Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020
Arteles Creative Center's residency artists and their projects 2023-2020
Arteles Creative Center's residency artists and their projects 2023-2020
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Fall into Focus program / NOVEMBER <strong>2023</strong><br />
Rachael Mead<br />
Australia<br />
affirmpress.com.au/author/61973<br />
About<br />
I'm a novelist, poet and arts reviewer living on unceded<br />
Peramangk country in South Australia. I've had an eclectic<br />
life, working as an archaeologist, environmental campaigner<br />
and seller of books both old and new. Just over a decade<br />
ago, after burning out at my job as an environmental policy<br />
analyst, I discovered that all my various careers sat upon<br />
a single foundation – a love of language. Since remaking<br />
myself as a writer, I've published four collections of poetry<br />
and two novels. Like my working life, my writing is hard to<br />
pin down, ranging from nature poetry to feminist retellings<br />
of ancient myths to a novel-in-stories about paramedics.<br />
My most recent book, The Art of Breaking Ice, is a historical<br />
novel about the first Australian woman to travel to Antarctica.<br />
The Amazoniad<br />
My time at <strong>Arteles</strong> was one of intense productivity and<br />
creative rejuvenation. In the weeks leading up to the<br />
residency, I’d found myself imaginatively blocked. Work on<br />
the first draft of my novel had completely stalled and I arrived<br />
stressed and fearful that the whole project teetered on the<br />
cusp of failure. In desperation, I set ludicrous objectives<br />
only to surprise myself, week after week, by meeting them.<br />
Snow came early and stayed, making walks in the forest an<br />
extraordinary experience that energised my writing practice.<br />
All sense of blockage evaporated. I not only completed<br />
the third act of my draft but fleshed out the plot for the<br />
troublesome midsection. <strong>Arteles</strong> percolated through my work<br />
– the forest and lakes, the sensory observations of snow, the<br />
conversations with residents, the sense of community. As the<br />
weeks progressed, I found the beauty of the landscape and<br />
the intellectual stimulation of the residents and staff were<br />
all acting in concert to refill my creative well. This was an<br />
incredibly valuable time, and I have no doubt the experience<br />
of this landscape and ideas generated while being here will<br />
flow through my work, now and into the future.