Photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Sarah Villeneau / GBR

“Joya: AiR was a magical place - the dramatic landscape, the silence, the remoteness and the vast skies connected me to the earth in a way that took me back to the freedom of my childhood roaming the countryside in upstate New York. I went to Joya with the idea of having time out and recuperation after a very busy year, and to pursue a new direction in my work - sculpting with found materials and to maybe build a small woodfiring kiln - a minigama.

As it happened, I found myself drawn back, as ever, to clay - with wild clay and timber all around, exploring age-old ceramic processes emerged organically as a seamless connection to the environment and a sustainable and productive legacy to contribute to the residency. Not to mention the problem solving along the way - firing the kiln in the wood-fired boiler, rather than in the open, due to high winds and fire risk, was not my original plan, but was thrilling and frightening in equal measure.

Simon and Donna have created a beautiful home and a relaxed, comfortable, easy-going set up, with delicious meals. It was also wonderfully special to meet and share ideas with people from all over the world, with different disciplines, backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints but a shared commitment to exploration, experimentation and the environment.

I look forward to returning one day soon!”

 Sarah Villeneau is a British sculptor working mainly in clay.

Photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Sofía Troncoso / Chile

In the midst of a surreal landscape, that was too closely and too loosely similar to home, words bottled up over time started pouring over at great capacity in what could have been a drought.

The dried up almonds in the tree branches, the desert views, the accompanying sunrises all unveilied many mysteries onto my own person. I had to remind myself that this was growth: to take the own roots of my writing to an unfamiliar space and be able to return even more self assured of their capacity to root into whatever land I wanted them to grow. In an almost lunar space, in the clarity of my studio, in the whiteness of the walls, in the laughter of a friendly stranger, in any weather, my writing grew, germinated and developed into ways I had never predicted they could do before.

 I hold close to my heart what I did during my first artistic residency, the way it brought back the pulse of my own language and creativity, my droughts and my floods, as everything was done intertwined with the surroundings: the juxtaposition of the sparse landscape and the abundant life held in the heart of Joya.

Sofía Troncoso

Sofía Troncoso graduated with a degree in Arts and Humanities, major in Narrative and minor in Communications, and is currently pursuing a MA in Creative Writing. In 2022, she won the national Chilean writing award Roberto Bolaño, and in 2023 she published her first novel “Funerales”. She grew in desertic Antofagasta and is now based in urban Santiago de Chile.

Photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AIR / Nina Maria Allmoslechner / AUT

When I first heard, read, and already got to see photographs of this soul-nourishing place, I could only imagine how it must feel to be part of this artist community. A house in the middle of what seems to be nowhere but feels like everything, a destination that Donna and Simon have been building not only through hard but most importantly heart work. When I arrived I realized that the house from the outside does indeed look like in these photographs, the trees were greener than I expected despite the fact Joya: air lies in one of the warmest places you could find on the map. And perhaps that is what I would like to reflect on. The warmth of this place, and I am afraid I am not talking about the weather right now.
The warmth that my body could instantly feel through Donna’s beyond delicious meals, making sure the artists were being fed nutritious dishes after long days of working in the studio.
The warmth that I got to experience through sincere and very intimate conversations. The warmth through everyone around me holds space for each other and shows respect and understanding of our individual crafts and the language we use to express ourselves.
The warmth of Frida (Donna’s and Simon’s dog), when she would lay against your body to show you that it is a safe space and you are protected by mutual caring energy.
Not to forget the general warmth that Donna and Simon are providing through their incredible space, around 5 pm every day, Will would make sure there’s enough wood to make a fire in the living room, the warmth of the coffee on your lips when the sun is about to rise.
All of this warmth would greet me after all my days of being in full darkness, where I would revisit the negatives for my current project about the first female solo travel writer in the world. Traveling on my own has not always been as smooth, but being a resident at Joya:Air provides me with further tools for my next adventures and creative journey. Warmth and bright moments I shall keep safe like a snow globe when I return back to a landscape that is covered with snow.

Nina Maria Allmoslechner

Nina Maria is a lens-based artist from Austria (b.1998). She graduated in Documentary Photography BA from the University of Arts London in 2021. Her practice is predominantly concerned with vulnerable topics around mental health, womanhood, body image, sexuality, and lens-based memory representation. Nina uses mainly alternative processes such as super 8mm film and analog imagery, she often works with archives that she finds at flea markets wherever she goes or other historical ones that are left behind.
Nina is currently working on several projects from Iceland, including a project about the first woman who wrote travel diaries, Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858), who was from Austria like herself.

Photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Susan Parker / GBR

This wonderful fortnight with the Joya: AiR residency has passed too quickly. My painting practice has expanded with this opportunity to create my own pastels and paints. After my last stay here, I knew that I wanted to use local materials to find the colours of this region and to work with limited water supply in response to the desert nature of this region. I came prepared with a glass muller to grind the rock to make my pigments, a sieve to create a fine powder and gum tragacanth to bind the resulting paste into a usable pastel stick. After a few attempts I finally managed to get the consistency right so that I could create a drawing.

As always, my work is practice led, so inspiration came with the process of making and being immersed in the nature of this special area. This has been a joyous experience for me in sunny rural surroundings with only my work to think about. Delicious food and comfortable accommodation, provided by Simon and Donna, as well as the interesting company of other artists make this a very special time and place.

I experimented with making egg tempera paint using the ground earth to create colour.  Egg, water and a tiny amount of gum tragacanth make a paste like paint. Sadly, honey was not available to use as a preservative due to strange climate conditions over the year which had affected the local bees. Using a light cross hatching technique in several layers I drew images of the local rocks that had helped to make the pigment. The whole process is very calming and favourably changed my way of working in a very slow and mindful manner.

My other work created here was a response to the light, the landscape, the lack of water and the dust. Everything in this valley is inspiring, especially the clear light, long shadows in the evening and the glorious skies.

Thank you again to Joya: AiR. I hope I will be able to come back.

Susan Parker

.

Photo Sophie Anna Gibbings

Joya: AiR / Lauren Taylor / residency coordinator

I am interested in how creativity can be used as a tool to improve and navigate our wellbeing and mental health. I discovered my love for art during my MSc in Psychology and this has remained an important part of my life. Since graduating I have worked in schools supporting young people to understand and process their emotions. I now volunteer with older adults living with dementia and run community art groups with a focus on enjoying the process. I hope to continue combining my background in psychology with my interest in art and to find more ways to make creativity feel accessible and joyous.

Lauren Taylor.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: guest curator / Sophie Anna Gibbings / USA

Sophie has returned to Joya: AiR as our guest curator. She was here in September 2022 as a resident artist, working primarily with performance and sculpture, using materials found in the landscape and returning them to the landscape at the end of her residency. Sophie recently organized and developed her own collaborative artist residency in Margate, UK and hopes to continue to bring artists together through these residencies and curate exhibitions around the theme of regeneration.

 On Sophie’s practice…

 “I reference the practices of regenerative agriculture as an entry point to my work. My process is more about an ecology of the mind, rather than a regeneration of soil. All the materials used for my artworks are found in the landscape and can be returned to the Earth, without any harm to her. It is at this intersection of material and landscape that I explore the core values of my work.

I don’t see myself separate from nature but rather as two artists working together. Performance is the beginning of this collaboration, often referencing my own body as it relates to nature’s body. Using different mediums, including printmaking, alternative process photography, painting, and sculpture, I am exploring how an initial performance done in the landscape can lead to many different bodies of work.

These works are ephemeral, and I have no attachment to their permanence, as we all come from nature and return to nature. By creating an opportunity for non-logical encounters with my art, I intend to increase the viewers sensibility to the environment. I am interested in what happens to the materials after and beyond their time on display, and how this consideration might help regenerate ecologies.”

Sophie Anna Gibbings

Sophie was born in Santa Barbara, California and has lived in the UK for the past 3 years. She received her Bachelor’s degree in photography from Lesley University College of Art and Design. She recently earned her Master’s in Art in Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins. She was awarded the University of The Arts, London Art for the Environment Residency (AER) at Domaine de Boisbuchet, France. Sophie was shortlisted for the University of The Arts, London Maison/0 This Earth Award. She is currently exhibiting her work as part of the Art for the Environment exhibition at GroundWork Gallery in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK until June 2024. Other recent exhibitions include Meant to Fade, Laneway Gallery, Cork, IE, Impermanent, Safehouse Gallery, London and a performance for Dance for the Sky, Slash Arts Gallery Houseboat, London.

Sophie’s website: https://www.sophieannagibbings.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophieannagibbings/

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Pardeep Nijjar / GBR

‘I arrived at Joya: AiR to reconnect with a craft I had been struggling to reignite. 

 This wonderful residency has the ability to suspend time. My only marker of time here, is the solar ascent and descent. There is time (without being located in time) for awe. Awe in the landscape, the scale of it, from up high as lower and lower into the valley; the shifting light, the details, the sounds – my favourite being the silence. Not the manufactured silence of ear buds and noise cancelling headphones or simply a lack of traffic, but silence that is palpable. How can silence be the absence of sound when the silence is so vast and so void that it sits upon me, heavy, lead-like, a natural vacuum. A silence that is magnetic – polar attraction – the positive and negative side to the butt end of emotions. Emotions that are central to creating art. A silence and space, endless space that creates a sense of suspension in time.

 I thought I needed to remove myself from distractions in order to write. But actually, being here, what I have learned is that the distractions need only be conducive to writing, not absent. The distractions here are the details in the splitting almond on the tree outside my studio window. The vulture hovering ahead. The hourly movement of the sun across the window. The moments of silence. When distractions are so sweet, so precious like these, they need a new word to describe them – no longer distractions, they are the writer’s stimuli. My time at Joya has stimulated my writing in a way I had hoped, but couldn’t have imagined.

Pardeep Nijjar

Pardeep lives in Nottingham and holds a BA in Arabic and International Relations and an MA in Diplomacy.
He is a project consultant Civil Servant for Central government by day and a writer by passion.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Victoria Moy / USA

Being at Joya: AiR is living in a museum surrounded by beautiful curated works of art, except this museum also feels like a home. Meanwhile, art being newly made and a sanctuary of natural beauty also surround us.

On a 6:30am hike with fellow artists Leo and Ana, I climbed the equivalent of 52 flights of stairs. At the peak, with the glowing sun rising, we enjoyed delicious coffee and breakfast. Then Leo surprised us with packets of clay to make art with! and to leave for others to find when they visit, as we acknowledged our and our arts' impermanence and the beauty in that.

At sunset on most days, I'd walk an hour taking in amazing cloud formations when they were out, spotting different colored rocks and stones, while being greeted by lively bird chirps, and passing rows of almond and pomegranate trees. My tracker would say I'd climbed 21 flights, and I didn't even feel any of the "work."

I got to read a 30-minute-long short story by the fireplace in an impromptu sharing after a few days of working on it to generous listeners who gave thoughtful feedback. Sitting in front of the fireplace each night sharing stories with fellow artists before a delicious dinner made by Donna is another highlight.

With artists coming and going constantly, we would tease each other about who'd be remembered and missed and which of us would be forgotten quickly. Like in nature and in life, there is beauty in the impermanence. I enjoyed the privilege of being a part of the landscape, being a part of varying cycles and turnarounds, engaging with continually changing lots. Whether we're remembered, by some, or not at all, we are still each a part of this space's history.

I'm grateful to Donna and Simon for making such a beautiful dream-like experience also a reality.

Victoria Moy


Victoria Moy is an American author, librettist, playwright, and filmmaker born and raised in New York. She's a 2023-2024 Opera America IDEA grantee. She's the author of "Fighting for the Dream: Voices of Chinese American Veterans from World War II to Afghanistan" and has a B.A. in Theater and M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing.

VictoriaMoy.net
IG @writervickymoy @owlsmarch

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Leonardo Uribe / COL

“My first artistic residency was two transformative weeks 

While I arrived without any expectations or project to develop, Joya: AiR offered me much to work with. A magical and secluded environment that allowed me to focus on my creative work once again.

The landscape encourages great ecological projects such as Joya: AiR itself.

I wandered through nature, climbed nearby mountains and collected materials that enriched my process.

Surrounded by people with generous hearts, knowledge and extraordinary talents, we connected and shared warm moments; often over delicious dinners hosted by our friendly hosts Donna and Simon.

These two weeks were an indelible chapter. A time I will long remember”.

Leonardo Uribe

Leonardo Uribe is a Colombian-born artist living in Australia. He graduated from University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and over the past 20 years has exhibited widely in galleries across Colombia, Venezuela and Australia. In 2021 his work was Highly Commended in the Dobell Drawing Prize #22 in Sydney, Australia.

“Mi primera residencia artística fueron dos semanas transformadoras

Si bien, llegué sin expectativas ni proyecto a desarrollar, La Joya AiR me ofreció mucho con qué trabajar. Un entorno mágico y apartado que me permitió centrarme una vez más en mi trabajo creativo.

El paisaje fomenta grandes proyectos ecológicos como el propio JOYA:Air.

Deambulé por la naturaleza, escalé montañas cercanas y recolecté materiales que enriquecieron mi proceso.

Me rodeé de personas de corazón generoso, conocimientos y talentos extraordinarios, conectamos y compartimos cálidos momentos; a menudo durante deliciosas cenas ofrecidas por nuestros amables anfitriones Donna y Simon.

Estas dos semanas fueron un capítulo imborrable. Un momento que recordaré por mucho tiempo”.

Leonardo Uribe

Leonardo Uribe es un artista nacido en Colombia que vive en Australia. Se graduó de la Universidad con una Licenciatura en Bellas Artes y durante los últimos 20 años ha expuesto ampliamente en galerías de Colombia, Venezuela y Australia. En 2021, su trabajo fue Highly Commended en el Premio de Dibujo Dobell # 22 en Sydney, Australia.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Shona McCombes / GBR

“I came to Joya: AiR at a transitional moment: one week after moving house, a week of living crowded among boxes and plastic and paint, I arrived in this space of absolute spaciousness, clean simple lines and sparse open landscapes and sky. Rooms uncluttered with the debris of everyday life – a place for the mind to roam around without stumbling on something that stops it short.

It was transitional in other ways, too, the season changing palpably through the course of my November week here. Subtler than the sulk of the northern winters I'm used to, where the sun slams the door on you and holds a long grudge; here it's more of a gradual cooling off, a gentle turning away.

Like other transient spaces, there's something suspended about Joya, a cocooning. But there's also something like a narrative thread: a coming and going of people who each weave their own small set of journeys, an exchanging of routes, a passing down of stories (the moonlight dance, the sunrise hike – moments I missed that became part of the lore of the place).

Sometimes, the outside punctures it. During that one November week: news from the Argentinian election, from the Dutch election, relentless news from Palestine. The book I was working on – set in the Netherlands (land of carefully controlled waters and slowly sinking foundations), backgrounded by the Brazilian election of 2018 (land of vibrant mix and violent clash) – starting to feel real again, in good and bad ways. The book had gone through a long lull, and maybe it had felt like those vicious forces were going through a lull too, for a moment, the biggest and brashest of them briefly quieted – but none of it really gone, of course. The world expands and contracts; the work continues”.

Shona McCombes

Shona McCombes is a writer from Glasgow. Her fiction has been published in Gutter Magazine, New Writing Scotland, 3:AM Magazine and Extra Teeth, among others.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Louise Frances Smith / GBR

“Before starting my residency at Joya: AiR, I planned to spend my 11 days drawing, reading and walking into the surrounding landscape. I knew there was clay there but had no fixed intentions of using it - however, the clay drew me in! It’s such a huge part of the landscape you can’t escape it. I collected it on my walks and made it into slip and inks (from red earth) to make my drawings - trying to capture some of the textures in the landscape (with paint brushes I made using local materials), the patterns of strata, rocks, clay; the shape the water erosion has left (but noticing the absence of water); the black clusters of moss on the rocks. There was so much to explore and so much I wanted to try to record.

With another artist we collected and processed some clay in the sun - slaking, sieving, drying, turning, wedging. At the end of each day after this, I sat and watched the sun disappear over the top of the mountains while I made with the clay - a piece that started to grow across a stone that was used when Joya AiR was a farm. It was wonderful to be able to process the clay and connect with the landscape in this way.

I’m extremely grateful to Donna and Simon, their ethos for Joya is truly inspiring and I’ve learnt so much - it’s filled me with aspiration to learn more about how I can bring this way of life back into my everyday life. I’m also very grateful to the other artists I connected with at the residency and their generosity in sharing stories and their work”.

Louise Frances Smith

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Nina Elema / NED

“Joya: AiR is such a special place where nature, art and warmth are naturally blending together. The residency gave me a lot of perspective. Waking up with the sheering of the birds, having walks enjoying the nature and its views surrounded by the beautiful valleys every single day was truly liberating.

A rare opportunity where we set up a painting studio outside under the late November sun. It was the perfect place to focus on experimentation within my painting practice, inspired by the landscapes, the drought and the natural resources. Spending time with other artists was truly inspiring, resulting in new interest in new fields. Thank you Donna & Simon for the care and hospitality, and everyone that made this a wonderful experience”.

Nina Elema

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Henri Blommers / NED

“Het enige doel was geen doel, dat was mijn voornemen toen ik naar Joya reisde. Misschien wat schrijven en nadenken over de toekomst van mijn praktijk. En lezen en wat wandelen. Toen Simon de fourwheeldrive parkeerde bij het prachtig gelegen huis waar andere kunstenaars van de ondergaande zaten te genieten, voelde ik me gelijk thuis op deze magische plek. Een terp eigenlijk in een vallei met uitzicht rondom op bergen, amandel- en granaatappelbomen.

De volgende ochtend schreef ik bij zonsopkomst in mijn dagboek op het ijzeren bankje buiten. Naast mij lag een klein hoofdje van klei, de volgende dag twee en later zou ik overal kunstwerken aantreffen, zelfs een handgeschreven tekst van Zelda Salomon had de tijd doorstaan.

Na mijn eerste koffie begon ik aan wandelingen. Het woeste en tegelijkertijd gelidtekende landschap weerkaatste het frisse winterlicht en gaf een prachtige gloed. Al die witte omgeploegde boomgaarden en verlaten huizen, raakten me. Het daar zijn, alles kunnen, maar niets hoeven. Ruiken aan alle kruidige planten, takjes meenemen van rozemarijn, distels, stenen, het was allemaal heel zinnelijk. Voor ik het wist was ik papier aan het bekladderen met modder of fruitschillen en experimenteerde ik met van alles en nog wat met Vilém Flusser fluisterend in mijn oor om fotografische industriële processen te doorbreken.

Het hoogtepunt van de dag moest dan nog komen, de altijd klaarstaande - vanwege al mijn experimenten- en lieve  Donna en haar maaltijden. Toen ik opperde dat er een Joya receptenboek moest komen, begon de groep keihard te lachen. De vorige groep had dit ook al geopperd en de huidige groep zal waarschijnlijk hetzelfde opperen.

Na terugkomst hield ik tot op de dag hetzelfde ritme vast, spelen en experimenteren zijn de leidraad het doel dient zich altijd zelf wel onderbewust aan. Bedankt Simon en Donna voor wat een geweldige plek jullie hebben gecreëerd. Ik hoop tot snel”.

Henri Blommers

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AIR / Laurie Kemp / NED

“Joya: Air art residency is a magical place where poems start bubbling up at 4 a.m., your heart bursts into song upon seeing the sun set the sky aflame into a thousand glittering colours and the desert wind stills even the most over-active of minds. My writing residency was the perfect kickstart to writing my first novel.

I cried and ran and danced among the almond fields, and found inspiration, community and connection — to my inner muse, my fellow artists and Donna and Simon, Joya’s incredible hosts. ¡Nos vemos pronto, espero! Thank you for a fabulous time ♥️”

Laurie Kemp

Laurie holds a BA in Liberal Arts & Sciences and MSc is in Environmental Economics and additionally completed a year long course in Creative Writing, University of Amsterdam, 2017-2018

Meesterproef, Querido Academia, 2019-2020
Querido Academy is part of Querido, is a leading Dutch publishing house that admits up to 15 young authors per year to help them bring their ideas intro fruition and connect them to literary agencies.

Publication: The Octopus Woman, Voices of the Well, December, 2019 a magazine published by the Anima Mundi School, a learning and research center for the Feminine & the World Soul based on the psychology of Carl G. Jung.

Publication: Deliverance, Voices of the Well, December, 2022
Black-and-white drawings and corresponding poems detailing a year of loss, mourning and profound personal transformation.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Lucy Peters / GBR

“Joya: AiR is such an impressive project: an ecologically self-sustainable homestead which Simon and Donna share with a varied and ever-changing band of artists. To be in residence was an opportunity for me to invest time in my creative work, and a rare chance to do so alongside other writers, in company with painters, photographers, sculptors and conceptual artists. Days in the studio were punctuated by cups of coffee, cats visiting my window, and walks through an arid, mountainous landscape, spectacular and strange. In the evenings, residents shared moreish vegetarian meals prepared by Donna. I was so grateful for Joya’s cloistered calm and the connections that I made there”. 

Lucy Peters

Lucy’s short stories have been published in Mslexia, Structo, Ellipsis, The Citron Review and Mslexia’s Best Women’s Short Fiction 2023. Her poetry has been published in a Three of Cups anthology and the magazine Strix. Her novel-in-progress, The Child’s Bargain, has been shortlisted for the First Novel Prize 2023 and longlisted for the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers Prize 2023.  

She won second prize in the Vogue Talent Contest 2010, was a runner-up in Mslexia’s Flash Fiction Competition 2023, was shortlisted in the Bridport Prize Flash Fiction Competition 2019, and was longlisted in the Bath Flash Fiction Award 2019 and the Mslexia Flash Fiction Competition 2020. 

Lucy has a degree in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, the University of London. For over a decade, she has worked as an editor, copywriter and journalist, specialising in art and culture.

Freelance writer and editor

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-peters-b6084442/

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Pilar Gimenez / ARG

"This was my first art residency and the first of many to come. It was a transformative experience. It opened many new doors for me, both personally and artistically.
Joya: AiR is a very special place where you can find inspiration in nature; kindness among the residents; and comfort in the facilities and the delicious food :)
The residence is in the middle of the mountains. The only sound you hear is the wind passing through the trees, which sounds like a strong river. Every walk is a new discovery, from which you come back with a new "joya" of the landscape or your inner self. The direct relationship of the residence with the environment, being sustainable and off the grid, is very impressive, and gives me hope that alternative ways of living are possible and real.
I am very grateful for this experience and willing to come back at some point in the near future."

Pilar Gimenez

Pilar is a graphic designer and visual artist from Buenos Aires, based in Berlin.

@piligb_djhada 

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Katrien Simons / NED

"It was amazing having two full weeks to focus on my practice; to work, explore, be, experiment and dive into details.  To let nature and the land guide me, letting go of expectations and just surrender to what’s around.  To wander the area as if I were a child again. Touching, feeling, singing to the land, the dried up river and the trees.  Exploring, doing fieldwork, and connecting with the somewhat surreal landscape.

Then taking things into the studio and just play and experiment the rest of the day with materials from around. Telling me stories of the past, containing memories in paper. Teaching me about the Spanish land but also about me as an artist, my patterns, my ways..  

I loved how quiet it was.  And that you can wander for hours without running into a single person but instead encounter a family of wild boars.

Simon and Donna have created such a special place.  I'm very thankful for the beautiful time at Joya: AiR with all the other wonderful and inspiring artists.  Following each others dance moves underneath the stars on the last night topped it off :D"

Katrien Simons / instagram @katrienspuppets

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Tomotsugu Nakamura / JPN

‘We are all given 24 hours a day. if we live 85 years, we have 744,600 hours.

However, how we experience and live these hours is not the same.

I realized when I came here that we cannot experience the same time in the same way if we live in a different place.

Because here there is no sound, no animals live. I mean, all time has to face itself.

And I felt this.

The pressure to spend time in the present for future goals hits me like a big wave every day.

It is like when you feel the future is uncertain or when your competitors have achieved their goals.

But then it is important to fight this time with willpower.

That why I believe that fighting every day so we can seize opportunities when they arise will bring us closer to our goals’.

Tomotsugu Nakamura

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Andreas Scholz / IRE

DESI

 The boy,

Refusing to become an ‘ungeheueres Ungeziefer’

A fate suffered by so many others,

Decided that,

He would defy the paths,

Laid out before him,

He would not be bound,

By any external gaze.

And so,

When he awoke the next morning,

He put on his yellow-tinted glasses,

And parted ways with the dreams,

Bestowed upon him by others.

His metamorphosis now complete,

He claimed his destiny:

Desi,

His chosen name,

La Joya Dulce, sweet jewel,

The desiring one.

By Laurie Marie Kemp

Andreas Scholz, MRSS, MRPS, MSET

QTLS (SET); PGCE (UCL); M.F.A. (Goldsmiths); BA Hons (TU Dublin)

http://www.aindreasscholz.com/
instagram.com/aindreasscholz

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Marieli Pereira / ECU

I didn’t come to Joya: AiR with a specific project in mind, I wanted to allow myself to be influenced by the landscape, without any expectations or deadlines. When I arrived at Joya, I was welcomed by the most beautiful sunset. It’s a place where nature gives you various gifts, like the vast amount of clay, the intense smell of wild rosemary offering free aromatherapy, and the soft earthy tones of the natural pigments you can find in your morning walks.
For me Joya has been a nest, a safe space to create and share as I am and where I’m at as an artist. Being here allowed me to dive deeper, and tap into places within my own creativity, that I think can only happen in such a special space like this, and in fact my work started shifting and evolving as the days went by. I noticed myself being more open to explore new mediums and try new ways.
Thank you Simon and Donna for welcoming me into your home, for creating this wonderful experience for artists to flourish, and for your commitment to treat this planet with such love and respect that inspires us to make better choices to navigate on this earth.(and thank you Donna for the yummiest food)!
I am also thankful for the lovely people I was able to share this experience with and learn from. I hope we can cross paths again.

Marieli Pereira

Marieli is a designer and multidisciplinary artist from Ecuador based in Brooklyn, NY.
She obtained a degree in Design from Parsons The New School of Design and learned art from her mother at an early age. Her work has been a mix of mediums and styles ranging from painting, textile art, mixed media collage and digital illustration. Her sources of inspiration are, animals as magical beings and her culture. She is currently working as a freelance designer in the fashion industry and taking private commissioned paintings while on a journey of exploring, learning and finding new ways to express her creativity.