OBRAS Holland featuring owners Ludger and Carolein. They welcomed me in with a vegan feast, exchanged stories and left the following day. They are based in Portugal where they run OBRAS Portugal.
This past February I completed a one month residency in the village of Renkum through OBRAS Holland.
Finding peace in solitude.
A time and place for revision.
A month to exist slowly, reflect & piece together the here & now to prepare for what’s to come.
Obras, a Portuguese word for “work-in-progress” is exactly how this time felt. Not everything goes as planned but luckily my plans were left wide open as I allowed the world to show me what I would see here.
I found solace in the deep forest, beauty in the way the sun shines through the stained glass windows & very importantly made peace with myself as the universe forced me to slow down in the form of sickness. I did, however, manage to update my website, write a published review of a show I saw at the artist workspace Plaatsmaken and I completed a portfolio photo book of my favorite works between 2016-2019. I was even able to use the darkroom at Plaatsmaken to developed film and made some prints that I will share as soon as they are scanned.
Plaatsmaken is an amazing makers space in Arnhem, the closest big city to Renkum.
Mineral House Media, an online platform for contemporary art based in Tennessee, welcomed me to write reviews for shows I discovered while in Holland. Of course, nobody saw this pandemic coming (currently typing this whilst in quarantine) so this was the one show review I got to see and complete. Caught In A View by Utrecht based visual artist Choi Wong was on display and I immediately connected with her work. Writing about Choi’s work very much felt like a reflection of my own.
Here you will find the art review.
Plaatsmaken (right) nestled next to De Kroon windmill tower. Arnhem, NL
A collection of my pieces previously on exhibit at Fluorescent Gallery from my show In Search Of Lost Time. I brought some of the smaller pieces from the show all the way to this tiny village in Renkum. It was fun to see what the work looked like in a completely new setting. This display was intended to be a part of my artist talk that I sadly couldn’t complete because I got sick.
The stained glass windows in the home were absolutely incredible!!
A small gift to OBRAS Holland. A double exposure black and white film photograph taken during a road trip somewhere in Colorado, USA. I remember Ludger liked this one so I thought I’d add it to the house (that was already full of amazing work from previous artists).
Here’s a few photos inside the studio and the nearby forest :)