antonia aitken
Residencies.
Walking as Practice
Björkö Konstnod, Sweden, September 2023
WAP2023 presented me with an opportunity to connect with Björkö and the surrounding islands and importantly with the artist community that formed. Each day I engaged in looped walks from the studio - into the surrounding environment – the forests, rivers, and coastlines. This process grounded me in place as I engaged through my senses in a process embodied wayfinding. The results of these walks were a series of what I have termed ‘relational gestures’ – creative responses to the place, people, materials, and ideas I was walking with. Some of the results were drawn, written, spoken, performed, collaborative and ephemeral. These are documented on the WAP 23 Research Catalogue.
Archipelagos present one with an opportunity to examine what it means to be both autonomous and in-relation; to coexist locally and globally. Archipelagic models of thinking and practice aim to shift dominant Western protectionist ideas of ‘singularity’, ‘isolation’, and ‘individualism’ towards broader understandings of islands as inter-related constellations. Where the liquid space between islands is an active space which provides passageways and linkages between places and people.
These ideas became very present for me during the residency as I responded to the ecology of both the artist studio and the northern archipelago. I am interested in how one brings their individual practices into relation with others (be that place, artists, more-than-human and materials) and how this exchange can be conceptualised through the lens of archipelagic thinking.
This residency was supported in kind by Björkö Konstnod and through a generous contribution from the Regional Arts Fund.
Arts Tasmania Residency
Arthur River, Tasmania, Novermber 2020 & July 2021
During two trips of focused field research in 2020 and 2021, I was introduced to the unique West Coast environment, community, and histories through walking, talking and listening. I documented the experience through drawing, photography, sound and video.
I consider the Arthur River estuary a generative transition zone of material and conceptual encounter. The town settlement lies where cool temperate, tannin-tinted waters merge with the wild salty swells of the Southern Ocean, creating a fertile ecotone. It is situated amongst important and sensitive cultural sites along the the takayna / Tarkine coast; places embedded with ancient and continuing Palawa culture. It is also imprinted with the marks of our nation’s violent frontier conflicts.
These histories are shaping current discourse around how our community sustainably manages and respects this unique location and each other into the future. This place is providing an opportunity for me to explore the idea of transition, a moment or process of physical and philosophical tension and change.
Temporary Residency 4
Landscape Art Research Queenstown, Tasmania, March 2013
In March 2013 I participated in a project that brought six artists together from interstate and overseas to participate in a ten day collaborative residency at Land Art Research Queenstown (LARQ). The project was facilitated by New York based artist Prawat Laucharoen and Australian artist Raymond Arnold and was in conjunction with the Tasmanian 10 Days on the Island Festival. The result was six diverse artworks, reflecting various aspects of the Queenstown landscape. The work was shown on site during the festival in March 2013 and at Sawtooth ARI, Launceston in May 2013.
Women’s Studio Workshop Art-in-Education Artist Book Residency
Rosendale, NY, USA, October 2012
I was invited to make an artist book at Women’s Studio Workshop in February 2012. 'Drawing the Step' uses hard-ground etching, sound and letterpress to record seven daily walks in the area. With my left hand marking my right footstep and my right hand marking my left footstep, I scratched into the etching plate as I walked. The book’s accordion structure allows it to be read walk by walk or as one seven-day passage. The project was part of an ongoing investigation to use time based as well as performative drawing and printmaking processes to represent my body in place. During the residency I also taught etching to senior high school students from Kingston, NY as part of the WSW Art-in-Ed Program.
Bathurst Regional Gallery, Hill End Residency
Hill End, NSW, May 2012
In May 2012 I returned to Hill End to work in collaboration with Hill End Press. Hill End is a place that was significant during the mid 1800s resource boom, and later an important site for artists and the development of Australian modernism and new traditions of landscape painting and representation. It has provided me with a site to make prints and drawings looking the remnant mine sites and further investigate areas that have been subject to extensive mineral extraction and human use.
CraftACT Talking Water Artist-in-Residence
Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage, Namadgi National Park, April 2012
I was one of four artists who participated in the 2012 Artists in Residence program, which was aimed at creating a response to the theme of ‘water’. I spent a month living and making at Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage in Namadgi National Park in April 2012. During the time I researched Canberra's water catchment and created Flood Nest, Gudgenby 2013, a work which was shown at Craft ACT Craft and Design Centre in an exhibition titled ‘Talking Water’ in April 2013.
Black Church Print Studio International Residency
Dublin, Ireland, July 2011
In July 2011 I was awarded the International Artist-in-Residence at Black Church Print Studio in Dublin. The work I developed during the residency was a series of woodcut prints based on the Liffey River, continuing my investigations of rivers and the role they play in our lives and environment.
Women's Studio Workshop Art-in-Education Fellowship
Rosendale, NY, USA, February 2011
In February 2011 I undertook a 7-week residency at Women's Studio Workshop. Whilst there, I made a series of woodcut prints inspired by the post industrial landscape of the Hudson Valley and in particular the Binnewater and Rosendale cement mines. During the residency I taught screen-printing to junior high school students from Kingston, NY as part of the WSW Art-in-Ed Program. The prints resulted in an exhibition titled ‘Vestiges’ at Megalo Print Studio in November 2011.
Bundanon Trust Residency,
Bundanon, NSW, October 2009
In October 2009 I undertook a month-long residency at Bundanon on the Shoalhaven River. I Explored the tidal nature of the river and used the tides to draw.
Bathurst Regional Gallery Hill End Residency
Hill End, NSW, July 2008
In July 2008 I undertook a month-long residency at Hill End in NSW. The residency was in collaboration with Composer Timothy Hansen. The residency provided us with an opportunity to share our respective practices and experience the place.
Whilst in Hill End we facilitated an art and music-making workshop for three local primary schools. The aim of the workshops was to bring the schools together to enable students to share stories through shadow puppets and music making.
M16 Artspace & Megalo Print Studio Emerging Artist Support Scheme (EASS) Studio Residencies
Canberra, ACT, 2007
Following the completion of my honours degree I was awarded the M16 Artspace Emerging Artist Residency. It allowed me to have a studio for six-months to develop new work. Whilst there I developed a solo exhibition titled 'Drawing Breath: Breathing Place' which was on in the M16 Artspace Gallery in October 2008.
The Megalo Emerging Artist Residency allowed me 6-month printmaking studio access and was a time of great experimentation. I developed a series of etchings, which were exhibited in 'Caring for Land' at the Botanic Gardens in 2007 and 'Drawing Breath: Breathing Place' at M16 in 2008.
