Joya: AiR / Tim Southall / ENG

‘What an opportunity for an emerging artist, like me, to be able stay at Joya: AiR with our hosts Simon and Donna, two experienced artists Cora and Katerina and Dan an accomplished author/playwright.  Simon and Donna made me feel very welcome, providing a studio space, preparing delicious Spanish meals, sharing their experience of establishing Joya and their lives as artists. We all shared convivial meals, listened to each other’s talks about our art practices, fireside chats, and watched the World Cup together.

Every day, I had an early breakfast so I could enjoy walking in the Sierra in the clear mountain air as the mist started to lift and reveal the arid, stony terrain and panoramic mountain landscapes. My lack of art materials did not matter as I found that in the beautiful pine forests, rocky mountain tops, clay laden fields, almond plantations and deep barrancos that I was inspired to create land art with the materials to hand.

In this beautiful environment with its quiet stillness, I was able for the first time to experience ‘wild walking’ with no map, no compass and no footpaths walking where I wished and learning quickly to read the terrain and to observe the different shapes of mountains and other geographical features for future reference points; ironically the only time I became lost was when I was trying to follow a waymarked trail!  Walking every day I had the time and space to think about my own art practice and how it might develop in the future. The residency also gave me the time, with the support of my fellow artists, to think through my dissertation that seeks to discover whether the practice of contemporary artists has been influenced by their religious or spiritual beliefs.

It has been an unforgettable experience which has far exceeded my wildest expectations for my first residency.

Tim Southall

Tim Southall

A Bristol based mixed media artist, who enjoys working on collaborative, community and public art opportunities. His artworks reflect his life as a Quaker, career developing affordable homes and his wish to engage the viewer through his sculptures to observe the aesthetic and sustainable qualities of cardboard and other found materials.