Fogo Island Residency

March - April, 2018

Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada

In 2018, I was invited to take part in the Fogo Island Arts Residency program for six weeks across March and April. My work space was located in the the Long Studio at Joe Batt’s Arm, one of only four isolated and self-contained studios on the island, all designed by renowned Canadian-born, Norwegian-based architect, Todd Saunders. Saunders Architecture is also responsible for the multi-award winning hotel resort, The Fogo Island Inn, also located in the town of Joe Batt’s Arm.

My research during the Fogo Island residency revolved around our relationship with digital media and the environment. During the residency, I made countless hours of drone footage of the surrounding landscape and I experimented with new materials in my painting. These materials were mostly found in the natural environment around the studio.

My time there uncovered different ways in which we view the environment or the natural world through a digital lens. I wanted to know how this may effect our relationship with nature as a result and how this could affect the ways in which I produce my images in paint. Previously, my paintings had been likened to satellite images of unusual terrestrial terrains and I wanted to see if there were elements from the alien-like landscape of the island that reflected these observations. The similarities between some of my previous paintings and the images captured by the drone were quite evident. It was becoming obvious to me that my own studio is a creative environment, with the painted gestures and textures left in the compound being synonymous to a frozen terrain. I found that I how observe my work when using the compound is very similar way to how the drone hovered while filming; I am surveying my “canvas” from directly above while the painting lays flat. In this way, my paintings seem to reflect our screen- based, device-driven satellite view of the world. The use of the natural materials in my Long Studio experimentations added an organic element that reinforced the relationship of my paintings to nature, despite the more signature digital aesthetic of my work. This residency research later led to my Oxide and Nature series of paintings.

The following images were captured by me while on residency with a Mavic Pro drone, a fixed-lens Canon and an iPhone with a partially cracked lens.