Due to my mum's illness and subsequent death in May I was unable to partake of this residency.
I'm very excited to share that in June 2017 I'll be artist in residence at The Mothership, Dorset. The residency provides an opportunity for contemporary artists working in any media to work on a project of their choosing. The live/work studio is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, located on the edge of an ancient woodland.
My idea involves landscape, personal history and song. During my residency I'll walk the woodland and explore the village, building a heartfelt relationship with the location. I'm keen to work with a local person who can read music, to learn folk songs collected from village residents during the last century. Songs and tunes collected from the village are kept in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in Cecil Sharp House, London. As well as the song, the singers and music makers names are recorded, can I find these people in the graveyard? Do their decedents live in the village? Does anyone recognise the tunes I'll bring back? Could the village residents teach me songs passed down through their families? I intend to sing these songs to the ancient woodland, the graves, sharing my findings with the wider community. I wonder at the sparks this could ignite.
