International Residencies & Travel

Artist Residency at Chateau de la Carriere, Mayenne France 2022

In August/September 2022 I was fortunate to be invited to a fairytale castle in the northwest of France as an artist in residence. Chateau de la Carriere was everything I had imagined, from sweeping views of deer grazing in the front parc to soft dusk breezes and cows lowing in the distance. 

My upstairs studio allowed me to work solidly on making pieces for a month, which are now available from the chateau directly.

View The Chateau Collection HERE

Each piece is particular to the environment, using found timber from the chateau outbuildings and sheds for the bases, and fabrics and haberdashery gathered and hunted from the chateau itself or brocante markets in the area. 

                               

I had many extraordinary experiences during my stay, such as the mysterious scent of intense perfume while wandering through the grass in the front parc while there was nothing around to produce it, no flowers, no people, nothing. It disappeared on the wind and then returned on a billowing breeze just as strongly, then was gone forever. The whisper thin space between present and past felt tangible and so real at that moment, and whether it was something wonderful or not, it opens the mind to possibility. 

                                 

I made the most of the opportunity to make my own routine, using the grounds to dictate my daily goings on. Dyeing calico in the chateau courtyards and walking the 600 metre long driveway forest three times a day to immerse in the sounds and scents of the environment. I will forever be able to turn the switch in my mind and be transported back into that parallel universe.

The people I met and have made lifelong friends with, the chance to be alone for a month at the same time, and the future connections and open possibilities are something I am thoroughly grateful for.