Helen Cammock’s Residency – Week 4 Blog Post

March 2, 2016Leave a comment

Fresh Milk resident artist Helen Cammock shares her final blog post, bidding farewell to Barbados – for now. In addition to fitting in some more shooting at Bulkeley Sugar Factory and a final swim in the ocean, Helen emphasizes the value of her first international residency and having the time to be both “actively productive and reflective.” Read more below:

Having recovered from what I suspect was Zika, it was a week of getting ready to leave Barbados…it included a return to the closed Bulkeley Sugar Factory… it’s hot and it’s windy, with potential new images everywhere I look but time, memory card and camera battery are working against me… I come away with good footage, but will come back again for more one day soon…

Back at the studio and taking time to go through all the footage shot while I’ve been here…beginning to develop visual patterns for a new piece.

A last swim in the the sea in the rain…

clear waters, white sand… staccato on skin…

a month to feel, to think…

then saying goodbye to Fresh Milk.

I have had space for the first time in a while to just think, read, write and experiment with ideas. I have never done an International residency before and the platform here at Fresh Milk has really worked for me. From them there was no expectation to complete a new work over the period of the month and this was refreshingly helpful for me in terms of research and space for thought. Annalee made introductions, suggestions and was supportive throughout, and this meant the time could be both actively productive and reflective – whatever you might want or need it to be.

Thank you Fresh Milk and thank you Barbados.

Open Call: ‘My Time’ Local Residency 2016

February 29, 2016March 9, 2016Leave a comment

Fresh Milk is pleased to share, for the third year in a row, an open call for the ‘My Time’ Local Residency 2016.

Having again received generous support to make this residency possible, one Barbadian artist will be selected from this call to undertake a one-month residency at Fresh Milk, and will receive a stipend of $1,000.00 BBD towards their production costs. Visual artists working in a variety of disciplines (sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, performance, photography, new media, interdisciplinary) are invited to apply.

We are particularly interested this year in artists whose work reflects on culture, identity and place in ways which fall outside of stereotypical narratives, challenging the notion that culture must be read or represented in a singular way.

Emphasis on a cross-disciplinary approach to research and production is also an area we are interested in supporting; the selected artist will share the studio with an artist, researcher and educator whose work centres around the creation, presentation, promotion and facilitation of critical discourse around contemporary Pacific arts practice. This could be an exciting opportunity for collaboration or cross-pollination of ideas during the shared time on the platform.

Duration of Residency: 4 weeks

FRESH MILK will provide:

– A $1,000.00 BBD stipend to the artist
– Wireless internet
– A 15.5 x 14 ft studio space
– A wide expanse of rural land
– Access to the Colleen Lewis Reading Room on site
– A varied network of creatives to connect with including an international resident artist with whom the successful candidate will share the platform
– The option to participate in a public event showcasing the outcome of the residency

Eligibility criteria:

– Artist must be Barbadian
– Artist must not have taken part in an on-site Fresh Milk Residency within the last 2 years

Expectations of the Artist:

– Artist must come out to the studio a minimum of four days per week between Monday and Friday. Studio access is between 8 am and 6 pm
– Artist must supply their own materials and equipment
– Artist must complete some form of public outreach in relation to the work created during the residency (artist talk/presentation, workshop, exhibition, etc.)
– Artist will be required to keep a weekly blog of their activities and processes, and submit a report to Fresh Milk at the conclusion of the residency
– Artist will be required to donate a piece of work to the donor who made this residency possible

Application Process:

To be considered, please submit the following to freshmilkbarbados@gmail.com with the subject line ‘My Time Local Residency 2016 Proposal’:

– The completed application form which can be downloaded here (includes applicant’s contact information, an artist statement, and full residency proposal)
– An up to date Curriculum Vitae (CV)
– A numbered portfolio of 5-10 images (or 2-3 short videos as the case may be) of recent work
– An index of the portfolio pieces in numerical order, with the title, medium and date listed

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

The deadline for submission is March 28th, 2016. The residency must take place between June 6 – July 1, 2016.

Fresh Milk welcomes Sonia Farmer and Alex Kelly to the Platform

February 26, 2016February 27, 2016Leave a comment

Fresh Milk is pleased to welcome Bahamian artist and writer Sonia Farmer and Trinbagonian artist Alex Kelly to the platform for the month of March, 2016.

Work by Sonia Farmer through Poinciana Paper Press

Sonia will spend her time at Fresh Milk working on two main projects—one a personal creative project, and the second a wider community endeavour.

The personal writing project will be a series of experimental poems with the working title ‘The Best Estimation in the World’. Sonia will work with transcriptions gathered from interviews conducted during her work in the art department at Baha Mar, the mutli-million resort development in Nassau. Using a voice recognition software, she has collected dense blocks of mostly indistinguishable text rife with errors from these interactions. Part erasure and part found text, she will comb through the material to identify phrases and words, and separate and re-structure them into poetry. Though completely void of all content and subject matter from the original interview, the poems based on the mistranslations would nonetheless develop around an unsettling alternate reality of the tourism model in The Bahamas.

Additionally, she will establish a relationship between Fresh Milk and her larger creative endeavour, Poinciana Paper Press, by conducting a series of workshops on book-binding and design entitled The Art of the Book.

Detail of Alex Kelly’s untitled installation. Photo by Rebecca Roos

Alex’s work explores the “how come” of life in Trinidad and Tobago. By applying an understanding of human nature, considering the population as both a community and as an individual in a larger global community and by utilising images from the past and the present that act as culturally specific ideograms, he examines cultural, social and historical circumstances that have lead to the development of the present realities of life in Trinidad and Tobago.

His work intends to engage the public by providing familiar points of reference while calling into question prevailing assumptions about Caribbean life that often serve as cushioning from harsh realities. The intention is to confront the audience with a more honest discourse about Trinbagonian culture.

Alex’s aim is that this residency will facilitate the expansion of the scope of his work, building on links established during his participation in the Caribbean Linked III residency in Aruba. This experience reignited a desire to participate in solving problems surrounding Caribbean life and Caribbean connectivity.

_______________________

About Sonia Farmer:

A Bahamian writer who uses the crafts of book binding, letterpress printing, hand papermaking and printmaking, Sonia’s work is intimately tied to the Caribbean landscape and identity. Often her work engages with contemporary Bahamian society through the lens of history and mythology, specifically in the realms of feminism and the tourism industry. She is the founder of Poinciana Paper Press, a small and independent press located in Nassau, The Bahamas, which produces handmade and limited edition chapbooks of Caribbean literature and promotes the crafts of book arts through workshops and creative collaborations. Her artwork has been exhibited throughout Nassau including at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Doongalik Studios, The Hub, & the Central Bank Art Gallery. Her poetry has won the 2011 Prize in the Small Axe Literary Competition and has appeared in tongues of the ocean, The Caribbean Writer, Poui, The WomanSpeak Journal, and Moko Magazine. She holds a BFA in Writing from Pratt institute. Visit poincianapaperpress.com to learn more.

_______________________

About Alex Kelly:

Alex Kelly is a contemporary artist living and working in Trinidad and Tobago. Kelly recently graduated from The University of the West Indies, St Augustine with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Arts. Over the period of his study at the university Kelly participated in several public art projects. Among them are the mural “Hope” at the Family Development and Children’s Research Centre, St Augustine, for which he acted as co-facilitator; an art outreach program at Mayaro Government Primary School, Trinidad and Tobago, which formed part of a collaboration between The University of the West Indies and the Bridge Foundation; and a collaboration with the College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago designing a fundraising campaign for the creation of new student bursaries at the institution. Kelly has exhibited in three group shows with The University of the West Indies and in 2012 produced the mural “Slave” at the Night Gallery in Woodbrook, Port of Spain.

In 2015 he began occupying a studio space at Granderson Lab, a project of Alice Yard. In August of that year Kelly participated in the Caribbean Linked III artist residency and exhibition in Aruba, where he spent three weeks producing original works and participating in engagements that have expanded the scope of his practice from a national focus to a regional one. In September of 2015 he began working with the University of The West Indies, St Augustine as a guest lecturer and visual arts demonstrator. Kelly is currently interested in facilitating further integration of contemporary art into the national consciousness and public policy, and in providing opportunities for greater connectivity between art communities in the Caribbean.

Helen Cammock’s Residency – Week 3 Blog Post

February 24, 2016February 24, 2016Leave a comment

In the third week of her Fresh Milk residency, British artist and filmmaker of Caribbean heritage Helen Cammock faced challenges both health and footage-wise. Despite this, she managed to visit Bulkeley Sugar Factory, Portvale Museum and Harrison’s Cave while continuing to conduct research, reflecting on these varied locales and the histories of the island that are often simultaneously visible and invisible. Read more below:

This week…

I have lost my best bit of footage – the kind you can only hope will happen when everything just comes together – the slip of a hand and it’s gone.

I have been ill for a few days with what we think might be the Zika Virus – all over rash, fever, sore eye sockets, joints and muscles.

But earlier in the week I did film at Bulkeley sugar factory…

…and Portvale sugar museum…and I spoke for a long time with a worker at Portvale who talked me though the whole sugar refining process with the love and knowledge of a scientist. He told me how he’d wanted to be an artist, but his father couldn’t afford to put him through college. He had sadness, regret (and a suspicious fire in his eye as he looked over me, my college education and my expensive equipment) but he said he loved the sugar refining process and spoke of it as a painter sees or an author writes. He said that although the sugar industry was an extension of the colonial machine, he still loved to see the chemical processes involved in the building of sugar crystals – getting the balance right with the extracting and condensing water and felt proud that he felt master of this process.

I have driven and navigated across the island without getting lost.

And the Museum library has continued to offer up interesting information about the Silver Men of the Panama Canal…it has all brought me back to thinking about how historically. so much we revere has been built by invisibles…there’s too much left unsaid, unseen and unacknowledged. So much stolen, appropriated and fabricated.

We visited the screening programme run by Andrew Millington at the Errol Barrow Centre for the Creative Imagination (EBCCI), a branch of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and watched a film that gave insight into a man’s journey to connect with his ancestral history, and in so doing, gave insight into the history and contemporary experiences of the Maroons of Jamaica. On the way home we discussed the significance of legacy and impact of access/lack of, to knowledge about personal, community and cultural legacy.

Harrison’s Caves…

And I sat in the quiet unsubstantiated safety of the library and started to think more about Appropriation – why, when who and how…

Emma Critchley’s Residency – Week 3 Blog Post

February 23, 2016February 23, 2016Leave a comment

Fresh Milk resident artist Emma Critchley shares a final blog post about her residency. In her last week of diving and filming along Barbados’ various coasts, she revisited some of her favourite locations to ensure she got the most out of the stunning land and seascapes. Additionally, she finally paid a visit to Harrison’s Cave, gaining inspiration from exposure to yet another of the island’s environments. Read more below:

Very sadly this has been a week of last dives, re-visiting favourite locations to make sure I have captured everything I can to take back with me and make sense of…

Tuesday was a beautiful dusk dive at Carlisle Bay with Shawn. Falling in off the beach into the cool waters is a great way to end the day. We did the usual tour to the six wrecks – me filming, whilst Shawn counted Trumpet fish…

Dry Wednesday involved out-of-water filming. I was lucky enough to have another morning at Animal Flower Cave to capture the cave from above the water’s surface…again 2 hours passed like 2 minutes

Bathsheba rocks were the subject of the afternoon – another beautiful time on the rugged East coast filming rocks sculpted by the ocean

A frustrating second dive on the Pamir due to a cog coming loose inside the housing, which meant I couldn’t film…so it ended up being a pleasure dive. And very pleasurable it was. Bill guided me into the nooks and crannys of the wreck – up the stairs and through the engine room…loved the low ceilinged cargo hold with its wirey seagrass and lurking creatures

So lucky to have fantastic conditions on my last daytime visit to the Bajan Queen – shafts of light pouring in through the wrecks’ apertures, soldier fish guarding the quarters…

We finally made it to Harrison’s Cave for a walk around guided tour through the very hot and muggy cave system!

What better way to end my filming and diving residency than a full moon night dive. The moon lit up the waters as we dropped in down into inky blackness. Despite the occasional getting lost that usually ensues with these kind of dives, they are always the most peaceful…