Greece, 2023
I was selected to be an artist in residence at Skopelos Foundation for The Arts in Greece, for three weeks throughout the middle of Summer. This was a challenging art residency, because it was situated on a tiny island without art supplies or materials. The constraints of time and materials saw me using large king-sized bed linen I bought from an old store on the island, staining it slowly with ink and gouache to capture the colour of the island, of which there seemed to be one predominant shade of coral red. Whilst I was in Skopelos [and Athens for a few weeks prior and post-residency] there were wild fires burning in different parts of Greece, and the light, espeically during dawn and dusk, was suffused with a foreign red undertone.
I kept noticing this colour throughout the island; the faded red of bouys, icecream signs, vespas and anklets. I continued this line of enquiry about colour as a vehicle for expereince and the technique of staining back in Australia, to create ‘BENNY’S’, a solo exhibition at The Art Gallery of Ballarat in December 2023.