Wilderness Art Collective x Red Bank Farm Residency, kindly organised by Eva Ullrich

 

Tonti and I settled into Kendal in the Lake District for a focused period of research and testing, alongside fellow members of the Wilderness Art Collective. Early in the residency, I led a Pigment Making Workshop, with local foraged materials, for the group, sharing my process and introducing the materials-based approach that guides much of my practice.

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A significant part of my time was spent exploring the surrounding landscape. I walked the area regularly, gathered natural materials, and observed changes in colour, topography, and light across different sites. These field explorations informed the pigments and material studies I found throughout the residency.

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We visited several local sites connected to material history and colour: Honister Slate Mine, the Derwent Pencil Museum, Cathedral Cave, and The Colour Maker’s House in Appleby. These visits helped contextualise the region’s geological and industrial background and deepened my understanding of the materials I was working with.

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Collaboration within the group also shaped my time there. Fellow member Catherine Greenwood generously shared her printmaking expertise, and together we tested some of my handmade pigments as printmaking inks. Eva also kindly offered her earth paints and mediums for me to experiment with, giving me the opportunity to compare different material qualities and behaviours.

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Overall, my focus during the residency was on material investigation, site-responsive research, and learning through shared knowledge within the collective.