Take Your Seat

Vélez Blanco, Almería, Spain ; JOYA Artist Residency

I had the luxury of staying with my dear friend and regenerative artist Sophie Gibbings at the JOYA Artist Residency she was hosting in Vélez Blanco, Spain in May 2023. While assisting in the kitchen cooking meals & tending to various other duties I was lucky enough to use the grounds to my pleasing in my free time. I explored the dry cracked clay land amidst rows of lime green pine trees that popped brightly against the Spanish blue sky. I wandered through the corridors of Simon & Donna’s big echoey adobe home scattered with artists working on their craft. Followed the soft paw marks strewn about the concrete floors from Frida, the sweet giant Schnauzer on the property, like a kid on a treasure hunt. I couldn’t stop taking photos of everything; art left by previous artists, the soft texture of the clay and wood walls, the bright potent sun breaking through the tiny windows. I felt inspired, reenergized with life, eager to partake in my surroundings. I found myself in an upstairs studio one afternoon, empty with a stack of cyanotype photographs in the corner left from the last artist to use the space. I imagined her soaking and hanging her prints, going through her own process. I laid the photographs on the table and as my eyes hopped from one to the next, I landed on them like a bee on a flower taking its share of honey. I sipped up her essence thanking her for this kismet drink of inspiration. And suddenly it kicked in, this creative tincture swirling above me finally dropped down through my crown and wanted to play, and a creation of my own came into being.