy tools he has to be comfortable and prepared. They then took us out on a walk about to find a space to create our works of art.
After the morning and early afternoon plein air session I came back to the kitchen to cook the beautiful leg of lamb from Taylor’s farm. I served this with Sicilian caponata and Clair made creamy white beans to go with it. I also had the pleasure of cooking for Luisa. She runs the kitchen at Gibraltar Point and is an extraordinary textile artist. Her talk and presentation of that work was amazing.
The last few days I spent doing more plein air with the alchemy charcoal and more gel prints. I figured out how to do a transfer (so many failures). Dinners continued to be incredible. Everyone came through with the food they cooked. Our evenings became quieter and there were fewer numbers of us.