The Colour Residency

Colour centres my practice as an important way to communicate thoughts and emotions which are meant for something far beyond what words could ever evoke. When we see colour, it lands differently in each of our senses, stirring a concoction of internal responses at rapid speeds before we’re able to verbally articulate what that response is – and then the words arrive after a spent time of thought. I enjoy this relationship between the two worlds – visual and written – they lean into one another. The Colour Residency gave both of these to no end, humbly opening up a limitless wealth of adventure into historical and sensory perceptions that I was not prepared for but was willing on – I had long been searching for a deep visual learning / education opportunity. And so I braced myself for seven days of a full-on immersive colour explosion!

I went into this Residency wanting to squeeze every morsel of knowledge out of my time there, setting out to look for pathways to projects I was working on, which inevitably meant I was putting pressure on myself before I had even started. What was good for me was that this Residency was supported by 1:1 mentoring with Zeynep who runs this and The Colour Club. Our conversations immediately reminded me the experience was to be enjoyed, and the rest would fall into place. I was there to absorb what feeds my soul – colour.

A studio staple in my practice is making colour as exercises that ease me out of a creative block or into exploring a particular palette range for a piece of work or as studies. Creating these swatches under different ‘conditions’, in an altogether different environment (both immediate and wider), with headspace being free to simply explore, was the beginning of creating work over the next few days that I didn’t know I had in me.

The work organically unfurled and evolved with the thinking, creating, conversations and reading all working in tandem, and my subconscious revealing what I was always meant to be making in these days. I looked at layering over the colour swatches with coloured acetates, playing with sunlight to reveal new shades, shadow play, therefore making more questions from the work – what else is being created within these pieces? what emotions are being evoked from the colour/light play? could they be shaped into three dimensional forms?

I explored how colours interact, some with grey as a background as shades and colour blocks. These exercises taught me that the studying of limited colour palettes is as important to understanding the mixing of colours, in learning about interactions, colour relationships, symbolism and sensory connection.

I was surprised at how naturally these exercises informed my current research project, Empire of Plants, about the history of colour told through plants used for pigments during the global trade in the 1800’s. Leafing through pages of writings, travelling from book to book, I began to examine the colours Indigo and Gamboge more closely, painting specific colour-related palettes, experimenting with mediums and surfaces that welcomed wider but localised thinking to the process. I painted on rice paper, baking paper, and sculpted both into forms. I made flower books. I created a large scale indigo palette installation where the shadows, curled up corners of the paper and the installation format invited questions relating to farmed landscapes as cash crops in countries adversely affected by global trade, and long term thinking into the affects of those actions that continue to reverberate today.

I made a LOT of work that I ended up posting it back to Leicester! All the initial pressures I placed on myself fast fell to the wayside over those seven days. The Residency, as short a time as it was, has been a pivotal, impactful life experience – it amazes me how we are capable of absorbing experiences as if they have been a part of us for a long time; that to me just affirms I was always meant to be here, doing this. My time surrounded in the library of books ranging from the incredibly rare to the modern, drew me in to look at colour through different channels of inspiration, some unrelated to my practice. I was led to explore colour without inhibition, be led by my individual thought process, creating the magical pause between colour and paint studies to reflect without specific outcome, to breathe fresh perspective into how I approach colour with alternative mediums and dimensions. To play.

Working closely with a few of my favourite books from the collection, particularly, The Contrast of Colours by Ellen Marx, has directly influenced my research project about the history of colour. I’m left infatuated with layering and the altering of colour perceptions, hues and shades to communicate emotional connection and colour-archaeological data in various formats and materials! I’m also enthralled by the work of colour researcher and curator, Alexandra Loske, who advocates for women in colour history. 

This Colour Residency has gifted a space I could really throw myself into, self-direct my research influenced by Zeynep’s brilliant knowledge of colour and her ever-growing book collection. I have  come away with a more established direction of research, renewed vigour for learning, contemplation, a stronger sense of self, and a continued grounded and considered artist practice which works for how I work. 

I am so grateful to Contemporary Visual Artist Network East Midlands Bigger Bursary Award which has enabled this long awaited experience. Heartfelt thanks to Zeynep and The Colour Club / Colour Residency, all the artists’ past and present, who’s colour theories, artworks, writings, will be carried with me through every strand of my practice. I’ll continue sharing bite-size thoughts about the exercises in relation to the books which influenced the work and the conversations that took place guiding the work to subtly shift.

Parting thought until next time ” There is still art, there is still hope” – Wimbledon Art Studios kitchen posters.