Proposal
The Introduction:
Based on common intertwined investigations into; landscape, relationship, commonality, space, imagination, texture, co-habitation, humans, non-human, responses, response-abilities, stages, entanglements, private knowledge and public knowledge Jessica George, Devin Dobrowolski, and Cole Caswell intended to use the residency in Nova Scotia to collaboratively explore three individual projects. The design of the residency would allow each member to complete an individual body of work, however this would be done in the context of a collaborative exchange of ideas, working methods, and living styles.
The Individual Projects:
Individual Projects would be designed and executed by each of us with the goal of deepening our understanding on a given question or topic. Given each of our independent fields of interest, the landscape of Nova Scotia will certainly influence each of our projects. Please see below for detailed descriptions of each participants proposed project.
The Collaboration:
Time will be spent each day questioning and sharing ideas and concepts with the entire group (including family members). This collaborative think tank will focus on cross over topics from each of the individual projects as well as elements of place/ space that could be influential to the collective experience, knowledge, understanding, etc… The intent of the collaboration is to foster dialogue and experimentation between group members, and their individual projects
Individual Projects:
Devin Dobrowolski
How does one depict space? What are some of the strategies for the construction of a believable space? More importantly, what can the methods used for the construction of space relate to a viewer? These are questions that I have become increasingly interested in exploring in painting. Within painting there is a constant tension between materiality and depth, physical presence and illusion. In my work I try to maintain a state of play between these elements to create a state of psychological tension; a place where history and memory can interact with real and imagined space.
I create controlled, orchestrated environments within my studio that can serve as a “stage” or foundation on which the painting can be built. Observed or imagined objects are then inserted into that space. While much of this work has been devoid of figures, human presence is nonetheless palpable within the context of implied narratives. Inanimate objects take on a deeper psychological significance based on their interactions with each other within space of the painting.
The residency in Nova Scotia represents an invaluable opportunity to expand this process outside, beyond the studio, to further explore the relationships between physical and psychological space in my work. The goal in collaborating with Cole and Jessica is to create a work environment in which we are each able to work and interact in way that will expand our sensitivity to the environment and enrich our work in ways that we would not be able to on our own.
Work Proposal: I intend to use the time at Baie Sainte-Marie to focus intensely on drawing and painting studies of the surrounding landscape. These studies will focus on the diverse textures and environmental conditions of this space. I will be drawing inspiration also from the writings of Henry David Thoreau (“Nature” and “Walking”) and John Ruskin (“Elements of Drawing”).
Cole Caswell
Investigation of the land on multiple scales of the temporal and the physical can create openings into the relationships shared between this same land and its inhabitants. Using photographic tools to investigate these openings into the entanglements of the environmental systems that surround us, allows one access to a perspective and understanding of their surrounding that grounds their relation to place within a new set of questions. The environment, or land, then becomes the common element in the creation of relationship, of both the human and non-human variety. How does one live, dwell, relate, and thrive in a context that understands the surroundings as a neutral and common element that all inhabitants share?
Photography as a tool records the entanglement of the actual world and the practitioners perspective. It is here that the residency in Nova Scotia posses such a great opportunity, for both the creation of photographs that explore the interconnectedness of the environment, and in the fostering of a land (the actual property) where Jessica George, Devin Dobrowolski, and myself can work to further a new collaborative project and relationship.
Photographic Proposal:
Using the wet plate photographic process to create direct positive tin types, i would continue my exploration of the landscape and the ways in which one my photographic their surroundings in order to better understand the relationships that exists within the landscape and our current cultural paradigm.
Social Proposal:
To allow the land (the property) itself to facilitate a generative relationship and collaborative base between the participants of the residency. Investigating how the above stated area of interest (land being common meeting point in relationship) can work to allow a yet defined collaboration to emerge as one body.
Jessica George
I believe that we can understand a landscape through all animate responses to it. In noting and gathering and remembering past and present responses of my own and others i construct an understanding of a personal understandings of place.
the more responses gathered, the more developed an understanding one has of a place and its landscape, therefore, one becomes more responsible for it. Of interest, are prohibited places; land knowledge that is hard to access, obscured, or mediated. These interests are obtained be in the form of memories, tours, conversations, interviews and trespassing. These types of places and knowledge are prohibited in order to prevent a public or personal response. perhaps, for environmental or private reasons. however, without experiencing and gaining a response from them, a greater understanding of the larger context is not possible.
-understanding an understanding
-evidencing responses
-becoming response-able to a place
-creating a new understanding of the land/place
-creating a trail/path/way of gathering knowledge
how does this sound to you guys? do you need more or want me to be more specific. actually :
paintings
photographs
maps
books
possible clothing accessories / material culture needed while in this place
poems / journal entries
observational drawings
film?
Conclusion
The Residency in Nova Scotia would offer all of us an opportunity to collaboratively workshop our overlapping individual artistic pursuits in a context that would allow for the ideas, comments, and visual work to pass between each of us. The results of this type of environment are not fully known, however we hope to each accomplish deep investigations into our own work while using the collaborative think tank method of information sharing to seek out common footing for a collaborative artistic practice to emerge either during the residency or at a later date.
Logistics:
Time: 7/16 -7/31
Number of Guests: 4
