Magnetic North Blog

Last month, five artists went on our creative retreat called Space/Time in Dumfries & Galloway. One of them, sculptor and visual artist Gillian Brent, reflects on her experience:

I am a sculptor and visual artist with a studio practice and a socially engaged, participatory practice. I am based in Sheffield with a studio at Yorkshire Artspace. I have exhibited around the UK and been commissioned for many public artworks, mostly with consultation and creative input from local communities and organisations in areas of social disadvantage.

Since 2009 I have been working mainly as an artist within art gallery learning programmes in contemporary public art galleries in Nottingham, Sheffield and Yorkshire. I have been developing and facilitating workshops, resources and long term projects and research programmes that engage diverse audiences with exhibitions and collections, and encourage discussion and creative responses in a variety of media. 

Space/Time came at a perfect time for me. Between January to July 2018, I am taking an unpaid six-month sabbatical from working with the galleries where I work on a regular basis, to focus on re-connecting with my studio practice and consider new ways to disseminate my work. My studio practice had become sidelined and I was missing the process of following my own lines of enquiry and making work without the restraints of facilitating others. I was also feeling burnt out by the pressure of constantly responding creatively to other people’s briefs, timescales and agendas.

The retreat gave me the opportunity through the discussions to think through some of my sometimes conflicting positions about being an artist as producer and artist as facilitator and animateur. It was very interesting to find that the other artists attending the Space/Time retreat, although working in other creative disciplines, had worries, issues and barriers that were very similar to ones I have. We were able to share experiences, get new insights into creative approaches and give practical support to each other. The sessions were very deftly facilitated by Alice and Nick to give everyone a chance to ponder on the questions that were concerning us, deconstruct specific situations and consider how to make positive changes.

I found it particularly inspiring to share my work with the group and to get genuine feedback about my ideas and recent sculpture. From this I am now taking forward new ideas of ways to disseminate them and am hoping to collaborate with one of the participants as part of this.

I also gained some useful practical advice about how to manage my various areas of work so that I don’t get into the same situation of burnout and lack of balance again.

Space/Time was a very positive experience; although it didn’t provide concrete answers to all the issues I am facing, it gave me the opportunity to reflect in a supported environment and to feel much stronger about working towards making changes.

From tomorrow five artists will embark on a creative retreat we call Space/Time in Dumfries & Galloway. Three of the artists have written about their expectations of this cross-artform residency:

Claire Halleran (set design) 
I’m a Set and Costume designer based in Scotland, but have been fortunate to work overseas and to have work tour internationally. My designs vary from small, compact children’s shows to large immersive events for all. I have created small cardboard houses covered in glitter and hand paint for 2-year-olds to the interior of a cinema/film festival in a disused bingo hall in the north of Scotland.

I love what I do, I enjoy the problem solving and working and collaborating with others, but also taking time to research and develop ideas as an individual. Working in the world of stage design ensures that there is never a day that is the same as another, which keeps things interesting, exciting and I appreciate a challenge. I work in scripted theatre and devised theatre both of which bring their thrilling moments and I’m always astonished at how much I learn from each collaboration.

I am very much looking forward to Space/Time - spending time with artists from other art forms and allowing myself to stop and consider what I do and why I have found my particular way of working. I find myself reacting quickly to create design decisions and have not interrogated my approach to the creative practice since studying both Fine Art (Glasgow School of Art) and a Master of Fine Art (Queen Margaret University). Being able to learn and evolve your creative practice is a fundamental part of being able to maintain an exciting and engaging conversation with both your creative colleagues and your audience. Each time I have seen Space/Time or Rough Mix advertised, I have wanted to be involved, but each time there has been too much going on to take the time. Now I realise that I need to make the time.

From 23 February five artists will embark on a creative retreat we call Space/Time in Dumfries & Galloway.

Space Time is a paid five-day creative retreat for experienced artists. It aims to refresh participants and allow them to re-boot and flourish.

The artists taking part are:

Gillian Brent (sculpture)
Gillian is a sculptor and installation artist based in Sheffield. She has worked with welded steel for all of her career.

Claire Halleran (set design) 
Claire has been working as a freelance designer since 2002. She is based in Glasgow and works on projects at home and abroad.

Harry Harris (songwriter)
Harry is a songwriter based in Edinburgh. His latest release, The Andre The Giant EP, is a collaboration with producers Chemikal Recipe and designer Gavin Day.

Carol McKay (creative writing)
Carol writes fiction, life writing, and poetry, and also teaches creative writing for the Open University along with private classes. She is based in South Lanarkshire.

Ewan Robertson (sculpture)
Based at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Ewan lectures in sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art.

Sign up to our Artist Development mailing list to be notified when more information is available on our next Space/Time residency.

Our next Space Time retreat will run from 23rd-27th February 2018 at the Swallow Theatre in Dumfries and Galloway and the application process is now open. Experienced artists from any art form are welcome to apply by the deadline of 5pm on Friday 22nd December.

Space/Time is a paid creative retreat for experienced artists from all disciplines that asks the question “How does an artist keep developing?”

It aims to refresh participants through a stimulating examination of creativity. During the residency, we will explore how creativity can be nourished and how artists can continue challenging themselves to develop.

The residency combines facilitated dialogue - built around a series of self-generated questions - with time for individual reflection and work. It is led by Nicholas Bone and Alice McGrath.

 You can find out more about how to apply here.

Our next Space / Time residency - a creative retreat for experienced artists - begins on Friday at Cove Park on the west coast of Scotland.

Space / Time aims to refresh the artists taking part, and to give them the space and time to reflect on their own creative practice. The residency is led by Nicholas Bone and Alice McGrath.

Here is a brief introduction to the artists coming:

Tam Dean Burn
Tam has been an actor and performer for 45 years. Born in Leith, he performs regularly with the London art radio station resonancefm.com. His acting work includes: Tutti Frutti,
Home Edinburgh (National Theatre of Scotland); Mary Stuart (Donmar Warehouse and Apollo West End); The Cutting Room and Filth (Citizens, National Tour and Calgary, Canada). Television work includes: Longford (Channel 4); River City (BBC); Taggart (STV).
vimeo.com/tharmas

Mary Bourne
A visual artist (mainly in carved natural stone) based in rural Moray, Mary's practice includes studio work, commissions for public places and education work. All of her practice is concerned with how we relate subjectively to our physical world. Trained at Edinburgh College of Art, her professional experience has included public commissions, including artwork at Bennachie, Aberdeenshire; Mallerstang, East Cumbria and Mugdock Country Park, Milngavie. She has worked with high profile architects like Page/Park (Eden Court Theatre) and Malcolm Fraser (Scottish Poetry Library), and with Scottish Historic Buildings Trust and Historic Environment Scotland.
www.marybourne.co.uk

Lynda Radley
Lynda is a playwright and dramaturg from Cork, who has been based in Glasgow for the past 12 years. She writes plays and mentors other writers and creatives. Her play Futureproof had an Irish tour earlier this year, and The Interference premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in collaboration with Pepperdine University. The Interference was also revived in California this year, and is currently playing at the Hollywood Fringe. Lynda is developing plays with Magnetic North, Stellar Quines and MACCT students from the Royal Conservatoire Scotland.
www.lyndaradley.com

Elaine Kordys
Elaine has been working as an artist for the past 20 years in a number of disciplines: installation, performance art, dance; and over the last eight years in film. Her film work is informed by an interest in and experience of movement. The films she produces are developed from a relationship with and an interest in a particular person. Over the past four years she has specialised in working with people with dementia, drawing on her experience of working in this field with dance throughout her career. Her next film will explore the impact of dementia on a relationship.
www.youtube.com

Hanna Tuulikki
The first recipient of Magnetic North Artist's Attachment award Hanna Tuulikki is a visual artist, composer, and performer who works with the voice. Her approach is relational and place-responsive, and she is interested in how sound, gesture and language frame our connection with our environment. Though she works across different media, the voice is central to her practice – her first love is to sing and she composes for and with the voice, creating tapestries of a cappella sound that sit at the heart of live performances, films and audiovisual installations. Over the past few years, she has begun to blend her musical compositions with gesture and costume. 
www.hannatuulikki.org

The next Space / Time retreat will be held in February 2018. Application information will be available in early December - join our Artist Development mailing list to receive details.