"Like all printmakers my studio and my practice are full of stuff – presses and scroll-saws and routers, they assist the work but in their own way they become props; they are limiters as well as enablers. The need to get away from the studio is a need to get back to pencil/paper/scissors – to ideas that might suggest a process but not be dictated to by one. I arrived at JOYA (by bus; two and a half days from England) with rolls of black and white paper, a pair of scissors and the beginnings of a series of texts (about our relationship with wilderness) that I wished to match with simple images that I hope may end up being pages in a book.

The studio at JOYA gave me the opportunity to create new patterns for working days – to draw in the mornings, walk in the warm afternoons (the landscape is so ever-changing with that it would have been easy to do nothing else but walk and watch vultures), assemble pages in the early evenings and then meet with the other artists to talk and plan before the, always delicious, evening meal.

I’ve lived off-grid for two years in Wales – a short time but long enough to learn that attention is constantly demanded by the systems that sustain life and that one’s own artistic practice struggles to appear as vital. To live in such a demanding way whilst also providing such a welcoming, creative environment for others is testament to Simon and Donna’s sustained vision, tenacity and generosity".

Andrew Morrison

http://twowoodpress.co.uk/

JOYA: AiR residency.

"Four words that come strongly from my personal experience at Joya: AiR Residency: solitude, silence, serenity and sincere".

Arriving

"My first day of arrival at Vélez Rubio on Sunday December 3rd and soon meeting the lovely Donna Beckmann with her welcoming smile, has been a very special day for me. As we were driving towards the Joya: AiR while having a conversation, and looking through the window, the vast landscape had a nostalgic moment to my childhood memories of growing up in Panjshir Valley in Parwaan, Afghanistan. I felt a sudden warmth. And it felt very good to be at this remote, quite land".

Studio Time

"My time as an artist-in-residency at Joya: AiR program has been very productive, creative, adventurous and empowering. Being at my studio space with a big square window, not only inspired me to paint the everyday colour memory, but the warmth of sun from early morning to sun down inspired me to study the colour values of the nature, to experience the tranquil nature of the landscape and the fresh air surrounding the landscape. Especially delving my time into making art away from daily pressure and destruction—a space to focus solitude into my productivity.

At my studio space, I came with a proposed project to create work based on landscaping geography of Cortijada Los Gázquez in Almería, Andalucía. My current project “Gente de España” consisted of 15 small portrait paintings, oil on wood panel (11’’ x 14’’) that depicted portraits of local people in Los Gázquez and Vélez Blanco residents—overlapped against the stunning landscape of Almería. In this painting project, I used to go outside everyday with my journaling, sketching, and recording colour memory while also communicating with the Almerían people, knowing their taste of culture and language, then later brought my visual materials back to studio and used for later in my mixed media paintings.

Departure

For me what is more special about this residency was the interaction between other international artists. This has brought a challenging platform, a shared rich-cultural experiences, knowing about each other’s art practice and our day to day experience being at JOYA. Especially sharing our dinner time with Simon and Donna Beckmann has brought so much laugher, fun stories, and art/culture experiences. I will definitely miss those nights.

I would like to extend my warmest and most sincere thanks to Donna and Simon Beckmann’s generosity, hospitality, and critical view on my work. I will for sure miss each single day of my time at Joya: AiR, and I’m hoping to join the community once again to meet this extraordinary nature in summer time".

Hangama Amiri

http://www.hangamaamiri.com/

"Joya: AiR enables you the chance to reboot and rethink your connection to art practice which  gives you time to rethink not only your practice but the methods used to create work in a sustainable manner. My initial plan was to document my time in Joya through image and text. I imagined that I would methodically work through the task at hand and careful transcribe each experience. Therefore, suturing art and life together as one piece of work - some of this was completed  but the sheer beauty of the place was both distracting and a wonder to view. 

Simon and Donna have created a space that does not conform to usual residency spaces and every aspect of the interior and exterior is well planned. Additionally,  dinner added to the social engagement and the food was delicious."

Charlene Clempson

http://www.charleneclempson.com/

"Esta no es una experiencia, es "la experiencia" contigo mismo, con el entorno y con las personas que te acompañan.

Es un viaje al lugar donde es posible reflexionar, trabajar, crear, compartir, descubrir y descubrirte.

Paseos, naturaleza, espacio de trabajo, conversación, aprendizaje, un oasis en nuestro bullicioso mundo.

Realmente inspirador con personas encantadoras. Una verdadera joya".

Inma Gimeno

"I live in the middle of Amsterdam, which can be overwhelming sometimes. Especially the noise. There is always a car honking, a person yelling, a dog barking, a radio blaring.

First thing I noticed about Joya was the silence. I asked Donna if the vague sound in the distance were cars, but she said it was the wind in the pine trees. And then there was the wind turbine that sometimes would switch on for a couple of hours. Or an occasional bird.

I started taking long walks through the countryscape. Sometimes I wouldn’t even hear the wind. I would hold my breath to enjoy the nothingness.

On one of my first walks I was startled by a sound, it was like something was rushing towards me at a very high speed. I stopped dead in my tracks, unsure of what it was. Then I noticed it was the sound of wind blowing through a tree with yellow leaves. It almost sounded as if it were a percussion instrument. I’ve really started to like that sound. Every day I would look forward to hearing it, like a favourite song.

Today I walked past the tree for the very last time. I noticed the sound was gone. Too many of the yellow leaves had fallen now, as winter approaches. It made me a little sad, like I am feeling sad about leaving Joya:Air. But in the same time, I knew the leaves would return as I might some day".

Marion Pauw / writer in residence / November 2016

"I came to Joya for the chance to film out in the rural landscape, something I don’t have easy access to at home. I got what I came for, as well as so much more. To be able to take one step out the front door and be in the midst of breathtaking mountains valleys and skies is a wonderful feeling. Time at Joya feels very different, it completely slowed down for me, meaning I could feel like I had had a productive day in terms of making work, while also spending hours and hours walking in the mountains, reading, spending time with the other residents, and lapping up delicious food (and wine!).

While at Joya I was able to spend so much time alone which was one of the major positives for me, however the time spent with the other artists, volunteers, interns and especially Simon and Donna was a warm and unexpected experience. Everyone was lovely, encouraging and supportive. I really enjoyed the artist talks in the evening, it was very interesting to hear about everyone’s practice, and there was such a wide range. 

Donna and Simon are incredibly warm and welcoming. Their kindness and charm make you feel right at home. The house itself is beautiful, and it is incredible to see the day to day activities of an off-grid environmentally sustainable home".

Liadain Evans

still image from video work in progress at Joya: AiR by Liadain Evans.

"It's my second residency at Joya and hopefully not my last. 

Joya offers a unique and generous sense of home, whilst we’re being held in the stunning and vast Natural Park surrounding us. Donna and Simon's knowledge of the land and grounded hard work sets the tone for contemplative and productive explorations.

My time here has surprised me with unexpected realisations about my work and has revived me with new important questions that I feel enthusiastic to investigate. It’s been interesting to note that each time I’ve come here, my research has been gently taken to places I hadn’t even begin to think of. Having the chance to focus in such silence whilst enjoying the company of a diversity of other artists and writers is highly nourishing. 

Even when inspiration ran dry, I have never stopped being overwhelmed by the natural beauty of this region, and in times of frustrating artistic blocks, the lack of superfluous distractions has pushed me to face my practice in ways I couldn't have otherwise. The space for research and reflexion given at Joya is very precious, and it’s incredibly valuable to remember how much can happen to a practice when we’re not "producing" something. 

Thank you to everybody and the Sierra Maria".

www.beantais.com

"Here in Spain I’m aware of the gap between the idea and the reality of having all day to look and paint. In between action there is time to think, locate, be anxious about the right way to spend the time.

Sitting in the shade, looking out at the sunlight, sitting with the sun on your face. Walking in the dusty desert landscape, getting spiked by hardy aromatic plants adapted to the environment. 
Snoozing with patches of sunlight on the duvet. Reading to enlighten, focus, escape.

Thinking of Thomas Jones in Italy, painting the light, and of Agnes Martin working in the studio, back to the window. 

Is there a right way to go about this, how is time best spent, how to be porous, yet resilient and robust. 

I’ve been moving between a boulder in front of a wall and the Studio (not a rock and a hard place). Outside I’m exposed to the sun, at times it’s windy (stones in my pallets, to hold them down) the silence, isn’t, there’s bugs, and birdsong, the wind turbine, fighter jets. But mostly there is a stillness and it feels nourishing, slowing down the senses".

Gill Ord

http://www.gillord.co.uk/

"These days I spent in residence were a great opportunity and experience for me. 

The silence, the  landscape  and the energy of this place gave me a good sensation to produce a new series of work.

The numerous colours of the minerals I could see walking the mountains also inspired for me a new and intense production.

Those were unforgettable days.

Thanks Simon and Donna for all attention and kindness. It was great to be with you and all of you who were together these days".

Anna Paes

http://www.annapaes.com.br/

"What an amazing Adventure I’ve lived in Joya !

It is like an Oasis of creation and for me the entire area was a giant playground of landscapes, colours, scents, highs and inspirations.

The nature, day after day, takes more and more space in your vision, your thoughts, your dreams. 

It feels so good to be alone in a wild forest or desert, trying to create and taking time for it.

I always feel more powerful when i don’t suffer from the lack of time, when time will just adapt to my speed and way of work.  And, in Joya, it was actually the case. 

I only stayed a week and that’s my only regret because it was beginning to really feel like home.

In fact the house is so warm and wonderfully decorated with so much taste that you only can feel at ease there. Art is everywhere and it gives you energy, ideas and inspiration to keep working.

One other wonderful side of Joya is the hosts Donna and Simon who are a real delight to meet and speak with. Donna is making your dinner look like heaven on a plate and Simon gave me the best tips to find some gorgeous place for my work. 

It is also very interesting and inspiring how they could find way to live in the middle of this desert and develop great ideas and actions about ecology and preservation.

I try to use this time to find some new dances protocoles and develop a new aspect of video aesthetics for those Dancescapes in Andalusia. Those big landscapes questioned me a lot about the small, and the little you can do in such a big place.

At last, one other charming side of this residency are other residents who were really nice, great and interesting. We all came from differents places of the planet and with different practices and how rich and rejuvenating to discover others visions of Art.

Joya just opened a space in my mind where i know i can come back with joy, comfort and smile".

K Goldstein

www.keatbeck.fr

instagram: keatbeck.dancescape facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ciekeatbeck/

portrait by Solomon Beckmann

'There is a longing here. 

The topography has been molded into a vessel. It bends to the will of water, and forever awaits its return. 

Ruins sit forgotten along sun-bleached banks. Their doors are still open.

There is a lonely mountain in the distance. It is a haze tethered somewhere between solidity and ether, and I visit with it every morning to be sure this balance has not tipped. We have an unspoken agreement that there will be nothing without substance, and nothing too substantial for its own good.

There is a palpable stillness, an enveloping, ever-present silence that flows beneath the sand and clay. It is a kind of sonic negative space whose perimeter is loosely defined by winding stories, and punctuated with sudden fits of laughter.

Maybe it is all a mirage. Another spaghetti western fiction where names are not terribly important, and actions, if they can be proven, are the true measure of one’s worth. (We ate spaghetti in fact last night. It was quite good).

No, it is quite real, quite essential. A place where one who is willing can pare down the tangential outgrowth of a developing art practice, and return to the centre of making. The core of being. 

Here, the water has come back

The house is full'.

Hillel O’Leary is a New York sculptor whose work deals in place, time, and belonging.

He is a recent graduate of the Penn State sculpture MFA program, and he holds a bachelor’s degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. 

His recent work has been featured in the US and internationally, including exhibitions as part of the Digital Stone Project in Italy’s Tuscany region. 

https://www.behance.net/hilleloleary

"Rock solid, impenetrable, arid, harsh .......Dust a second skin over everything. This place – painted with a different palette entirely.....green grey hue, white chalk, lime zing, pink pop, orange zest, bible black Dylan Thomas sky dotted with diamond shine. Expanse humbling in its enormity. 

Landscape in all its loveliness - with no apology for its rawness.

In contrast the relaxing nature of Los Gázquez (home of Joya: AiR) enabled me to work at my own pace - exploring issues and concepts which considered the boundaries between urban and rural, interior and exterior space. Taking walks each day across the Sierra then returning to translate the visual 'imprints', I worked using both 3 dimensional and collaged elements which collided, contrasted and evolved over the days. The process resulted in various manifestations, excavations and considerations all of it revolved around the collective domestic buzz of the Beckmann household - warm, caring, sociable and intelligently informative.......the work began to emerge with references to the inside versus outside - a subjective versus objective view of my immediate environment.

There have been interesting developments, shifts in ideas, ways of thinking and an emerging dialogue, often the discourse spilling over into the evenings which were spent eating amazing food, gathering around the wood burner in the evenings flopped on large comfortable sofas, enjoying a glass of wine along with my fellow artists. I will treasure my time here.......truly enhanced by the rich, funny and informative experiences of fellow artists Karin, Hillel, Rachel, Mark, Bob and Marion, with much thanks to Simon, Donna, Soli, Sesi and Max the dog for welcoming me into their home and making my time here so pleasurable and constructive. A huge thank you". 

Jill Gibson

http://www.jillgibson.co.uk/

"I arrived at Velez Rubio at night, was collected by Simon and driven through the darkness and indiscernible landscape to Joya: AiR. I was longing for sleep after a fourteen hour journey and was greeted with wonderful food, wine and warmth. I have a vague memory of tumbling into bed.

The morning light was truly astonishing, waking to a view from the bedroom window across the tops of olive trees with a rising mountain set against a clear blue sky in the still , silent air.

I hold firmly to the maxim that everything is defined by it’s context and, given that my allocated studio looked out into a bone-dry mountainous landscape I was wondering to what extent this alien terrain might impact on the work I may produce.

My work is often described as ‘urban’, not least because I have explored ‘bill-board evidence ‘ to generate collages that partake of the social history of a place. A kind of ‘social archeology ‘ where I unpeel the layers of patterns, events and activities and re-frame what I find. It is something I did in other residencies In Thessaloniki, in Venice and in Crete so naturally I collected peeling, torn posters in Granada to enable me to make a start. It is an interesting way to engage with a place and affords focus and time to adjust to the surrounding environment.

Staying at Joya: allowed me to set my own routine, to dip in and out of work when I wanted to and also to remain focused and locked in to whatever I was doing for as long as I wished. I felt completely relaxed throughout my stay and found that even though I worked at a leisurely pace I was able to produce an interesting and varied range of work, whilst appraising and re-appraising the processes I was using.

Each day was rounded with excellent food, wine and conversation and I enjoyed this immensely. Meeting other artists, listening to presentations and also rising to the challenge of presenting and discussing my own practice was stimulating and challenging.

In simple terms, Joya is a tremendous project and I would love to return in the near future".

Bob Lawson

http://www.boblawsonartist.co.uk/

"On my arrival, travelling back from Vélez Rubio a huge wild boar ran in front of Simon’s Land Rover head lights and disappeared into the darkness -very exciting, this was my first Wild Boar encounter. 

The fact that this is the 5th time that I have returned, is testimony to what Joya: AiR  means to me. There is a peace and calm that the surrounding alpine desert brings after the hustle and bustle of London. 

I accept that it takes a day or 2 to acclimatise to the serene surroundings, which is part of the process and concentrates the mind.

Simon, Donna and their family were as ever, the convivial hosts. I look forward to the evening meals and the food is always fantastic. It’s good to break bread and catch up with the other artists too, who invariably are diverse and interesting characters.

As I wrestle with my painting, Simon’s suggestions and guidance has proved invaluable to me and I leave inspired and energised. 

Moving forward in my development, there are questions to resolve regarding narrative, lines of enquiry and how that manifests itself in my mark making:- These are points that I relish and look forward to addressing thanks to my residency at Joya: AiR".

Stephen Sheffield / October 2017

Arrival:

"After stepping off the bus at Velez-Rubio, I was yanking my too-heavy backpack out of the luggage hold when I heard a stranger say, in a polite English voice, “Are you Rick?” I smiled and turned around to find a young man with wide-eyed look. He introduced himself as Stephen and said he was just leaving Joya and was getting on the very bus out of which I’d just stepped. He had what can be best described as “that Joya look”—relaxed, open, expanded even. Steve told me that our host Simon was across the street for me at a café, where he was waiting for me with another artist. But first Stephen and I found ourselves a conversation—about how I was happily returning to Joya and about what he’d been working on during his stay, how he’d departed from his usual art practice and had begun working with the amazing landscape at the residency-- all while the bus was taking on passengers and just about to close the doors. Stephen’s last words to me before he jumped on the bus: “I envy you”.

Stay:

The rugged beauty of the circular valley that holds Joya in its palm. Simon’s and Donna’s warmth, insight and generosity of spirit. The white earth that is rich with rumours and dreams. Wonderful, hearty dinners with our hosts and fellow artists. The Syrian pines glowing green under sun and cloud. The beautiful minimalist design of the repurposed cortijada at Los Gázquez. The smell of fresh rosemary in the valley. Enlightening and inspiring artist talks, in which surprise is usually a key ingredient. The rustic second studio space outside the living quarters, a perfect place in which to map out ideas for a novel, write a bunch more scenes and ideas and even write some trumpet and string parts for another project. The shimmer of goat bells drifting across the valley. A gigantic yellow moon slowly climbing over the hill at midnight, filling Los Gázquez with light. Getting spoiled with delicious breakfasts by a French-Tunisian-American cookbook author. A sky exploding with stars on clear nights. The walks down the barrancos and up the mountain and the (thankfully) vain searches for wild boar. The psychic and physical space I was gifted so I could follow the vision, wherever it roamed.

Departure:

Getting up at dawn (one of my great achievements at Joya), I stepped outside with my still-too-heavy backpack and saw the valley below filling to the brim with pillows of cloud. It was silent but for the slow, hushed preparations for the day echoing from the house. As Donna drove us out of Joya’s valley to Velez Rubio, from where we’d go on to our respective destinations, I looked back to see the great cloud spill over the side of the lower valley and drift through the trees surrounding the cortijada. The sun was coming up over the mountain to the east and the world was, in some indefinable way, expanding". 

Rick Maddox

You can see Rick Maddocks performing here in Country of Madmen by Sun Belt, from the album/book Cabalcor: An Extracted History (OffSeason Records/Anvil Press). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq-ofDacMRM

SUN BELT is a musical experiment reaching into other arts.

http://www.sunbeltband.com/

Cabalcor publication by Sunbelt

http://www.anvilpress.com/Books/cabalcor-an-extracted-history

"We dream of time to concentrate on our work: reading, thinking, experimenting and playing with ideas without pressure or the weight of daily existence and chores as a distraction. Time at Joya: AiR affords the realisation of that dream... a light-filled studio. A beautiful, calm house with inspiring things all around, textured surfaces, art, books, wonderful energy and the air filled with the delicious smells of Donna Beckmann's cooking. At night it is silent (apart from the singing crickets) and the stars in the black sky are brilliant. As I walked for hours every day I observed the impact of agriculture on the arid landscape and the patterns created by humans and animals. I noted the specialised flora: pine and juniper trees, wild rosemary, thyme, santolina, and euphorbia. My work was inspired by the stunning landscape around me and go home to my studio with a new body of work and ideas to develop. Thank you Simon and Donna"!

Leah Teschendorff

"Much of my work explores my emotional relationship with my memory -the way in which memory can affect us and the story we created by projecting the belief or desire. My work focuses on performances and mixes it with videos and photography. I enjoy using bricolage and involves overlapping video or visual images to rebuild them in order to convey my idea which stems from my memory and make something meaningful.

I intend to look for an open and wide place where I can continue my meditation Performance: sleeping piece which first performed in the UK in an indoor environment. During the stay in JOYA: AiR, I explored the forest here and sleep with a pillow on the land with the pine tree, every day two hours for about one week. I try to use my body interact with nature by the way of photography and performance. The landscape here quite similar with the work of Anselm Kiefer which also inspire me and I also took lots of photos and sketchbooks. 

Besides, Simon and his family are really hospitable，the food there is quite delicious.I will never forget Joya which give me the lovely memory and opportunity to do the art I really want to do, their professional technical support for my work as well".

Yiwen Wang

"Waking up in the morning to light streaming through the window, the sound of buzzing bee’s, and the smell of the raw nature all around you is awe inspiring. My time here was intense, productive but also restful. The only distractions are the ones that you create. I was able to accomplish a great deal during my time at Joya AiR. 

Los Gázquez is dreamy space filled with light, unique collections of ephemera, art, textiles and ceramics and most of all collection wonderful artists. Our hosts Donna and Simon are helpful, generous and inspiring. I also loved their collection of fuzzy friends Fufu the goat, Max the dog and the 7 cats that I forced into being my friends. They have created a magical space for artists to come and focus on their work. 

My time here was spent cooking and writing for a cookbook project that I have been working on for a couple of years now. I found myself many eager taste testers and kitchen that inspired many new recipes. I managed to complete and almost print a rough draft of the book. I am deeply grateful for the time that I spent here and leave with a feeling of accomplishment. I hope to return again soon".

www.petittakett.com

“It starts with gratitude.

One of the curses of living in such a fast-paced society is that we tend to take things for granted. We overlook everyday blessings, oblivious to the gifts around us. And we tend to rush through each day, less and less grateful, or mindful; which is no way to live.

I love my life in Sydney, Australia. It’s a full and interesting life but it has sometimes been overwhelming, dealing with all the issues of running my art business, my domestic home management, and my family; as well as having time to focus on my creativity. Coming here for a two week art residency has been amazing.

I cannot underestimate the quiet beauty of time to think, unencumbered by the minutiae of my normal daily life. The spare parched landscape has been a true inspiration to me – walking along the white roads of Los Gázquez and watching the landscape change with the light. Back in Australia I am a coastal painter, so responding to the driest place in Spain has been a wonderful contrast.

Every morning I look out of the window at the valley below and feel truly grateful that I have had this opportunity to explore new places in my sketchbooks, paint en plein air and develop works on canvas in the beautiful studio here. That view through the studio window will remain with me always…

The evening presentations from the other creative residents and the conversations on wide ranging subject matter have been stimulating and encouraging. At the end of each day, the dinners and chat around the large table with Simon, Donna, and the whole entourage have been marvellous and I have looked forward to them daily.

So it ends with a huge sense of gratitude.
I leave here with wonderful memories and a lot of new work in my suitcase”.

Debbie Mackinnon

debbiemackinnon.com

“I came to Joya: AiR, to write and paint and specifically to see if I could bring a fluidity to both disciplines.

In the case of my landscape paintings, to leave behind the physicality of my surroundings and instill a sense of deconstruction in my work. To develop a series of paintings, made with bold gestural strokes , influenced with colour drawn largely from a sense of emotion than pictorial reality.

The landscape of Andalusia and the Sierra María, is both seductive and challenging and forced me to look and look again. The studio at the art residency was like a magnet that drew me back, once I had completed plein air sketches and working roughs. A perfect environment to work large or small, rethink and re-assess and to rub shoulders with other like-minded creatives. I produced an enormous body of work in my time here and opened up my thinking. But more importantly, I felt a huge sense of achievement.

Early mornings were spent sat outside, waiting for the dawn. A perfect time to think about the fourth draft of my fictional narrative. Once again, the surroundings enabled me to think with an uncluttered mind. To meditate on my main character and focus on her journey through my story. To write with a fresh conviction.

Simon and Donna Beckmann provide an incredible escape. Leave artists free to explore and discover but are there for support when needed. Dinner together with them every evening was the final punctuation of the day. A colourful, lively discourse and always with delicious food. I will be coming back.”

MIKE STANIFORD

Artist and Writer with storytelling at the heart of both.