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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Write & Create program / NOVEMBER 2022<br />
Alexandra McTavish<br />
Australia<br />
www.bravemoveart.com<br />
About<br />
Born in Hong Kong to Australian parents, Alexandra’s works<br />
examine notions of gender, sexuality, nature, and solitude.<br />
She works instinctively on paper and canvas with oils,<br />
acrylics, ink and watercolours.<br />
Alex is also a professional voice artist and her project at<br />
<strong>Arteles</strong> seek to examine the liminal space between visual art<br />
and sound art. She is interested in the psychological effects<br />
of sound and while her audio collages aim to complement<br />
her visual works, they also stand alone to prompt viewers to<br />
introspect.<br />
Alex lives and works on the unceded lands of the<br />
Quandamooka people of Moreton Bay in Mianjin (Brisbane),<br />
Australia.<br />
Metsän Rouva (Lady of the Forest)<br />
<strong>Arteles</strong>, both the place and its residents, proved a place of<br />
immense healing for me. I arrived sick and tired (after 43.5<br />
hours in transit) with tons of (emotional) baggage. I hibernated<br />
for a few days, only to emerge to find the most beautiful<br />
group of artists to share art, meditation, conversation, and<br />
laughter. I swiftly fell into a routine – early morning coffee<br />
chats, meditation, art, walks, sauna and cold lake swims.<br />
I couldn’t paint for the first week. Instead, I walked the<br />
neighboring forest for inspiration. And slept, a lot. Those two<br />
things created the photographic collages on the neighbouring<br />
page.<br />
Metsän Rouva (Lady of the Forest) is a series inspired by the<br />
Finnish forests. The forests felt very feminine to me and the<br />
birch trees, in particular, called to me. The pine trees hold a<br />
more masculine place in Finnish folklore and they too spoke<br />
to a different aspect of the very personal works.<br />
After these pieces, the floodgates opened and I was able<br />
to paint again. In fact, I was prolific! I returned with two<br />
exhibitions worth of works that go on display in <strong>2023</strong> – a<br />
series of watercolour works and some abstract oils.<br />
I did not do the project I pitched to Teemu, but that said, I<br />
have all I need to create my sound work now I am back home<br />
to my studio.<br />
I am so grateful for my time at <strong>Arteles</strong>. It was a monastic<br />
experience in many ways and just what I needed to heal from<br />
long held wounds.