On Saturday, October 15, 2011, Artists with international experience shared their work and discussed living in a unique environment and creating work in a foreign country at the International Art Residencies and Symposia held at The Derryfield School Lyceum in Manchester. The eight panelists, Laura Baring-Gould, Robert Markey, Rosalyn Driscoll, Batu Siharulidze, John Weidmann, Kiki Thompson, Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein, were moderated by Mary Sherman, Director of TransCultural Exchange, and discussed how global exchange impacts art, how the experience changes the artist and/or art studio practice and what are goals of a curator in the residency experience. Kiki Thompson, who flew in from Switzerland, Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein participated in the Verbier 3-D Sculpture Park Residency and focused on their experiences in the Swiss Alps. A very interested audience – artists, students, parents and, even, scientists – kept the discussion interactive. swissnex Boston, as a co-organizer and sponsor, was happy to be part of this artistic event.

International Art Residencies and Symposia - A Panel Discussion from Andy Moerlein on Vimeo.

A summary by Donna Dodson from the recent International Art Residencies and Symposia panel:

Mary Sherman set the stage with the history of US residencies. They were designed to promote national agendas in contrast to what they have become, a forum for raising awareness of being a citizen in the world. She gained the perspective of being one among many and an awareness of how other nationalities have conversations with and about Americans. It changed her knowledge of art history to be a part of it in a global sense versus a national sense.

Batu made the point that sharing tools and learning new things from his peers was the part of the symposia that he looked forward to the most.  As a teacher, he is energized from the experience of participating in symposia with peers from all over the world and building life long friendships. He also noted the importance of flattening the hierarchy of teacher/student through travel, exchange and sharing. These values are fundamental to his art making practice.

Donna Dodson went to Switzerland with the idea that she wanted to make a pregnant stork figure.  The piece was developed in conversation with Kiki Thompson, a resident of Verbier, to celebrate the recent baby boom in town. She planned to use her vocabulary on a larger scale, but in a site specific way to the Alps. The piece changed in conversation with Paul Goodwin, curator to Tate Britain, who challenged her to take a bold risk with the placement of the piece, and not face it to the tourists, but perch it on the precipice of the valley, about to take wing.

Robert Markey described his public art and mural work in Brazil and Cambodia. As an external agent to a community, he is able to re-shape the relationships of street youth to police, and to demonstrate their value to the community. He teaches mural making and drawing skills, and in the process gets a community excited about art.  By working internationally, he is able to reach a broader audience through his artwork than through temporary or gallery exhibits, and his art can have an impact beyond his local community in Mass.  He brings back a global awareness to his studio practice, for example human trafficking, which is the subject of his recent work.

Roz Driscoll responded to the shape of the rivers, trees, and Greek architecture to create site specific work in residence in England at the Crypt Gallery.  She described the process of leaving behind her studio, tools and materials, and making a creative leap, or taking an artistic risk she needed to in order to grow in her work.  She brought nothing but she had everything with her, i.e. her experiences, knowledge and collaborative relationships to make new artwork.

John Weidman said as a director of an international symposium he wants artists to come empty, to experience the place, and to create from the heart.  He doesn’t want artists to come with a proposal or pre-conceived notion of a piece. In his own work, he often re-visits narratives or themes, but crafts his work in site specific materials, referencing the past, present, future.

For Andy Moerlein going to Switzerland and being in the Alps was like coming home to the mountains of Alaska.  The people who loved the mountains loved his work the most.  For Andy, there was a sharing of himself through his art and an understanding by the residents of Verbier that took place and transcended language.  Art bridged the communication gap where meaning and an exchange of value, took place, he gave them art, and they gave him their appreciation.

Laura Baring-Gould described her experiences in Thailand.  It changed her perspective of globalization where the stereotype was cheap goods are made in a poor country and consumed by a rich country. As an artist, a maker, and a story teller, Laura is using art to teach Americans about their history, and the Thai people are helping her with their casting techniques, ancient traditions, spiritual practices. They became real to one another, beyond the stereotypes of rich Americans who point at what they want done to working peers in the studio and poor Thai people lacking modern technology to people who are rich in the knowledge of their history, and who have the connectedness of art and culture as the fabric of their lives.

We heard people say that the dialogue would empower the young people in the audience to try out their own ideas in the world. We hope our experiences would encourage the students to take advantage of opportunities to travel abroad and learn from their experiences by reflection and peer dialogue.  All of the presenters shared an idea that they wanted to put into place with the help of other people and resources in the community.  That’s how we make things happen.

Thank you very much to our EVENT Hosts and SPONSORS:

The Derryfield School & Swissnex Consulate of Switzerland

-Donna Dodson