Gwithian Chapel Residency

Today is my final day in Gwithian Chapel

I have not made a body of finished work in the way I might have expected. There is no clear outcome or resolved installation. Instead, the time has been spent in a different way.

The chapel has given me space.

Both physical space and mental space.

Coming straight from three months in India and Morocco and returning to a small, cluttered studio, this felt a gift.  I have been able to lay things out, move them around, remove them again and sit with them. To bring objects in, test them and take them away without pressure.
There has been a lot of sorting and sifting. Trying to piece something together without yet knowing what the full picture is. Following threads, noticing connections without needing to arrive at a final answer.

Earlier in the residency I was working with fragments, frames and arrangements on the floor, looking for relationships between objects. Later, I found myself stripping things back, letting go of materials that were not working, and moving towards something lighter. Taking impressions, noticing shapes in the chapel itself, and responding in smaller, more direct ways.

Throughout this time, I have been thinking about sacred spaces. How space is used and how it feels .... different.

I’ve also had time to go through footage, sounds and photos I gathered while in India and Morocco, reflecting on moments of devotion, ritual, and the atmosphere of those spaces. This in itself has been hugely valuable.
Alongside this, I have been thinking about the way I work more broadly. During my time away, I made temporary arrangements as I often do when away from my studio. Small, instinctive groupings of fragments and materials that would be made, observed and then left behind. That way of working has continued here.

It has made me realise how much I value that kind of process. Work that is not fixed or permanent, but exists for a moment. Work that is more about attention, placement and response than about producing a finished object.

This has led me to question my relationship to ceramics. Whether I want to continue making more objects, or whether I want to move towards something more impermanent.  Working through interventions, using existing materials and allowing the work to remain open and unresolved.

If anything, these two weeks have been a return to a way of working that feels more open. Observing, responding and allowing things to unfold slowly.

I've been grateful for this time.