Wombats, Kangaroos, an Echidna, Goanna and a clouded Super Moon.
All that mixed with some art making in a bush environment with no phone reception (but good wifi) that was my most recent adventure in a nutshell.
The Liverworks Artist Lab Residency ran by Sydney based Performance Space facilitated by their Commander in Chief Jeff Khan and co-facilitators Kee Hong Low and Claire Hicks. We were camped down in the bushland of South Coast NSW at the amazing Bundanon, Homestead campus for 10 days. They brought together 8 artists from various disciplines, backgrounds and geographical locations and in this time let us explore, experiment, discuss, play games and of course create art.
Being the dancer/choreographer type artist I began working on a new idea for a project. In that time I mind mapped, post it sticky noted it, improvised in both the studio and the bush, in which I came out at a very different place to where I entered. After a couple of days I then realised that I might have reached the end of this exploring on my own business and eventually moved onto planning for WOLLUMBIN / WARNING and the trajectory I wish to see it on. Having the advice from senior people in the industry proved to be hugely beneficial with where I want my works to go and how it is I may get there. One day about half way through the 10 days we were given a tour of the Boyd Homestead, home to artists Arthur and Yvonne Boyd, whose parents were artists and there kids are now artists and their kids kids are artists and there brothers and sisters and cousins are artists. Anyways seeing the paintings this man and his family had done inspired me to paint something of my own and so it begun (I am not a painter). It took me the remainder of the residency to complete so during this time I discovered that we had a video recorder, it looked really expensive, it was, around $4,000, so naturally I felt I needed to make a dance film of something because when am I going to play with a camera worth that much again. So I did. After filming, which included some of the other artists, I edited, composed an accompanying sound score and then screened it at a mock up "film festival" in the Barn studio for everyone to enjoy. They all had raving reviews (not because they were in it). So then at the end of the residencing with my completed painting and film it was time we left for home.
It was great to be there however I was artistically exhausted after 10 days making art, dance, writing, planning, filming, editing, composing, painting, ukulele-ing, discussing, participating, not to mention the running, red wine-ing, watching the US election, the animals, swimming, cooking, a lot of eating, kareoke, laughing, playing games and so so so much more.
So thank you to Performance Space, Jeff, Claire, Kee Hong and of course Skye, and to the other artists Natalie, Kenneth, Zoe, Sarah, Wenchi, Teta and Geumhyung, it was such a great adventure with you all and I still feel so inspired by it that I needed to write something down, this was it, and share it with the world and thank you to those who are reading this :)
Here is a picture of the painting and at the bottom is the film I created.
For now though I am back into the studio dancing on a new project, planning another and having a fun time while doing it :)
Until next time people.
Thomas E.S. Kelly