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MAWDDACH RESIDENCY
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Abi Harding

1/10/2022

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When I began my residency at Mawddach Residency I was not entirely sure of what I would make. I knew I wanted to explore my relationship with an environment that was unfamiliar to me, but I was unsure as to what the outcomes of this exploration would look like. What really excited me at the beginning of the residency, is that it would be a time for me to be able to explore my practice outside an academic institution, especially since I had only completed my Masters course a week prior. Due to this, the residency really became a way for me to explore and feel how it would be to make artwork without any expectations from others and without it being judged academically, which felt very freeing.

I decided I would begin simply by drawing what I saw around me. I spent the first day simply sitting by the window and creating quick sketches of my view of the estuary, observing how it changed throughout the day, the light and the tide changing the landscape in front of me as time passed.
Then I began to explore the Mawddach, recording with drawings and photographs what I saw around me, and the more I looked I began to discover details about the environment around me that I couldn’t explain upon first sighting but that intrigued me. As I continued to look throughout my time at the Mawddach residency, these mysteries would begin to illuminate themselves. For example, a chain hanging from a tree confused me, I had no idea what it was doing there or why, but the combination of the organic and the man-made was beautiful to me, and so I created a simple charcoal drawing of it. Returning the next day I found a boat attached to that chain. I really began to appreciate how the environment around me would explain itself to me the more time I spent in it.

​My practice has always been very internal, of the body and internal emotions. I think therefore it makes sense that the work began to become about feelings and relationships, but rather than human relationships, I explored the emotions that the environment was drawing out of me. In particular, Barmouth bridge and the area nearby became important to the work I was making. I find wooden bridges scary and the multiple journeys I made across were very anxiety inducing, the anxiety building before I even began my crossing. This anxiety was further built upon by the weather at the time, the wind and rain blowing my hair across my face and obscuring my vision.

However,  I also felt very happy and rewarded each time I completed a journey. I decided I wanted to portray my view near the bridge as it was the area that induced the strongest emotion in me, and I created paintings of my view, of my hair obstructing the landscape. I found it interesting that when creating these paintings, which was a slow process of attempting to paint the hair in as much detail as I could, I found myself very calm, and the act of creating these paintings of an anxiety inducing moment almost became meditative.

Overall I feel my time on residency really helped me to begin my practice outside of an academic institution, exploring how I make work and the ways my practices changes and stays the same when it is entirely self-motivated. Furthermore I feel the collection of images and photographs I collected will continue to be useful within my practice, and I still feel inspired by the area following the residency.

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    RESIDENTS

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    Abi Harding
    Anne Grieve
    Arianna Milesi
    Asami Nishimura
    Beatrix Robinson
    Bethan Harris
    Bonnie Radcliffe & Catherine Lovett
    Catherine Gerbrands
    Catherine Knight
    Chloe Heffernan
    Chloe Winder
    Clare Day
    Dana Ferchland
    David Robertson
    Eleanor Osborne
    Elena Seubert
    Ellis O'Connor
    Emily Faludy
    Emma Phillips
    Emma Theresa Jude
    Esme Bone
    Francis Martin & Sam Boughton
    Gold Maria Akanbi
    Hannah Barker
    Hannah Farthing
    HB Drawing Group
    Helen Baines
    Hester Berry
    Jay Caskie
    Jenny Adam
    Jess Hinsley
    JM
    Jo Ball
    Kate Boucher
    Kate Lowe & Rachna Garodia
    Katie Vicary
    Lauren Jayne Hall
    Ling Chiu
    Linnéa Duckworth
    Louise Frances Smith
    Lucy May Schofield & Patrick Gabler
    Lucy Ward
    Marie-Louise Wasiela
    Marigold Plunkett
    Martina Ziewe
    Matilde Tomat
    Megan Willow Hack
    Melanie King
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    Piera Cirefice
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    Ruth Broadway
    Sara Reeve
    Scarlett Bourne
    Steph Tudor
    Stuart Leech
    Stuart Smith
    Sue Jarman & Sally Tyrie
    Teän Roberts
    Vicky Best
    Zoe Bennett

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