Rae Story, visual artist, 30 December – 13 January 2018
This residency was welcome time and space away from work and commitments and quiet reflection in a wild inspiring environment. The wilderness came not so much from the physical environment, but from the storms that rolled in one after the other. The weather was wild! One key project that I wanted to try following my work here in 2015 was to create an image of the star trails in the sky across the Cape. It was difficult to do this because the storms made the sky cloud-filled and challenging to work outside at night due to high winds. However, I managed to successfully create a small range of star trail images of the Cape.
As well as creating star trail images, I also walked taking paints and paper along with me, down in Priests Cove and Cot Valley and thoroughly enjoyed being in the landscape in such an immersive way.
I also did a series of studies of rocks for my Chinese Ink and Seih-Yi work with my mentor Chinese Artist Edmond Ho Yuen To back in Manchester.
I am currently running a project called ‘Mapping Manchester’s Quiet Spaces’ which is an artist-led exploration into the relationship between sound levels in the city and our mental well-being. I was able to read some books and reflect on this topic as well as consider the environment from the point of view of being in a different environment to the city, considerations of nature/culture/wilderness and impacts on soundscapes. This led me to some interesting observations and insights that will continue to inform and direct my work.https://www.mappingmanchestersquietspaces.org
See more about Rae Story’s work here https://brisonsveor.org.uk/rae-story/
