he who would travel happily must travel light

summer field, county road 5- monica lacey 2011

Even as a little kid I always carried too much stuff with me.  It used to be bits of paper, rocks, sticks, little treasures, all stuffed into shopping bags, and now it’s a computer, a camera, sketchbooks, novels, art supplies, magazines, clothes, a yoga mat, several pairs of shoes…I haven’t really learned how to travel lightly yet, but this trip is certainly motivating me to master that lesson.  Getting on the train in Belleville yesterday with 4 bags was a bit much.  All the Via posters proclaiming ‘a more human way to travel’ in reference to the train, and I was thinking, “one bag - that would be more human(e)”. 

So yesterday marked the end of my 4-week residency at Spark Box Studio in Picton, Ontario.  I went there almost immediately after graduating in June, and my assessment is that, for art students, a residency is an excellent transition aid when you finish school.  I really had time to reflect on my studies and experiences, and to process where I had come from and where I wanted to go next with my work and my life as a professional artist.  

When I was deciding where to go to do a residency, I looked at places all over the world.  With the funding I had for it, and because of some other scheduling constraints, I knew I would have to go in July or August.  Due to my inability to cope whatsoever with temperatures above 30 degrees or so, I automatically eliminated large cities and anywhere south.  I then began focusing on what my goals were, and one of them is that I would like to develop an Artist Residency/Arts Centre in PEI and I wanted to learn more about that kind of operation.  During my seemingly endless Internet research this little printmaking studio in Ontario kept popping up.  :)

the 'mediterranean courtyard' at Spark Box

Spark Box was a really excellent choice – selected mostly on intuition and affection for the atmosphere of their marketing; I just had a feeling it was the right place.  And it was.  The owners are exceptionally kind, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and generous folks who I shall certainly miss and hope to see again before long.  The landscape is serene and uplifting, the studios spacious and well-equipped, and the house comfortable and beautifully decorated with care and a keen eye for antiques and unique details.  Despite not usually liking dogs of small stature, I even fell hopelessly in love with Rico, the Chihuahua/Corgi little dog who won me over with his wacky personality and big brown eyes. 

Rico

In the month I spent at the residency I managed to complete all the work I set out to do, visit with my sister and a family friend who came to visit, spend quality time with my fellow residents and the studio owners, go to a film festival, explore the towns of Picton and Bloomfield as well as 8 different beaches, maintain daily yoga and exercise, experiment with new techniques and practices, go on several photo shoots, and write this blog.  Great success!  Now I have a day in Toronto and then home to my island and all the joys ahead. :)

repetitive tasks and the blazing heat

The other day Chrissy told me about a friend of hers who theorized that the ‘rapture’ has, in fact, already come and that we are currently in hell, hence the heat.  When she told me this I scoffed initially and had a laugh, but after the past few days of intense humidity and unbearable heat, I’m starting to wonder….

This week I’m running editions of my photo-etching plates, which means making print after print from the same plate.  It’s quite a process, like preparing a multi-dish meal.  You have to soak your paper, ink and wipe your plate and then line everything up and run it through the press, trying to stay nice and clean all the while.  It’s one of those things that, when you get efficient and fast at it, is endless satisfying.  I wouldn’t say I’m quite there yet – I’m still a rookie printmaker, but I’m getting better all the time. 

me checking my prints

Printmaking is actually kind of a perfect thing to be doing in this weather – you need to be in a kind of concentrated zen-like state so that you don’t miss any details, but sedated enough that you can keep repeating your actions as closely as possible.  The perfect soundtrack for this?  The album Music has a Right to Children by Boards of Canada.  Listening to it is like being hypnotized - you’ll never notice the time passing.  But in a good way, not in a wake-up-and-think-you’re-a-chicken way.  :)

 

I’ve just been introduced to hyberboleandahalf, which is an incredibly hilarious and perceptive comic-blog by a gifted and ridiculous gal named Allie Brosh who, when asked, responded that she indeed does love ham.  This morning we spent at least 2 hours reading her stories, which easily could have come from any of our lives, and are illustrated with gloriously lo-fi Paint drawings.   

Recently, while wondering aloud how the heck people maintain regular blogs, I was told that many people go heavy on the images, light on the text.  “Oh,” I said, “you mean people don’t write an essay every time?”  That makes sense.  Saves time.  A picture is worth a word or two, right?  Since the heat is melting my brain into mush, here are some random images of Prince Edward County:  

the neat/bizarre Birdhouse City in Picton - ml 2011

the most amazing sign - monica lacey 2011

sheep - monica lacey 2011

a mermaid for you (I didn't make it) - monica lacey 2011

as long as you have a memory you have something to search for

secret beach, prince edward county - monica lacey 201

My former fellow resident, Jessica (she's gone home to Atlanta now), introduced me to Radiolab podcasts recently - it's a show produced by WNYC and it is excellent.  Each episode they pick a theme/topic (usually of a philosophical nature) & then they take a relatively lighthearted, well-edited look at that topic from a variety of angles.  I listened to one about memory the other day with her & it was riveting.  It really highlighted the importance of this faculty we so often take for granted.  If you speak to anyone who has gone through, or has had a loved one go through any kind of memory loss, you find out that life just isn't the same without your memories.  It's largely how we make sense of our world and yet it is so delicate and tenuous.  Interesting to think about how our memories are always changing - we're forever examining them from new angles, and with new eyes.

I suppose I have memory on my mind because I've identified it as a major theme in my work and as something I am interested in exploring in depth.  As a photographer, when I capture an image, I often think of how that image will later be part of the construct of a memory of a specific moment & am made aware of how it is capturing only a fragment of the moment and that the rest will be filled in by whosoever is remembering.

I’ve been making a lot of new memories here, meeting great folks & enjoying the beautiful scenery.  This past weekend was spent doing some glorious beach-hopping with my sister, who drove down from Toronto.  We were given some tips by Chrissy about 'secret' beaches where you have to drive down 4-wheeler tracks, but when you get to the water it is worth every pothole.  I can see why people retire here - it's a lot like PEI, in that you can have a very, very high quality of life.  It was also good for me to take some time off from thinking about art, talking about art, making art.  No one can work every day.  :)

back road, prince edward county - monica lacey 2011

Just the other day we had an amazing thunderstorm, which apparently turned into a tornado in some areas.  When I heard today about the tornado-damage, my first reaction was to want to go and photograph it.  It made me wonder if I’m getting too detached from trauma for my own good, with all these abandoned and damaged places I love to frequent.  But I guess that’s part of the work of the artist – to reach through where other things can’t and to stand the pain (or the joy) so as to record it and express it in some way.  Memory. 

 

beyond the obvious edges

my faithful steed - monica lacey 2011

On Sunday I rode the clanky cruiser bike into town to see the collection of International Award-Winning Shorts that Picton Picturefest was presenting.  I was happily rewarded with the surprise of Shaun Tan’s film, The Lost Thing, being included in the list.  It’s a gorgeously animated story, adapted from his book of the same name, about people not noticing things that are right in front of them, and about the magic that lies at the edges of things.  Today a combination of the oppressive heat, the music of Basia Bulat, and an incredible short story (called The Offing) by Anik See has me feeling pensive and mellow.  Sometimes it’s really nice to be in such a state; you notice things - slow, small things that you might otherwise never even see.  The smell of the hay in the warm breeze, the red spiders spinning webs in the windowpanes, the scratch of your own pencil moving across paper.

the fence line - monica lacey 2011

This afternoon I wandered past the mown edges of the property here, through the long grasses, watching for stinging nettles, past the tree line, to the site of an old barn or house:  nothing left save some icebergs of concrete and an ivy-covered stone wall with a vine-filled opening where the door once was.  I love places like this – it’s like nostalgia given solid form.  I think it’s something about the way nature will claim a structure; it’s a loving, tender, yet forceful and determined way, that feels to me the way it feels to love something and want to own it at the same time.  Maybe that’s what nostalgia is:  love mixed with longing….

While I was back there, I pulled several square-headed handmade nails out of some old boards and wondered about the people who made them.  Making things takes time, and care.  I’m working on some drawings today – botanicals, of dead plants and leaves left from last year’s growth.  I love the lines of the dead leaves; they are the same lines my hand naturally wants to make and it feels like an understanding.  It’s wonderful to have the time to simply enjoy making lines on paper, to enjoy making something with my hands.  And then to have the time to enjoy turning words over in my mouth to find the right ones to describe the making.  The gift of this time, and the quiet, thoughtful, sustainable creativity it is cultivating in me - it feels like a luxury, a blessing, an honour. 

Two weeks from today and I’ll be landing home, hopefully ready and armed to start a new chapter of my life as a professional artist.  As unpredictable as I expect that chapter to be, I feel a certain peace about it – these turning points, shining, where you realize that everything you’ve experienced up to that point has prepared you for all that will come next. 

You Are Here

sandbanks prov. park - monica lacey 2011

Well, I'm nearly at the half-way point of my residency at SparkBox Studio.  A few things I've learned about myself:

1. I need a bit of adjustment time to new environments.  2.  I need an afternoon siesta.  3.  I need a daily routine.

Valuable learning! 

I’ve been having a great time in the mini-community we have here – it really makes me feel motivated to create the community I want to have:  one where people can dialogue about their ideas and projects in a safe, supportive space; where you can get feedback and help with brainstorming; where you can be your full creative self.  It’s what I had at school, and now what I have here at SparkBox, and I know that I can have it when I get home to PEI, there are so many enthusiastic, determined, and creative folks living there now!

For a few days there, we were without Internet or phone.  Such a thing happens so rarely in these hyper-connected times of ours.  There were a couple of moments where it was a hassle, but really, it was kind of a relief and really forced me to be present.  It was like the universe was conspiring so that I could actually get some work done & not be checking facebook every few minutes or losing hours at a time to StumbleUpon.  

Jessica, one of my fellow residents, is working on sculptural work that involves the human body & specimens of various sorts. The other day she and I got to talking about Body Worlds, and then Sally Mann’s photographs of The Body Farm, which, as it turns out, is actually on the campus of the university where Jessica is doing her master’s!  We wanted to check some things out online and moments like that are where you really miss the Internet.  Well, it’s fixed now – it only took Bell almost 2 weeks to come and repair it. 

Last night we all went out to attend the first annual Picton Picturefest, and saw Daniel Cockburn’s film, You Are Here, staring the late, great Tracy Wright.  I absolutely loved this film, it was right up my alley.  A bit of a puzzle, a bit of a head trip, lots of mystery & nostalgia, and a general how-does-the-mind-work vibe to the whole thing.  Not everyone’s cup of tea, for sure.  But then again, the movies on my shelf are things like Waking Life, Paprika, and Run Lola Run.  

I guess I'm interested in things that encourage people to be present, and to shift perspectives.  The Q&A with the director after the film was really interesting - he was very candid and open about his experiences and inspiration, and the questions from the audience were a good indication of the variety of reactions to the film.  I left the screening feeling incredibly inspired and really touched by the honesty and compassion of it.  The Canadian release is meant to happen early next year, so keep an eye out for it! 

start, and the pressure will be off

lead type, sparkbox studio - monica lacey 2011

People warned me it would be hot in Ontario – the heat is so thick and heavy with humidity you can almost grab handfuls of it.  I’m mostly spending my days in my studio, which has a concrete floor and is mercifully cool – I almost need a sweater in here, compared with outdoors where one can barely stand to be clothed. 

A few days ago I had a great morning of yard sales & estate sales around Prince Edward County with Chrissy – although I was limited to purchasing tiny items, on account of traveling by plane (and already having too much stuff with me), I had a great time & got really inspired by all the crazy junk that people have.  If you didn’t already know, you can actually sell your old rusty buckets – people were buying them and other rusty farm gear like hotcakes.  I managed to manifest a fantastic old single-gear cruiser with a basket - it'll be infinitely better for me to bike into town on that than the crazy racing bike with a million gears that I'm not at all used to :)

I’ve been spending a lot of time with the little tabletop letterpress, and just used it to print some of my Artist Trading Cards (for the upcoming trading event at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown this August).  If there is one thing I can’t bear, it’s wasting paint or ink, so after I print I usually am hunting for things to put ink on or to absorb the last of the ink on the plate or the type.  So the last print from the letterpress wound up on the palm of my hand :).   And then of course I had to do a photo shoot of this.  You just never know where creativity will lead. 

letterpress on skin - monica lacey 2011

I’m slowly getting into a nice routine & learning to be gentle with my artist-self.  It’s not always easy to silence the inner critic, but it certainly is essential.  I’m realizing that showing up every day takes a lot of courage, and that that is the hardest part.  It’s amazing how often inspiration comes me after I’ve already started, and because I started.  

If you've read The Little Prince, you might remember the fox he 'tames' and becomes friends with?  It's a little like that with my art practice - I get a little closer each day and then one day, boom, we're friends again and everything flows & works & feels great.  

sandbanks provincial park - monica lacey 201

Yesterday we all (so me, Cynthia (artist from Shanghai), Jessica (artist from Atlanta), Chrissy & Kyle (owners of SparkBox), and their friend Alex, who owns a restaurant here) took the day off & went to SandBanks beach for the day.  I had some wonderful swims in the waves of Lake Ontario!  So great to get in the water!  However, we all underestimated the power of the sun to overwhelm any amount of sunscreen, so after an amazing day, we all came home with patchy, stripey sunburns.  We nursed them with some aloe & a viewing of Little Miss Sunshine, which I've seen several times, and which never ceases to make me feel more wonderful about life.   :)