Meet Our Residents
Meet Our Residents
2024
Rob Kitsos
American Dance Artist
Rob Kitsos is an acclaimed dancer, dance instructor, performing artist and choreographer, living and working in Vancouver, Canada. His residency enabled him to develop his current line of research Moving Matter, a choreographic project that explores specific materials and spaces in-depth to inspire short film, installation and live performance. His focus was our Garage Studio and you can see some of the results of his residency here (including a collaboration with poet and fellow resident, Winston Lê). He also spent time developing a complementary website for this project.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Winston Lê
Vietnamese-Chinese Poet
Travelling to France from Langley, Canada, Winston Lê’s residency gave him quiet time to focus on developing experimental poems inspired by the creative works of botanical artist, Katrina Vera Wong, who makes Frankenflora: imagined flower hybrids made from disparate parts of dried or pressed plants, creating new specimens that do not exist in nature. Through this collaboration, they aim to create a chapbook which combines his words and her constructions into Frankenflora Morphologues. He also spent time on a short collaboration with dancer and fellow resident Rob Kitsos (see above).
www.instagram.com/winstonladdle
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
2023
Noor van der Brugge
Dutch Artist & Writer
During a sabbatical from her job as an art teacher, Noor van der Brugge decided to make the time for a new creative project of her own, to devise an artist book inspired by the English poet and novelist, Philip Larkin. Noor’s books combine text with illustration in order to deepen the experience of exploring her stories, so her residency was spent reading and researching, writing first drafts and making sketches for this new piece of work.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Julie Price Carpenter
American Writer
Julie Carpenter wants to ‘bend reality one story at a time’, her latest work being a horror novel about hell. As a lifelong southerner and former evangelical, she feels well-versed in the subject matter! She is also aware though that she can write best about these when she has some distance from that world and that’s what made her look to France for a residency. Her needs were simple, a quiet space where she could work undisturbed throughout the day and space to wander in the evenings. She found this at Studio Faire.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Judy Major-Girardin
Canadian Artist
Through her work, Judy Major-Girardin’s strives to raise awareness of the beauty and ecological significance of water, land, flora and fauna. Judy gathered abstract and recognisable forms from the nearby river Baïse, making sketches, taking photographs and collecting plants to bring back into the studio. By printing, painting and layering transparent fabrics and painstakingly stitching with vibrant threads, Judy created works with a depth just like the river’s own.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
CL Fisher
Canadian Artist
CL Fisher is a code-based artist who studied in the Fine Arts Studio program of Centennial College, Toronto. With an impending deadline for an exhibition, CL had to stay focused during her residency. Her recent visits to the UK, where she walked Hadrian’s Wall (past the tree at Sycamore Gap, now lost to vandals), and then to Paris, ‘The City of Light’, offered up the inspiration and this residency the supportive space to complete new works in time for the printer.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Sara Gaines
American Writer
Sara Ann Gaines is a writer, artist, and shamanic practitioner, who creates essays and stories out of personal memories. Memories that are specific yet universal. During her residency she continued to develop a collection of personal “slice of life” essays and short stories, which she accompanied with sketches, illustrations, and photographs, akin to a children’s storybook but recontextualised through an adult lens.
www.instagram.com/saraanngaines
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Ann Marti Friedman
American Writer
Holding a Ph.D. in art history, with an emphasis on French art of the 17th-19th centuries, it made perfect sense for France to be the ideal location for Ann Marti Friedman to visit for a residency to work on her latest historic novel. While much of this novel is based in Paris, part of the novel will take place in a country chateau and the Lot-et-Garonne could be just the region in which to set it.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Katie Mawson
English Artist
With a fascination for colour, Katie Mawson works with the cloths from the covers of vintage books, first skinning these beautifully marked and faded cloths from their boards to then arrange, combine and balance shapes and colour combinations into new works of art. She spent mornings walking in Nérac, absorbing and photographing the colours and textures of the local French architecture, before returning to her studio to spend time arranging and rearranging once more.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Julie Bell
Canadian Artist
Breaking away from her usual way of working, creating mixed media collage on glass, Julie Bell challenged herself to work on paper and canvas during her residency. She developed multiple small pieces, as well as one larger work, something she’s not able to do usually in her small studio in Canada. Drawing from the local textures in architecture, food markets, cultural interactions and the pets at the property, completed works included “Marché en Plein Air“, “Comment Parler Francais Aucun Comprend” and “Good Boy Dougie“.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Rachel Jamison Webster
American Writer
Rachel Jamison Webster is a poet and author of fiction and creative nonfiction. Her works include ‘Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family’, a novel which explores ancestry, race, gender, and justice in American history. During her residency she continued to work with these themes for a new novel, this time focusing on her maternal ancestors, who lived freewheeling lives as feminists, artists, and queer people in the twentieth century.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Bailey Martin
American Writer
Bailey Martin was looking for a residency to carry her creative writing forward following graduating with a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Boston University. Her ultimate goal was to complete her first poetry collection, but to achieve this she needed a change of pace and some unstructured free time to take a breath, regroup her thoughts, and engage in the kind of experimentation that the freedom of our residencies supports.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Scott D. Peterson
American Writer
Having combined his interests in sport literature, sports journalism, and sports history to earn an interdisciplinary PhD. in American Literature and Culture at the University of Maine, Scott D. Peterson has continued to focus on sport as a creative writer, media researcher and teacher. He allocated specific time for his creative writing once again at Studio Faire, having visited for a residency back in 2022.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Chris Lock
British Artist
During Chris Lock’s two week residency she developed a series of small, concertina ‘sketch’ books, working with a palette knife, water soluble oil paint, acrylic and watercolour to create vibrant, textural landscapes on paper, inspired by the colour and light of the region. These little books also contained fragments of inspirational text by Author Celia Rees and were finished off with balsa wood start and end pieces.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Johanna Pfau
German Costume & Set Designer
Johanna fell in love with the garden here at Studio Faire, and spent the majority of her time outside, deeply lost in her fascinating history in order to create an illustrated memoir. Throughout the writing process the story took on a life of its own and began to alter. Real memories mixed with invented details and characters. The story begins when the main character is 6 years old and ends a few years after she is 11 when her parents took her and her brother from East Germany, where she lived, on holiday to Hungary. They never went back.
Weblink: www.johanna-pfau.de
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Suki Valentine
American Artist
Professional tarot reader, front-line activist, one of the founders of Riot Grrrl, metalsmith and jeweller, Suki Valentine has much to draw on for inspiration. During their time in residence, Suki took particular advantage of the French summer sun to create their own designs for a set of Lenormand Oracle cards, created in Cyanotype prints. These cards were originally created by Marie Anne Lenormand, a French fortune-teller in the Napoleonic era.
Weblink: www.YourBloodyValentine.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Emily Flouton
American Writer
The residency allowed Emily Flouton to put her literary work front and centre of her day, where usually she must divide her time between working as a freelance writer, a writing teacher, and a writing tutor from her home in Brooklyn, NY. Her coming-of-age novel combines a realist portrayal of boarding school life with elements of a haunted house novel. It was written and ready for final revision and the residency offered up the perfect opportunity for quiet reflection and reconsideration.
Weblink: emilyflouton.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Patrick Schmidt
American Artist
Working as a Professor of Art at Washington & Jefferson College takes up much of Patrick Schmidt’s time during the term, so in the summer months he makes space for travel and a continued exploration into the relationship between colour and pattern and their relationship to cultural and social identity, through abstract geometric painting. It was this that he developed during his residency, experimenting with transparency in particular, whilst allowing Nérac to inspire new combinations of colour, texture and pattern.
Weblink: www.patrickschmidtstudio.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Andrew J Rodriguez
Dominican/American Filmmaker
Andrew J Rodriguez is a Dominican filmmaker from the Bronx, whose work strives to ‘demystify the experiences of underserved communities through nuanced, character-driven stories with a touch of magical realism’. Whilst in residence he completed a rough draft of the script for his feature film about a young Dominican boy who is forced to leave school after his Dominican citizenship is revoked due to his Haitian ancestry.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/DrewAdventures
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Sabryna Ekstein
Canadian Writer
Encouraged by feedback for her final piece of work created for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, Sabryna Ekstein dived headlong into developing the work into a full blown novel, which she completed during her residency! With a keen interest in writing articles about food and beer (currently she’s the food and beer writer for The Growler, Ontario’s only craft beer magazine) food often plays a central part in her narratives, as is the case in this novel about a host at a four-star restaurant in downtown Toronto.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Garry Craig Powell
English Writer
Garry Craig Powell travelled to Studio Faire from his home in Portugal to work on his third book, an historical novel about “A love affair between two monstrous egos”, the celebrity couple Gabriele D’Annunzio, an Italian writer, who occupied a prominent place in Italian literature from 1889 to 1910, and Eleonora Duse, an actress, particularly renowned for her roles in his plays.
Weblink: www.garrycraigpowell.org
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jane Tolerton
New Zealand Writer
Returning for her second residency at Studio Faire, this time Jane Tolerton’s focus was on the biography of Mary Taylor, a woman born in West Yorkshire, England in 1817. Mary Taylor was a lifelong friend of Charlotte Brontë and wrote a novel of her own, Miss Miles, or A Tale of Yorkshire Life 60 Years Ago. Through her extensive research, Jane Tolerton’s book aims to highlight some false histories around Mary’s life.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Christina Burtner
American/Chinese Artist & Writer
Christina Burtner came away from her work as a commercial photographer, graphic designer and video producer to focus on a very personal project. Usually, her creative works take the form of paintings that depict stories through careful arrangements of toys and household items into dramatically lit dioramas, but this project was different! The residency allowed Christina private time out to write a very personal novel based on her own midlife crisis.
Weblink: christinaburtner.wordpress.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Elizabeth Rosen
American Writer
Following a long period of study, during which she obtained an M.F.A. in creative writing, and a Ph.D. in literature, Liz Rosen returned to her true passion for writing short fiction. Nine years later, she started to recognise the need to practice long-form, and so decided to create a collection of stories that would work together as a short story cycle and it was this that became her focus during her residency at Studio Faire.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/thewritelifeliz
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Alex Palumbo
American Filmmaker & Photographer
Alex Palumbo is a freelance cinematographer and photographer with his own company, Slack Tide Films, based in San Diego, California. In addition to his commercial work for clients such as Spotify and Harley-Davidson, Alex creates narrative films about people or stories he believes should be told. Alex rented a bike during his residency and, in addition to catching up on some existing editing work, spent several hours documenting the surrounding landscape and dramatic Spring weather.
Weblink: www.slacktidefilms.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Deborah Whitney
American Artist, Writer & Curator
When Deborah Whitney first came to Studio Faire for a month long residency in 2019, we got on like a house on fire, so we were overjoyed to welcome her again in 2023. Her project this time was to create embroidery drawings on vintage linen handkerchiefs. By highlighting elements of photo transfers of women of the burlesque, Deborah draws attention to the concept of ‘the male gaze’, the alleged power that men have over women. ‘The women of burlesque maintain that the power is theirs, that by choosing the stage they defied social and gender norms to assert themselves and their bodies.’
Weblink: deborahwhitney.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Triin Paja
Estonian Writer
Triin Paja is an award-winning poet, who particularly loved gazing out of the window from her ‘writing nook’ (The Bureau), while she worked on her new poetry collection at Studio Faire. She was also surprised to be inspired to write one and a half short stories, an area she had seldom delved into through writing before. We are grateful to the Cultural Endowment of Estonia for supporting her 3 weeks at Studio Faire.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Sonia Zaghetto
Brazilian Writer
Sonia Zaghetto is a Brazilian journalist and writer, now based in San Jose, but born in the Amazon region of Brazil. It is this saga of her family’s emigration to the Amazon region (the overseas territory, French Guiana), that is the subject of the novel she was working on during her residency. Time was spent thinking through the plots, honing the characters and creating the dramatic arcs that link the 20 short stories together to tell this fascinating story.
Weblink: www.soniazaghetto.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Linus Wever Andersson
Swedish/German Artist & Luthier
While studying philosophy in Berlin, Linus met a luthier whilst hitchhiking and, just four months later, he made the decision to move to the UK to study at the Newark School of Violin Making, from where he graduated with distinction. Now based in Glasgow, he works on his violins whilst studying for an MFA. During his residency he divided his time between carving a violin neck and creating delicate drawings for a graphic novel.
Weblink: www.linusweverandersson.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Bing Chen
Chinese Artist
Bing Chen started her creative career as a ceramic sculptor in China, working in ceramic production, but moved to Scotland to study at the Glasgow School of Art from where she graduated with a BA Hons in Sculpture & Environmental Art and an MFA. Bing’s familiarity with clay and interest in using found natural materials led to her creating multiple site specific installation works in our park during her residency. See some images of ‘Gardening Work‘ here.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/bingcubed
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Melissa Aranzamendez
American/Filipino Writer
Though Melissa Aranzamendez spends much of her time working at the intersection of technology and the humanities, developing ethical solutions towards responsible AI, her contrasting training and passion is for creative writing, with a focus on the experiences of Filipinos and other immigrants in America, from a personal and shared perspective. Her short stories focus on the mentally ill, the domestic help, the overseas foreign workers,…in her words: the people who are invisible in society.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Steph Del Rosso
American Writer
Steph Del Rosso is a playwright, film and television writer, and educator, currently teaching Playwriting at New York University in NYC. She has had her work produced or developed in multiple theatres across the US and was a winner of the Steinberg Playwright Award, honouring early-to-mid career playwrights of exceptional talent in 2020. Her residency allowed time to focus on a series of darkly humorous short stories, which explored gendered power dynamics and the myth of meritocracy.
Weblink: stephdelrosso.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Hannah Terwin
American Photographer
A residency at Studio Faire proved to be just the break Hannah Terwin needed from her work in Michigan as a professional wedding photographer, allowing her a short period of time to focus on her fine art photography instead. With fairy tales and folklore as the inspiration, Hannah developed a series of works using the house, gardens and town as the settings for her visual stories.
Weblink: handesignedcreative.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Victoria Dickenson
Canadian Writer
Victoria Dickenson has worked extensively in multiple museums in Canada, including working for eleven years as Executive Director of the McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal. She has curated numerous exhibitions and has written extensively on documentary art and the visualisation of landscape in North America. During her residency, she focused on her culinary memoir, an account of how she and her family cooked and ate from the 1950s through to the early 2000s.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
2022
Anna Tregloan
Australia Artist
Anna Tregloan has worked in both costume and scenography as well as intervention and installation for galleries and museums. She is in the developmental stage of a new work ‘Tending to the ice’ and it was this that was her focus at Studio Faire. Anna was writing and thinking about ice, whilst strange frozen installations were melting in the outbuildings and garden, their transformations caught on camera for further development in the future.
Weblink: annatregloan.com.au
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Shanna McNair
American Writer
Shanna McNair is Founding Director of The Writer’s Hotel writers conferences, and works with writers to develop their craft, find an agent or editor and market their work. She is also the Founding Editor and Publisher of The New Guard literary review, which publishes emerging and established writers from the US and abroad. But Shanna is also a writer in her own right and, whilst in residence, reworked and completed two novels that she had been developing and laid out and edited her poetry collection.
Weblink: www.writershotel.com and www.newguardreview.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Debra Weiss
American Fibre Artist
By manipulating fabric through stitching, knotting, appliqué, knitting and layering, Debra Weiss creates intriguing textile works of art and original garments. During her short residency she worked for many hours incorporating individual embroideries and knitted elements, which she had been working on for several months, into a large scale work (detail pictured), giving us a glimpse into some of her thoughts and experiences.
Weblink: www.specksandkeepings.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Isabella Welch
American Writer
Isabella Welch is a writer, editor, and producer based in California. She has also just completed her first novel! Time at Studio Faire was spent reviewing and editing her manuscript, along with taking the time to concentrate on sending a section of it out to selected publishers, before heading back to San Francisco to continue her creative editorial work once again.
Weblink: www.isabella-welch.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jess Dunn
American Screenwriter & Director
All Jess Dunn needed in order to focus on her new film pilot was a room with a view, a breeze on her face and a little time away from her busy life in Brooklyn, New York. She found this in the Bureau, where she worked long and hard on reviewing the new script and season story arc. In addition to this Jess managed a complete redesign of her website during the residency, which you can view by following the link below.
Weblink: www.ajobwelldunn.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jocelyn Benford
American Artist
Painting every day, no matter where she is, is the commitment that Jocelyn Benford has made to her art. Her abstract works, primarily in watercolour with mixed media elements, focus on three main themes, which she names: Balance, Buoyancy, and Bloom. It was the landscape, foliage, and colours that inspired her most during her two-week residency in South West France.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/jocelynbenford
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Megan de Guzman
American Screenwriter
An emerging screenwriter based in Brooklyn, New York, Megan de Guzman arrived in France with a notebook full of film ideas, and personal permission to experiment, play, and let go! She felt that having the opportunity to exchange ideas on a daily basis with other creative practitioners, who were not purely writers and screenwriters, was of great value and she left feeling that her time at Studio Faire had been extremely productive.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/megan.deguzman
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Allison Kingsbury (Ali Seegar)
British Writer
Allison Kingsbury, or Ali Seegar as is her pen name, took a short break from her life in Luxembourg in order to focus on her new Young Adult novel series, ahead of starting an online course with London based creative writing school, Curtis Brown Creative. Writing for this age group is a new venture for her, as her first two novels (about a boy named Tommy Turner) are aimed at a much younger crowd, so having this dedicated time to work on the plot and character profiles was invaluable.
Weblink: aliseegar.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Emily Adele Williams
Australian Musician
Emily Williams is a cello player and improviser, who spent time in residence devising new work using an amplified and effected cello with laptop to create sincerely moving, ambient, atmospheric soundscapes. Emily has a particular passion for performing in caves and, during her visit to France, played in the caves at Bédeilhac and Presque. She also performed twice in Nérac, at the Salle des Ecuyers under the château and at La Taverne d’Henri, accompanying visuals created by Artist-in-Residence Grace Marquez.
Weblink: www.emilywilliamsmusic.com
Grace Marquez
Canadian/Filipino Artist
Grace Marquez’s art works are inspired by the underwater world and she prepared for her residency (a designated time to develop new paintings) with a prior trip to the Célé and the Lot valleys, where she gathered video footage whilst diving in various caves. She created several paintings inspired by this footage and shared these, combined with some of her film footage, at a public event in Nérac, with cello accompaniment by fellow resident Emily Adele Williams.
Weblink: gracemarquezstudio.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Charlotte Paillieux
French Writer
Usually writing scripts for French films, TV movies, and live action (Canal+), Charlotte Paillieux longed for time away from her jobs to develop ideas for a very personal memoir, which was initiated by a past traumatic experience. All she required was a private and secluded room with a view, in a supportive environment away from her busy working life in Paris. She found all of this, along with new friendships, during her four-week residency at Studio Faire.
Weblink: www.imdb.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Claire Murray
British Artist
Travelling by train from Yorkshire to Nérac gave Claire Murray the opportunity to begin her research for her residency before she arrived and she spent the journey and her first few days at Studio Faire observing the local landscape and thinking about our environment, climate change, freedom of movement, borders and political concerns. The harsh, hot summer had left its mark on the land, which looked scorched, barren and dusty, the colours bleached, pale and brittle and this became a focus for inspiration for her paintings.
Weblink: clairemurrayart.co.uk
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jessica Cuello
American Poet
Multi-award winning poet, Jessica Cuello spent two productive weeks as writer-in-residence at Studio Faire. As a mother of two and a full-time public school teacher of French, Jessica Cuello finds it crucial to take time away from her busy life in New York to focus on her written work. What better place for her to come to write and to speak her favourite language every day?
Weblink: jessicacuello.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
April dela Noche Milne
Filipino/Canadian illustrator & Writer
Inspired by grief and memories, everyday narratives and issues of identity, April Milne’s creative challenge during her residency at Studio Faire was to begin to develop a travel memoir in the form of a graphic novel, based on her visit to the Philippines with her family shortly after her Filipino mother died.
Weblink: www.aprilmilne.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Kate Henderson
Scottish Glass Artist
Though Kate Henderson’s usual media is Stained glass, she used her time at Studio Faire to observe, record and draw, to simply enjoy the experience of making once again, without the expectation or deadline of a commission or exhibition. She left with a rich resource to draw from for future works. Kate was grateful to receive funding from VACMA (Visual Artists and Craft Makers Award) through Creative Scotland to support this residency.
Weblink: www.katehenderson.co.uk
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Lien Cornelissen
Dutch Musician
Lien Cornelissen’s career took a massive change in direction from Lawyer to Songwriter and Performer about five years ago and she’s never looked back! Hiring a keyboard for the duration of her residency, Lien filled the studio with her powerful voice and joyful piano, as she composed new lyrics and tunes for her third album and musical theatre production, drawing inspiration from the physical body and associated vocabulary in both Dutch and English.
Weblink: lienofficial.nl
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Sheila McGrory
American Writer
With a lifelong love of writing, language, and literature, along with a passion for working with young people, Sheila McGrory spends most of her time focused on her work as an English Teacher and Dean at The Madeira School in Virginia, USA. However, a 2-week residency at Studio Faire proved to be the ideal space to encourage her emotive poetry to flow from her once again and she found her time in residence to be ‘incredibly productive’.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Natalie McIlroy
Scottish Artist
Natalie McIlroy took a short break from her current life as mother of two little ones and administrator for the Central Scotland School of Jewellery in Dunblane, to return to her life as a visual artist whilst in residence at Studio Faire, taking advantage of the French sunshine to explore ideas through cyanotype printing. Natalie’s work spans many mediums from film/installation to artists books, however ‘site’ is always her first consideration, thriving out-with the traditional white cube gallery space and delighting in celebrating previously unrecognised or hidden spaces.
Weblink: nataliemcilroy.squarespace.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Nora J. Bonner
American Writer & Musician
Nora J. Bonner is a storyteller and singer/songwriter, and during her residency, mornings found the garden filled with her compositions for voice and guitar as she worked on her one-woman musical. Nora teaches composition at Georgia State University, Creative Writing at Agnes Scott College and Literature and Composition for Life University’s the Chillon Project, at a maximum security women’s facility in North Georgia. This residency provided a welcome break from her teaching work to focus on this creative project which has been bubbling inside her for quite some time.
Weblink: norabonner.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Ellen Bleiwas
Canadian Artist
Fundamental to her practice as a mixed-media Artist is Ellen Bleiwas’ prior training in architecture, which underlies her artwork through an appreciation for the ‘experiential potential of space’ and has led to such works as giant sculptures created from industrial felt which immerse the viewer in their maze like form. While in residence at Studio Faire, Ellen’s goal was to ‘delve into slowness’. This developed, in part, into a photographic, hourly documentation of the sky over a 12 hour period.
Weblink: www.ellenbleiwas.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Sophia Lengle
Canadian/Dutch Textile Artist
Sophia Lengle arrived with an open mind and a metaphorical blank canvas, her only rough plan was to make a series of wearable pieces. Initially turning to painting as a way of gathering colour and shape inspiration and pattern drafting to consider how the pieces might sit on the body (including such considerations as weight, texture and restriction), Sophia then embarked on a series of meticulously and laboriously hand sewn collars and a bright orange cotton dress to complement and set them off.
Weblink: www.sophialengle.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Berna Mason
American Writer
Berna Mason’s residency at Studio Faire was spent weaving together hundreds of pieces of existing writing to produce a memoir. Telling her rich and varied stories of her upbringing, her time as a midwife, and her time now, fighting for sexual and reproductive healthcare in Texas. Her skill is in writing poems and prose which are accessible and hook a reader quickly by tapping into ordinary experiences that can feel singular, tender and beautiful.
Weblink: twitter.com/Reproaccesstx
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Kimberlea Bass
American Artist & Photographer
Kimberlea Bass took a break from her work as an Art Teacher in Texas for focused time on her own creative practice. During her residency, her works took the form of collages and reworked found objects, found by combing the local junk shops for hidden treasures. The foundation of her work is often based in photography as a broad concept, using the mechanics of a camera to inspire shape and form, and photographic film to recall memories, Kimberlea weaves and layers mixed media to create new textural pieces.
Weblink: sites.google.com/view/kimberleaartistry
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Gaylord Brewer
American Writer & Poet
Gaylord obtained a Ph.D. from Ohio State University and has since been a professor at Middle Tennessee State University. Taking regular breaks away from his lecturing work to undertake writing residencies has become a way of life for Gaylord and it is during these periods that he finds time for his own creative voice through his non-fiction and poetry writing and this was certainly the case during his month at Studio Faire where he wrote over 20 poems!
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Catherine Butterfield
American Playwright
How could Catherine Butterfield have predicted how enormously she would be influenced by the history of this region for her next creation? Fascinated by the story of Margaret of Valois, the first wife of Henry IV of France, whom he married in 1572, Catherine set about learning as much as she could to unveil her truth and retell her story with great wit and affection. Catherine wrote the full outline for a new screenplay in just two weeks, directly inspired by the experience of being in this royal city of Nèrac.
Weblink: www.catherinebutterfield.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Erin Cross
American Artist
A dedicated month to travel to the South West of France from Lincoln, Nebraska, gave Erin Cross a break from her work as assistant professor of art at Doane University and the time to focus on her own creative ideas. Gathering visual research from the local landscape, architecture, markets and churches, Erin worked up sketches and collages, which she then developed into large colour filled drawings. She left with the confidence that her sketchbooks were teeming with inspiration for many future works.
Weblink: www.erinmcross.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Cassandra Shier Hasanov
Canadian Artist
It was the French sunshine that first drew Cassandra Shier Hasanov to a residency at Studio Faire, as she was searching for a suitable space to create Cyanotype prints for an animated section of a music video she is creating for the Japanese/French musician Narumi Omari. Fortunately, the sun didn’t let her down and, due to her commendable productivity and dedication, Cassandra created four times as many prints as she had initially aimed for.
Weblink: cassandrahasanov.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jerry Sticker
American Writer & Filmmaker
A two-week residency at Studio Faire was an ideal amount of time away from his busy life and day job in Brooklyn, for Jerry Sticker to focus on the final draft of his latest novel. Jerry found the perfect balance between hours of intense concentration, exhilarating daily runs by the Baïse river and sharing a laugh and glass of wine with other residents in the garden.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Alexander Roberts
American Actor & Writer
In 2008, Alexander Roberts’ grandfather chose to be euthanised because of a terminal cancer diagnosis and an allergy to morphine. Fascinated by this decision and the impact it had on his family members, Alexander has been gathering personal stories surrounding this event and, during his time at Studio Faire, he set about writing a feature film about the drama surrounding this decision.
Weblink: www.iamalexanderroberts.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Shanti Nelson
American Writer, Illustrator & Graphic Designer
For Shanti Nelson, a residency at Studio Faire offered up a designated period to focus on a written manuscript. This novel draws on a personal glimpse into a very private and often misunderstood corner of the world, the Emerald Triangle: the heart of Humboldt County and the Northern California marijuana-growing region.
Weblink: shantinelson.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Scott D. Peterson
American Writer
Scott D. Peterson is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar with a passion for baseball! During his residency at Studio Faire he spent his time focusing on two very different texts, one a creative piece of fiction and the other a scholarly project. The opportunity to immerse himself in the experience of living in a small French town, provided ideal research for the former, an historical novel about ex-patriot American artists living in France in the 1920s.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Rachael Van Dyke
American Artist
Fine Artist, Rachael Van Dyke spent an incredibly productive two weeks in residence at Studio Faire. She spent time walking the streets of Nérac and the nearby villages, and cycling through the landscape observing and absorbing the colours, textures and shapes of the region. She returned each day to her studio, fully inspired and ready to put her energy into gestural abstract paintings, full of colour and life.
Weblink: rachaelvandyke.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Michelle Lewis
American Writer
Within her writing Michelle Lewis aims to challenge and ‘explode’ traditional poetic form and, during her month long residency at Studio Faire, she drew inspiration from her surroundings, as well as her personal past experiences and observations, to inspire new poems, which will form part of her third book.
Weblink: whitechicken.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Julia Feld
American Ceramic Sculptor
Julia Feld’s patient and observant nature was seen reflected in her work whilst in residence at Studio Faire, creating drawings to be later transferred onto her ceramic sculptures. She observed the development of Spring through photography on her daily walks around the town and experimented with different drawing and watercolour techniques. Using her time with us for experimentation and new developments.
Weblink: www.juliafeld.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
2021
Lucille Dawson
American Writer & Executive Theatre Director
Writer Lucille Dawson spent four weeks with us. She is the executive director at Hand2Mouth theatre ensemble in Portland, Oregon.
Her residency at Studio Faire involved her writing her debut novel. A young adult novel about facing life after death.
Lucille was based in The Usher Hall here at Studio Faire where she wrote daily as well as enjoying the sights, sounds and tastes of Nérac.
Weblink: hand2mouththeatre.org
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Collette Broeders
Canadian Artist
Artist Collette Broeders spent two weeks at Studio Faire. Collette is a passionate mixed media artist merging traditional processes with new media and performance.
The Canadian artist spent a very productive time with us working in the garage studio from dusk ’til dawn. We also enjoyed an open studio day where she was able to show and talk about her work with the local community.
Weblink: collettebroeders.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Olivia Jampol
American Actor, Writer & Filmmaker
Olivia Jampol came to Studio Faire to work on her screenplay. Olivia is a bilingual actor, writer and filmmaker from Brooklyn, New York.
She grew up on a coffee farm in Costa Rica and attended Harvard University, where she studied Filmmaking and Literature. She now lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Remy Ma.
She was more than prolific whilst here in Nérac completing the second draft of her movie screenplay.
Weblink: oliviajampol.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Beth Cramer
American Writer, Editor & Director
Beth Cramer came to Studio Faire to work on the second draft of her second novel, still not knowing how this story would end. Her first novel is a memoir about confronting a diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer. In ‘Why Didn’t I Notice Her Before?’ she documents her experience as a mother, wife, sister and daughter through her diagnosis. Open, honest and witty! During her two week residency Beth found the ending she was looking for.
Weblink: bethcramer.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Lene Helmer Nielsen
Danish Textile Artist & Weaver
Lene Helmer Nielsen spent four weeks at Studio Faire experiencing the temperature sinking from over 30 degrees to the low 20s. She hired a bike and cycled the streets, drawing inspiration from the patterns and colours of the old buildings, their roofs, their doors and the streets they sat on. This fed directly into her beautiful embroidery works on paper, created with watercolour, tulle fabric and linen threads.
Weblink: www.lenehelmernielsen.dk
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Abby Schreiber
American Writer & Editor
Abby Schreiber was the Executive Editor at PAPER Magazine where she oversaw the publication’s quarterly print issues top to bottom, writing and editing stories in the entertainment, fashion, internet culture, politics and activism realms, among others. In addition to PAPER, she has written for publications like New York Magazine, Numéro, Vogue, BlackBook and VICE. During her micro-residency at Studio Faire she worked on two fictional screenplays, making great progress on both projects.
Weblink: abbyschreiber.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
2020
Lucy Moir
Australian Performer & Writer
Lucy Moir performs on stage and screen, with credits including ‘The Dressmaker’, ‘Lion’, ‘That’s Not Me’ and ‘Maybe Tomorrow’. She is also a playwright and the focal-point of her residency was to develop her play, ‘Write Loud and Clear About What Hurts’, into a mini-series. The play, which focuses on the developing relationship of a therapist and her demanding patient, was first performed by Lucy and Debra Lawrance at the Melbourne International Fringe Festival in 2018 to glowing reviews.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/lucymargaretmoir
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Martin Seneviratne
Australian Doctor & Writer
Though Martin Seneviratne spends his working life as a research scientist at Google Health in London, building algorithms and writing papers that try to push the boundary of what is possible with AI, he also likes to find creative outlets, mainly through writing. He predominantly writes fiction and poetry, typically inspired by medical experiences or the ethical dilemmas of artificial intelligence. He is currently writing a middle-grade fiction series, ‘Ancient Geeks’ in collaboration with his wife, Krystal Sutherland, who was Writer-in-Residence simultaneously.
Read one of his poems at: thepegasusreview.com/circle-of-life
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Celie Byrne
Scottish Artist
Celie Byrne is a Fine Art Painter, whose work incorporates characterful portraits, giant murals and installation-based art. Celie’s portrait of her son ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ was selected for the BP Portrait Award Exhibition in 2011 and this led to her being invited to contribute her voice and lyrics to ‘The Grand Gestures’ (see link below). Celie’s short residency gave her the opportunity to step away from her daily obligations and to take a moment to reflect on her ongoing practice.
Weblink: thegrandgestures.bandcamp.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Kate Corroon Skakel
American Artist
Multimedia artist, Kate Corroon Skakel came to Studio Faire from Brooklyn, NY, with a focused goal, to create several site specific installations plus full body cyanotypes and to exhibit these at the property towards the end of her 4-week residency. Unfortunately her residency was cut short by the Coronavirus Pandemic and she was unable to complete all planned works. However, she developed multiple ideas and successfully completed one installation, ‘Murmurations’, consisting of a video projection onto small pieces of fabric which mimicked the coordinated movement of birds.
Weblink: kateskakel.com
Photo by Celie Byrne at Studio Faire.
Krystal Sutherland
Australian Writer
Krystal Sutherland’s first novel, ‘Our Chemical Hearts’, was published in over 20 countries. Amazon Studios produced the film adaptation and Krystal served as an executive producer on the project. She has subsequently become interested in developing her screenwriting skills so she can adapt her own work from book to screen and it was this that she focused on at Studio Faire, telling us that she’d had a real breakthrough moment during her residency! Her third novel, ‘House of Hollow’, will be published by Penguin in 2021.
Weblink: krystalsutherland.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
2019
Deepa Paulus – ദീപ പൗലോസ്
American Artist & Musician
Using elements of her Indian culture, as well as her digital skills, Deepa Paulus creates mixed media drawings. She also plays Indian drums called the tabla which she is studying professionally with a guru. Deepa chose to use her residency at Studio Faire to take a break from her usual work on the Imaging Team at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) and to focus on her two creative passions, music and drawing.
Watch a short film she made with Colin whilst in residence.
Weblink: deepapaulus.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Laurene Vaughan
Australian Academic Researcher, Writer & Maker
Laurene Vaughan came to Studio Faire to find a quiet interior space, where she could write and sketch, and a familiar yet foreign exterior space, where she could walk, observe and document moments. Her initial intentions were to create a hybrid piece of non-fiction writing incorporating both images and text. What she was drawn to in particular were the fragments of history, still visible within the walls of the building and the patterns and sounds of Nérac.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/laurenekv
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Dawn van de Schoot
Canadian Actor & Writer
The main aim of Dawn van de Schoot’s residency was to complete the first draft of her screenplay entitled Thicker than oil, an adaptation of a novel by Calgary writer Sarah Kades. The story revolves around a man, who is the CEO of an Oil Company, and his environmentalist daughter. It is set amongst the drama of the high powered oil industry and the delicacy of the northern Alberta landscapes. Dawn knew that, by removing herself from this setting and allowing herself time to focus on this story from afar, she would be able to reflect on her home environment with a more open minded perspective.
Weblink: www.dawnvandeschoot.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Camila Galaz
Australian Artist
Camila Galaz came to Studio Faire for the opportunity to focus on a film installation, which she is developing with the support of an M-Power mentorship award from the National Gallery of Victoria. Camila needed the space and time to focus on the post-production of this two-channel video installation, which is based on a 1986 French TV documentary about the MAPU-Lautaro, a Chilean student resistance group that her father was a member of, who fought against the Pinochet dictatorship. The video piece will be edited during a residency at EMPAC, New York.
Weblink: www.camilagalaz.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Amanda Adam
Scottish Artist
In 2018 Amanda Adam made the decision to embark on a 10 month journey, which took her as far as Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, before heading back to Europe to culminate this journey with a month long artist residency in Nérac. During this residency she created vibrant, abstract landscape paintings on old bedsheets, embracing the memories these sheets held of their past owners. Working in the gardens at Studio Faire not only allowed her freedom of expression with her paint work but also the contribution of the wind and rain to leave their trace.
Weblink: amandaadam.co.uk
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Siliang Ma – 马 司 亮
Chinese Photographer
During his residency at Studio Faire, Siliang Ma played with found objects in various isolated locations around the building, creating installations, which he then photographed. Siliang Ma’s photographs have nothing to do with reality, rather, they are a tool to create ‘idealised unreality by manipulating realistic symbols’. By modifying spaces and arranging objects to create installations, he implies a story, an activity, a symbol or metaphor, and the meaning of the image is left up to the viewer. See some of the images he took at Studio Faire in his collection ‘Too Shallow to be True‘.
Weblink: masiliang.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Frances Ryan
Scottish Artist
Frances Ryan was invited for a 4-week residency at Studio Faire after one of her works was spotted in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Visual Arts Scotland Annual Exhibition. Frances predominantly makes collages and mixed media works, which illustrate stories and histories. Whilst in Nérac, she was particularly drawn to the local legend of Fleurette, a young woman who had a brief relationship with King Henry IV, who soon abandoned her and she drowned herself. This story touched Frances and inspired a series of collage works.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/little_pink_dog
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Marie-Josée Poisson
Québec Writer
Marie-Josée Poisson arrived at Studio Faire with an impending deadline for the third in her trilogy of novels to be delivered to her publisher. She was in need of time and space to focus on her final edit of ‘Liées par le sang – Volume 3’ without her normal day to day distractions. She found this at Studio Faire. Also, as Marie-Josée’s novels are, in part, set in France, Nérac proved an ideal location for her to immerse herself in French culture.
Weblink: www.mariejoseepoisson.ca
Photo by Monic Richard.
Julie Weaverling
American Artist
Julie Weaverling’s goal for her residency was to really stretch her creative process, to step out of her comfort zone and take risks, to make expressive, non-objective, abstract paintings directly inspired by the colours, textures and tones of the local area. And she did! Julie painted a great number of new large scale canvases during her 2 week stay and still managed to squeeze in a few outings with Colin, Julia and the other residents to explore the local villages and soak in the colours of the French countryside.
Weblink: www.julieweaverling.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Alyse Dietel
American Illustrator
Through her line drawings, Alyse Dietel highlights the beauty of our natural world, in the hope that this will help to instil a desire to conserve and protect it. As Alyse is a self-taught artist, one of her aims for this residency was to gain a greater understanding of and involvement with the art world by immersing herself in a creative environment alongside other international practitioners. Alyse felt that she thrived in our ‘personable and easygoing’ environment, producing more ambitious works than before, with greater confidence in her artistic ability.
Weblink: www.amilliontinylines.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Miguel Guerrero Becerra
Mexican Writer
Even though Miguel Guerrero Becerra initially started working towards a memoir of his childhood, the influence of his favourite Latino authors kept veering him towards fiction and, during his 4-week residency, Miguel focused on writing his first novel, ‘set in the nameless small town where his grandmother lives and cries at funerals for a precarious income’. His novel follows the coming-of-age story of a ‘nameless boy whose heart bursts out of his body right after his mother stabs his father in the eye and abandons him in the middle of the forest.’
Weblink: www.storyscapejournal.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Peta Berghofer
Australian Ceramic Artist
Having successfully secured a Bellmaine French Appreciation Travelling Scholarship from the University of Southern Queensland, Peta Berghofer was able to enjoy a funded residency with us. The scholarship aims to support further study and practice development whilst connecting with French culture and people. Peta decided to focus her residency on developing new design ideas for her functional and sculptural ceramic works, as well as updating her website and spending time under Colin’s tuition to improve her photography skills.
Weblink: www.petaberghofer.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Naomi Washer
American Writer & Translator
Naomi Washer focused her four week residency on completing a novel that she had already started with the assistance of a grant from the Vermont Studio Center. She describes the novel as ‘a work of women’s autofiction, written in fragments that shift between a fictional narrative and an essay on the nature of autofiction’. As part of the novel is set in France where the narrator has traveled to complete work on a book-length translation, writing this in Nérac was immensely helpful for Naomi, as she was able to immerse herself in the French language and culture.
Weblink: www.naomiwasher.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Pamela Heck
American Artist & Writer
The fact that Studio Faire offers residencies for both artists and writers was one of the main attractions for Pamela Heck, as she is active in both areas herself as an award-winning artist and a published author of memoir, short story, poetry and children’s picture books. It was the latter that she came to Nérac to work on. An alphabet book for children titled ‘Amazing Animals: Fun Facts from A to Z’. As Pamela had already written the text for the book, she spent her time planning the double page layouts and creating the illustrations. She also worked with Colin to learn a few Adobe InDesign tricks, to assist her in getting the book printer-ready.
Weblink: www.pamelaheck.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Johanna Naukkarinen
Finnish Artist & Photographer
In Johanna Naukkarinen’s current project, she draws connections between historical and contemporary images of women, in particular, looking for similarities between the hysteria imagery born in 19th century Parisian hospital La Salpêtrière and contemporary images of women in popular culture. During her 3-week residency she focused on developing this project through digital drawing, alongside collecting source material for new works using uses photography and image montage. Our black Labrador Dougie became her muse for the duration!
Weblink: johannanaukkarinen.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Caroline Kinkead
Canadian Artist
As a recent graduate from Concordia University in Montreal Canada, Caroline Kinkead was searching for a micro-residency that would allow her a short break from her daily routine as a mother of a young child, in order to continue to develop her painting skills. During her 1-week residency, Caroline worked on a small painted canvas depicting the ‘Pavillon des Bains du Roy’ in Nérac.
Weblink: www.carolinekinkead.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Étienne Pelletier
Canadian Philosophy Student
Although Étienne is not a practicing artist, he is a talented draftsman and lover of painting, writing and reading. He applied to Studio Faire for a 1-week residency to accompany his partner Caroline Kinkead (see above), and to take some time away from the city to enjoy the fresh air in the garden at Studio Faire, whilst sketching the house and working on his doctorate project.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Hazel Kelly
Scottish Filmmaker
Hazel Kelly enjoys creating narratives and characters, and spent her micro-residency at Studio Faire working on a piece for a stand up routine, as well as exploring the area with her camera and modelling for Jennifer Kelly’s clay bust (see below).
Weblink: www.instagram.com/hazelleekelly
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jennifer Kelly
Scottish Artist
During Jennifer Kelly’s 1 week residency she spent time in the studio creating a clay bust of her daughter Hazel (above). With tongue sticking out and eyes tightly closed, the predominant aim was to express emotion. Jennifer’s series of clay busts are inspired by the work of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, a German-Austrian sculptor from the 18th century, most famous for his “character heads”, ‘a collection of busts with faces contorted in extreme facial expressions’.
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Gretchen Elizabeth Smith
American Playwright
As an Associate Professor and teacher of playwriting, performance studies & theatre history at SMU in Dallas Texas, Gretchen Elizabeth Smith feels it is crucial that she stays current with her own work in order to keep up with her students. Her one week residency at Studio Faire allowed her concentrated time to focus on completing a rough draft of an original two-act play.
Weblink: www.facebook.com/gretchen.smith.2164
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jen Thorpe
South African Writer
When feminist writer and a gender equality researcher, Jen Thorpe, arrived for a 4-week residency at Studio Faire, her goal was for some dedicated time to focus on writing, as she had multiple projects already on the go. These included finishing her second novel and embarking on her third, and reading, selecting and editing a collection of invited non-fiction essays.
Weblink: jen-thorpe.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Rebecca Curling
Irish Artist
During Rebecca Curling’s micro-residency, she spent time in the studio working on a series of paintings depicting views from her train journey’s ‘Leaving the city, travelling fast through the green fields and countryside. Home.’ She also spent time in the garden gathering sketchbook ideas for future use.
Weblink: www.instagram.com/rebeccacurlingart
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Jane Tolerton
New Zealand Writer
Biographer, journalist and historian, Jane Tolerton spent her month at Studio Faire digging deeply into the history of New Zealand suffragists who won their campaign for the women’s vote within a quarter of a century – in stark contrast to many other countries. She is writing a book that will re-spin the suffrage story in the light of research that has revealed that there were three distinct movements for the vote, all of which contained both women and men.
Weblink: janetolerton.co.nz
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Colin Andrews
Irish Artist
The river Baïse was the focus for Colin Andrew’s 2-week residency and he spent his days walking and paddling sections of it’s course, observing and recording life around and on the river. Following the residency, he returned to his home in Scotland to review, edit and transform his film clips and stills into a ‘poetic exploration of water, flow, level and the importance of waterways to community’.
Weblink: www.colinandrews.org
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Deborah Whitney
American Artist, Writer & Curator
Following on a project entitled “The Talkies” from 2013, Deborah Whitney’s focus during her month long residency was on developing an idea for a book project of recollection, incorporating both text and image.
Weblink: www.deborahwhitney.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Alana Dawes
Canadian Designer & Photography Student at Studio Faire
For Canadian Web Designer, Alana Dawes, the opportunity to visit Studio Faire to develop her photography skills in portraiture and still life was invaluable. She worked with Colin Usher (our in-house Photography tutor) over the course of the week long residency, particularly focusing on studio lighting and composition. Alana spent independent time developing these new found skills in the studio, which resulted in some fantastic self-portraits.
Read more about our Residential Photography Courses.
Weblink: wildwood.studio
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Sherri Jean McCulloch
Canadian Artist
Vintage French linens became ‘canvas’ for Sherri Jean McCulloch during her 4 week residency and colour exploded in our studio. Sherri’s paintings were developed intuitively, drawing from all of her senses and clearly showing the inspirations of her surroundings here in South West France, from the fortified Bastides to the stripes of the vineyards.
Weblink: SherriJeanMcCullochArt.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Nicolette Daskalakis
American Screenwriter & Poet
French cinema has had a profound influence on the work of Nicolette Daskalakis and is the reason she found herself drawn to Studio Faire in South West France as the ideal location for her 4-week residency. She made best use of her time by completing revisions on her feature-length screenplay, making a start on a short French-language script and writing several new poems for her next book of poetry.
Read more about her residency and her work.
Weblink: www.nicolettedaskalakis.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Wendy Rolt
English Artist
For Wendy Rolt, a residency at Studio Faire meant a focused period of time to prioritise her artwork, away from her usual daily work with the charity she founded for women from difficult and broken backgrounds in East London. A time to read, sketch and paint new ideas relating ‘our internal to our external being’ and to experiment with how she might express this through abstract painting.
Weblink: www.wendyrolt.co.uk
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Victoria Negri
American Screenwriter
The main purpose of Victoria Negri’s 1-week residency was to focus on the script for her second feature film, ‘Ultra’. She sees this film as an expansion of her first film, ‘Gold Star’ (which Victoria starred in alongside Robert Vaughn and Catherine Curtin). Victoria successfully managed to push through major writing blocks she’d been struggling with, allowing her to complete her script during her short residency, much to her delight!
Weblink: www.victorianegri.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Julie Duffy
Scottish Artist
Julie Duffy spent her residency researching and drawing inspiration from the dancer, choreographer, teacher and artist, Margaret Morris. In particular, from the ‘Margaret Morris Movement’ (MMM) and it’s crossovers with her own expertise in the Korean Martial Art of Tang Soo Do. On the 23 March, Studio Faire hosted a one off event devised by Duffy, who invited two professional artists to create an improvised performance inspired by her art installation.
Find out more about her ‘Organised Improvisation’.
Weblink: julieduffy.wixsite.com/artwork
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Lilli Huttula
Finnish Dancer
Lilli Huttula is an amazingly versatile dancer, dance teacher and choreographer, primarily focusing on three different street dance styles: house, hip hop and voguing. During her 4-week residency at Studio Faire, she focused predominantly on developing a new solo performance piece, which tells a story of a personal experience through a dance performance.
Weblink: lilliyamamoto.wordpress.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Holly Knox Rhame
American Artist
Holly Rhame visited Studio Faire to experiment predominantly with paint, colour, texture and scale, and drew inspiration from her imagination and the figure. Though the works created during her residency were intentioned to be sketches to be developed into larger works on her return, she was happy with the outcome of many of these works, feeling that they could be exhibited in their own right.
Weblink: www.hollyknoxrhame.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
2018
Brittany Loar
American Artist & Designer
The main goal of Brittany Loar’s residency was to have time and space to focus on her fine art in order to create a new body of work that she could exhibit on her return. As a full time Senior Designer at an agency in Boston she has little time left over to dedicate to her artwork. Brittany fully immersed herself in her creative activities during her residency, being consistently found drawing, painting and thinking in our ‘garage’ studio.
Weblink: brittanyloar.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Meredith Alloway
American Screenwriter
Meredith Alloway’s residency’s main focus was to work on her next feature script, but she got more out of it than she’d bargained for when two other short film scripts started to develop during her initial research into the history of the area. The feature script she predominantly worked on was a development of her pilot for a horror series called ‘Deep Tissue’. Studio Faire organised a test screening of this new short film to our own private audience in Nérac, along with her debut short film ‘Interior Teresa’.
Read more about her residency and her work.
Weblink: www.meredithalloway.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Alan McGowan
Scottish Artist
In 2012 Alan McGowan published ‘The Language of the Body: Figure Drawings in Four Chapters.’ and in 2017 ‘Unstill Life; Paintings, Drawings and Writing.’ These publications not only demonstrate Alan’s fabulous figurative oil paintings but also written quotes, thoughts and observations. Alan focused his residency at Studio Faire on developing his writing, with a continued spotlight on the figure in art. He intends to edit these after his return and develop a new publication.
Weblink: www.alanmcgowan.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Brigid Collins
Irish Artist
In order to make the most of her seven-day residency, Brigid Collins immediately started to gather natural objects of inspiration from the surrounding area, the local farmer’s market and the gardens here at Studio Faire. For the rest of the week, she could be found in various locations around the garden, standing in the sunshine, submerged in these objects and creating beautiful watercolour paintings and mixed media studies.
Read more about her residency and her work.
Weblink: www.brigidcollins.co.uk
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Sarah Gittins
Scottish Printmaker
Sarah Gittins chose to split her four-week residency into two shorter visits and, for this first fortnight, she predominantly spent time at Chateau du Frandat, a vineyard and orchard just ten-minutes bike ride from Studio Faire. Her project is focused on the history, cultivation and celebration of plum growing in this region and, during this visit, Sarah was able to watch the plums ripen and then, experience the beginnings of the harvesting process.
Find out more about her residency in her own words.
Weblink: sarahgittins.wordpress.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Elín Gunnlaugsdóttir
Icelandic Musician & Composer
Elín Gunnlaugsdóttir’s residency involved recording environmental sounds and developing these into musical compositions on her computer. The theme of one of her compositions was Thoreau’s Walden, which will be premiered in Iceland in October and also some theatre music that will be premiered in Iceland in November 2018.
Weblink: soundcloud.com/elin-gunnlaugsdottir
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Justine Gaubert
English Writer
Justine Gaubert visited Studio Faire with her creative partner Vicky (see below) to develop a collaborative project that focuses on neurodiversity, in particular, exploring all things Aspergers. They considered their own personal triggers and personal experiences as creative women in their 40’s and also helpful strategies to share with others. They began developing a website whilst at Studio Faire, with support from Colin, and intend to launch this very soon.
Weblink: www.linkedin.com/in/justinegaubert
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Vicky Morris
English Writer
Vicky Morris arrived with her creative partner Justine (see above) to develop a joint project focusing on neurodiversity. They worked together on research and their plans for the project and created their first in a series of podcasts. They also began developing a website to house it all whilst at Studio Faire, with support from Colin, and intend to launch this very soon. Vicky also worked on some personal projects and her poetry practice.
Weblink: www.vickymorris.co.uk
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
James McGinley
Scottish Musician
For James McGinley, music is his ‘medicine‘ and during his residency he spent time developing new music on both guitar and piano, as well as working out the best method to get some of his music down on paper, to ensure he doesn’t forget these tunes!
Read more about his residency and his work.
Weblink: soundcloud.com/james-mcginley
Robin Gee
African American Choreographer & Dancer
Robin Gee came to Studio Faire in order to develop [movement] material for a screen dance inspired by the local environment. Even though she has a fantastic studio space at UNC Greensboro, where she is Associate professor, she feels it’s necessary for her to remove herself from her place of work for the ideas to really start to flow, without distraction, both physical and mental. This is why a residency at Studio Faire was so valuable for her development at this point in time.
Read more about her residency and her work.
Watch the video ‘sketch’ that she made with Colin and his drone.
Weblink: www.greensborodancefilms.org
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Karl Stern
Scottish Painter & Printmaker
Karl Stern used his residency to develop a new body of work. He has a rare approach to creating his works of art, initially he created collographic plates, which he then painted into. These will be finished off during the printing process after his residency. The images he created were inspired by the characters, buildings and landscapes in and around Nérac. They all reflected Karl’s interest in people and his environment.
Read more about his residency and his work.
Weblink: www.facebook.com/Karl-SternStern-Art
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Rebecca Wilson
Scottish Ceramicist & Jeweller
The gift of solitude, time, and space, was just what the doctor ordered for mother of two young children, Rebecca Wilson. She spent her residency collaging, sticking, drawing, painting, and gathering inspiration to take home and develop into fresh designs for upcoming summer shows.
Read more about her residency and her work.
Weblink: www.rebeccawilsonceramics.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Louise Ritchie
Scottish Artist
As Louise Ritchie has been exploring the Philosophy of Music within her humanities studies, she decided to use her residency to engage and challenge herself in that area through her drawings and by beginning to learn the guitar.
Read more about her residency and her work.
Weblink: www.louiseritchie.com
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Paola McClure
Scottish Artist
For Paola McClure, inspiration came in the form of our tangled wisteria and some old slates, twigs and chicken wire found in the barn. Sculptural ‘stacks’ and constructions began to pop up around the grounds like characters in their own right.
Read more about her residency and her work.
Weblink: www.facebook.com/paolamcclurevisualart
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.
Leena Nammari
Palestinian Printmaker
During her residency at Studio Faire, Leena Nammari took some time to reflect on her personal MFA program and consolidate some of her ideas. She also used the wallpapers at the house as inspiration for some stunning cyanotype made outside in the sunshine.
Read more about her residency and her work.
Weblink: www.leenanammari.co.uk
Photo by Colin Usher at Studio Faire.