King Island Residency, March 2015
In March 2015 I filled a role on King Island as “Artist in Residence”.
This role is well known in the art-world. An artist (in my case a visual artist) goes into a distant community to bring a new perspective and new skills to the local artistic community. I stayed and worked on K.I. for three weeks.
King Island is off the coast of Tasmania. The location was incredibly beautiful. My quarters were situated right next to a beach, close to a lighthouse and a wharf where the fishermen brought in their catch for the day.
Basically what I did was teach workshops and do some paintings with watercolours, sometimes joining with local artists on painting excursions. The workshop I had prepared was “Selling Creative Products on-line, on a Shoe String”, and I helped facilitate printmaking workshops. There is a great interest in printing on to fabric.
I arrived on King Island with quite a lot of stock of my textile products, which were of great interest, and they sold well.
At the end of the three weeks I held a small exhibition, which many of my new friends attended.
For me it was a spiritual experience, being immersed in that physical environment, surrounded by a warm and generous community which I still feel part of.
THANK YOU KING ISLAND!