Joya: AiR / Toon Jans / Belgium

“Slowing down at Joya: AiR came as a welcome change after a busy and eventful year. A place like this kind of forces you to slow down. Gently you settle into the rythm and start to live by the rising and the setting of the sun. 

What convinced me to apply to the residency was the availability of a dark room and the ecological view of the place. Two things that generally don’t really add up since dark rooms tend to use a lot of chemicals. In my work ecology and conservation are recurring themes. In the past I had felt conflicted about my love for dark room photography because of its use of different chemicals. I had taken part in different workshops about ecological dark room techniques before, but never found the time to efficiently implement them into my own practice. Bringing all of my previous gathered materials on the subject I had plenty of time to experiment with film and paper development using ecological alternatives. Returning to my own studio I feel confident enough about my newly acquired skills to rid my studio of polluting chemicals. 

The second part of my stay I devoted to a book project that got shelved about a year ago. It feels like ages ago me and Michelle Daniëlse, graphic design, started working on this. Before heading to Joya: AiR the only time the book would ever come up again was when Michelle would text me: “Toon, are you working on the book again?” My answers hadn’t been positive in a long time…

Most of the book will be underwater photography and takes place on the bottom of the sea, which is funny since Joya: AiR is basically a desert. But when you walk around there long enough and squint your eyes once in a while it can start to look like the bottom of the ocean!

Happy holidays,

Toon Jans

www.toonjans.com

In 2001, Toon Aerts (°1977) graduated with honours from the Sint Lukas film school in Brussels on presentation of the shortfilm "Dialing the Devil". His shortfilm, a gritty 70’s style roadmovie, won numerous national and international awards like the Leuven Kort Festival (BE), Het Grote Ongeduld (BE), Courtisane (BE), 3rd Pixie Awards (USA) and the Golden Sheaf Awards (CAN).

Toon then signed up with production company CZAR to direct commercials. He had a blitz start and quickly directed for the most creative agencies in Belgium, including Duval Guillaume Brussels, Mortierbrigade, Famous, TBWA, Saatchi & Saatchi, etc..

His work didn’t go unnoticed in the Netherlands either, where he directed a campaign for the Amsterdam agency KesselsKramer for the Dutch mobile phone operator Ben. In 2002 Toon received The Young Directors Award for this commercial at the annual ADCN. He has since shot commercials for EA Games, Duyvis, Lipton Ice Tea, KPN, Ikea, Telfort, The International Film Festival of Rotterdam, Planet Internet and many others. The Asics commercial he shot won a bronze and a silver award on the Cannes edition of 2005.

But Toon always continued doing other projects as well. And music has always been his first love. Not only did Toon direct numerous music videos for Belgian bands like The Sore Losers, Millionaire, Mon-O-Phone, El Guapo Stuntteam and Fence. He also photographed a lot of these bands. For instance, he shot the cover of the Sore Losers album and did the promotional photography for Hickey Underworld, Fence, Mad About Mountains, Mon-O-Phone, Vandal X and the Vermin Twins.

The music video "Back From The Grave" won the prize for best music video at the 2009 edition of the Belgian Shortfilmfestival "Leuven Kort", was shown at the bi-monthly BUG Music Video Festival in London and was selected for the Mirrorball section of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. More recently, Toon directed his first international music video for the infamous Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, resulting in a classic mini-horror movie that’s not meant for the weak of heart…

Since 2012, Toon got a taste of being onstage himself, as he joined The Sha-La-Lee’s as a bassplayer. This band, containing members of The Sore Losers, El Guapo Stuntteam, Evil Superstars, Millionaire and Noordkaap, plays a contagious mix of 60’s garage and classic rock. The Sha-La-Lee’s already supported international top-acts like The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Datsuns and The Rival Sons and have been coined a “cult supergroup” by the Belgian press. They are planning to release their first album in March 2014.

Toon’s long awaited shortfilm Perfect Drug had it’s premiere at the 2012 Leuven Kort Short Film Festival. Perfect Drug, best described as a mind boggling experience, created quite a buzz in the national press and has won the Grand Prize at the BIFF and the Meliès d’Argent at the Imagine Film Festival. The film now continues it’s succes abroad where it recently won the prize for “Weirdest Film” at the Knoxville Horror Filmfestival. So keep your eyes peeled for a screening near you..

Toon's work, being it his films or his photos, are characterised by a strong visual style. His work clearly refers to elements of popular culture like horror movies, sci-fi, 70's exploitation or television series. Toon likes images that are loud, colorful, larger than life and over-the-top. Toon tries to intigue the viewer, to capture his attention and more importantly show the viewer the way he likes to look at reality ...

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / guest residency co-ordinator / Nicole Gilbert / GBR

"I was at Joya arte + ecología / AiR for three months, and in that time, I lived slowly in a community of people from around the globe to make art, share beautiful food, explore, play, exchange ideas and conversation. Joya: AIR is a residency for interdisciplinary artists and sustains the stewardship and regeneration of the local ecosystem. It treads lightly on the land and gives back through water re-capture and rewilding.

I've found the Joya: AiR philosophy simple. Follow your interests and passions. Create, support and share with others. Leave the world a better place because you lived here."

Nicole Gilbert

Nicole Gilbert received her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. While at Sheffield, she developed an interest in the aesthetics of the everyday, environmental ethics and phenomenology. Developing these threads, Nicole gained a Master of Arts in Urban Design and Planning, before spending four years as an environmental consultant in UK communities, investigating the possibility of local futures where traditional systems, are woven with art and ecology to create sustainable communities removed from the dominant paradigm.

Nicole has departed from consultancy and is currently developing her own creative practice using mixed materials embedded in place. She would like to continue working and creating in reflective spaces that bring people together with the land, to find new ways of living.

photo Sophie Gibbings

Joya: AiR / Gabrielle Kroese / NED

“I have experienced my stay at Joya: AiR as an enormous wealth of time and focus. I worked on a concept  that has been in my head for some time, but that I never really had the time to actually implement. For some time now I have wanted to investigate whether it is possible to make my own color dictionary based on a specific place.

During this residency I captured 66 different colors in 33 color capsules based on the immediate vicinity of Joya. Together they reflect the colours of the magical landscape to form Joya's own colour dictionary.

And aren’t they beautiful!

It inspires me to explore and investigate it further. It's just a start…

Thank you Simon and Donna; you made the most beautiful bubble of focus and inspiration at Joya: AiR. Sophie and Lauren for managing everything so smoothly. Kevin for making sound to my colours. And all the others that I met for your company, talks and inspiration: Jenny, Simone, Romy, Alma, Lisa, Alessa, Kaitlin, Hannah and Maria”.

Gabrielle Kroese

Gabrielle Kroese is an artist, colour hunter and photographer with a  vegetable garden. Her artistic practice involves painting, photography, (self)publishing, slow-watching and colour research.

https://www.gabriellekroese.nl/

IG gabriellekroese

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Emily Zadoretzky / USA

“The warmth of Joya lingers, long after my feet have touched home soil.

I am filled with gratitude, for the opportunity to be in this place and with this place, for the water, especially in times of drought, for the land and the found community. I am so grateful to Donna and Simon, for their hospitality and how they hold space for artistic exploration and presentation of ideas and work. I found the whole atmosphere and experience of my time at Joya to be wonderfully welcoming and generous.

My work and practice is very much materials-based and rooted in process, with a focus on sustainability and circularity. For my time at Joya, I brought very little with me in terms of supplies; I immersed myself in a sense of the place and explored the grounds, hills, soils, flora, fauna, wind, air, scents and sense of stillness. It was as if time slowed down. I was able to sit and just be; I let the place wash over me and guide me.

Through walks, hikes, and meandering strolls, I gathered soils, bits of charcoal leftover from fires, olive fruit, sticks, stems, fallen plant debris, and sap oozing from pine trees. I observed, I ground things up, I played. I experimented with making tempera paints mixing earth pigments with egg yolk as a binder, painting Joya-inspired motifs. I gathered up bits of plants to create a weaving, utilizing water saved from my shower to soak the plant materials before pouring it over parched bamboo.

Notions of kinship, explored in my practice, were abundant at Joya. Echos were found in the gift of each absolutely delicious meal, graciously prepared by Donna every evening. Such a luxury. Echos were found in the cooperative atmosphere of after-dinner clean-up, the sharing of wine and observations, of walks and hikes and evening star-gazings or gatherings around the fire. Nothing was wasted. Resources were shared. Mindfulness was ample.

As my residency neared its end I felt a bittersweet and simultaneous longing for home and family coupled with a feeling that I was about to leave a new home. Joya’s warmth had flowed into my heart. I am so grateful”.

Emily Zadoretzky

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Eline Boon / BEL

I firmly believe in the intersection of Art & Science as a catalyst for change, enabling us to confront the complex challenges of our time. Through my writing, I aim to dismantle barriers, ignite fresh perspectives, and address pressing issues that demand our attention. Too often, discussions about change unfold in secluded ivory towers, silencing many voices. My objective is to disrupt this exclusivity by serving as a translator, making complex issues and scientific concepts accessible to all through clear language.

During my residency at Joya: AiR, I was fully immersed in writing. The tranquil environment, supportive community and inspiring hosts, Simon & Donna, provided the perfect backdrop for me to focus on my work. Nestled in the mountains, surrounded by nature and inspiring individuals, I experienced a profound sense of alignment and was brimming with creative inspiration.

Eline Boon

Climate Fiction Writer & Policy expert looking into the role of public policy and legislation to accelerate systemic change, based in Brussels.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Pauliina Haasjoki / FIN

For fourteen days, from my arrival to my departure in Simon's jeep, I did not leave the valley. I saw Velez Blanco and the slopes, fields, shapes winding, rising and falling on the way over, then I saw them again in reverse. In between I saw only what was gathered into the valley bowl. This consistency only hit me afterwards: this staying put. Day trips are fun, sure, to take a break, to stretch the connection, snap it, return to it, but that was not what I did. I scraped the surface, a little bit, then more, felt smoothnes and sharpness, detail, vast patterns (like clouds, like celestial bodies). I could have kept on doing that. Crouching on dry powdery clay, holding an almond against a flat rock and knocking it with another, picking up the almond pieces from the clay rubble with my dusty fingers. Observing a dog's movement, becoming aware of the dog's observing gaze, her intention: to communicate, to be let in. Stealthily leaving my shutters open so I could be awaken by dawn. My book Valenssi, whom I tend to personify in these last stages, lingered in sunny or sheltered spots much like I did, moved a little and ate heartily. It was a good match. I'm happy I stayed put.

Pauliina Haasjoki

Pauliina Maarit Haasjoki was born in Ulvila, Western Finland. Now resides and works in Helsinki as a full time writer.
PhD in Finnish literature, University of Turku, 2012
Member of independent publishing co-op Poesia
Member of the Union of Finnish Writers

Author of ten books of poetry, the latest Nausikaa (2022), Promessa (2019) and Planeetta (2016) all published by Otava (https://otava.fi/kirjat/nausikaa/) Author of essay book Himmeä sininen piste (2019), published by Poesia (https://poesia.fi/teokset/himmea-sininen-piste/)

Upcoming: Filigraania, a chapbook, Poesiavihkot (November 2023)

Other recent work and collaborations include
Lomittaislaulu ("Interlock Song"), a text and movement performance with Pääsky Miettinen, Turku Poetry Week (Nov 2023)
Agreements (2022), a text commisioned by artist duo IC 98 for their site spesific work Luonnotuhopuisto ("Park of Natural Destruction", an abandoned iron mine)

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Tracy Mabois / UK

'' Although I spent only two weeks at Joya AiR, my time there was truly transformative.  It felt like I was there for a year, and in that space of evolution, not just as an artist but as a person, I saw a new path open up before me, one that tied all of my questions and ideas together and brought forth new perspectives, and in some cases, answers. 

I came from London, UK, into this new environment concerned about time and productivity, leaving the space inspired to take each day as it came.  Joya AiR was the place that helped me nurture the seeds of developing insight into blooming visual projects. 

Tracy L Mabois 

@31stworld 

Tracy L.M. specializes in conceptual portraiture of various natures in photography.  With her personal projects evolving around the exploration and documentation of her journey into self-discovery through a spiritual lens, she is known for her innovative approach to capturing the raw emotions of her subjects, including their hidden characteristics. Her expertise is also in colour grading and postproduction, adding a unique touch to every image she produces.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Maja Štefančíková / Slovakia

Arriving at Joya: AiR was significant for me, as I came with the purpose of exploring the correlation between human will and action with atmospheric phenomena. I planned to have the opportunity to observe the spectacle of clouds every day and to devote myself to artistic research. But not every plan or intention can be realized and fulfilled. Only the first two days I encountered the sky covered with isolated, dense clouds with sharply defined edges, which is characteristic of cumulus. But then an unusual phenomenon occurred in January, when temperatures rose by more than 10 degrees, the wind stopped, and the sky turned into a monotonous blue expanse. Suddenly there was nothing to observe in the sky.

Cloud formation is subject to many factors. My study primarily deals with the movement of air, which is one of the key elements in the formation of clouds and drives atmospheric dynamics. However, if the sky is clear and cloudless, then what do I study? This question led me to think about the mutual interactions between myself and the environment in which I find myself. In this artistic research, movement is a key element that defines wind and forms cloud shapes. In a clear sky where there are no clouds, the question becomes: how do you move and exist without creating movement?

Maja Štefančíková

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Nathaniel Marchand / CAN

“I spent most of my days at Joya: AiR with my camera in hand, exploring the terraced fields of the surrounding almond farms and the rugged foothills of Parque Natural Sierra María - Los Vélez. At once tranquil and full of splendor, the natural backdrop provided space for reflection and inspiration. I pondered the natural colours available in the region, from the earth pigments, to the possible hues that one could yield from the orange lichen on the almond trees, or the acorn caps of the kermes oaks. Rosemary, thyme, and almond hulls were gathered and steeped into eco-developers for my rolls of film - a recipe I only successfully concocted weeks after my time in residence.

In contrast to the solitude of my days, my evenings were filled with delicious food prepared by our hosts, as well as convivial and critical conversations with my fellow artists-in-residence. As much as I benefited from the time for contemplation and experimentation, I also appreciated the opportunity to engage in discourse regarding creative processes, ecology, and journeys of self-discovery”.

Nathaniel Marchand

Nathaniel Marchand (Métis/Franco-Canadian) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose artistic practice involves exploring relationships to the land and the use of natural materials. Through collage, sculpture, photography, video, audio, performance and installation, he investigates environmental policy, ethnobotanical histories and natural phenomena. An advocate for community and creativity, he frequently facilitates intergenerational and cross-cultural collaborative programs and workshops ranging from eco-arts to new media.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AIR / Polly Hummel / GER

Already the journey to Joya: AiR it’s a wonderful experience: mountains everywhere, almond and olive trees, small cafés. Silence dwells in the valleys, the almond trees have just awoken and the bright, dry earth glows like snow in the moonlight, It’s January, the nights are cold, the day begins in fog and the sun joins us at our coffee break in the late morning. During the day, everyone does their own thing and in the evening we tell each other stories by the fire, stories from Uruguay, Canada, Chile, Italy, England, Belgium and Slovakia. Nobody knows each other and yet we immediately feel at home. It's this wonderful place and the art that sustains us. 

I am a photographer, I have been inspired by this place for new projects and I have continued working on my ongoing project with the topic "Conspiracy". Somehow this also fitted into the barren, desert-like and remote landscape.  

As Donna cooked delicious meals for us every evening, food was always available, it was possible to immerse myself completely in my art. I locked myself in the photo lab, went hiking, did yoga, set up the tripod with my old camera, did photo shoots with the others, sat with Stijn under his almond tree and philosophized about life. It was fantastic! 

And again and again the silence in this place, you can't hear a word. NOTHING. Really! Just the occasional notes that Brigid's violin played on the white fields.

Polly Hummel

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Stijn Brinkman / NED

Coming to Joya: AiR, I didn’t know how to label myself as ‘artist’, whatever that might be. I didn’t bring my violin, nor did I bring my laptop. I came with just one pair of pants (that got torn on the bus to Vélez-Rubio), my binoculars, a cheap sound recorder, a notebook, and enough writing material.

Already on the second day, I felt how deep my relationship with this place and with the group became. Within such a small time, I felt such a strong connection to some of the fellow residents, and to the landscape full of non-human life around us. Getting to know the place as an individual embedded in a warm, caring group (and embedded in a timeline where hundreds of artists were inspired by the same place), became an intimate journey. I befriended an almond tree, melted my body into the softness of the cliffs, wrote a letter to a stone, and walked, walked, walked.

After all, I still couldn’t label myself as artist: these labels would fall short to the open-ended, touching, enriching experience that I had at Joya:AiR. What was most important to me, was the process of becoming close with my fellow residents and the place around us. By sharing this landscape together, I learnt about our bodies and skins, about crossroads of time, about movement. Big thanks to Simon and Donna for providing this opportunity to so many people, I hope I can come back one day!

Stijn Brinkman

After graduating his Bachelor of Russian Studies, his Bachelor in History and his Bachelor of Music (Classical Violin), Stijn Brinkman finished his Master studies in New Audiences Innovative Practice in Reykjavík, Iceland. He developed several projects to question our relationship with our surroundings by extending his performance art with interdisciplinary, site-specific approaches. He has played in hospitals, refugee centers, prisons, and other social institutions with different ensembles in The Netherlands.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Letitia Despina / ROM

For the first two days at JOYA I kept thinking que ho hecho yo para merecer eso? I woke up in the middle of the night and went to look out the window, the small, low-placed window, and got scared by how bright the stars were, I had not seen them this way in a million years. Star-tled, for real.

I woke up every morning to beautiful nothing, birds, but quiet, hilltops and mountaintops and olivetreetops. I wondered if I stayed there for a year would I be at risk of forgetting everything around? Would I ever come to miss anything or anyone? I wondered how long it would take me to learn the animals and the plants and the seasons, how long till i grasped how many hours walking some distant, but visible valley was?

It wasn't just the surroundings, it was also the people and those brief but powerful connections. I realised all over again why it is so important and beautiful (this word rarely makes sense, but it does here) to find oneself in one’s own creativity, without aesthetic constraints, without artificial boundaries.

I’m still breathing sometimes in that rhythm: freedom as a constant move, not a plateau, not a fixed stage, not a place you get to and get comfy, but going and going, getting scared, getting uncomfortable, the rhythm in flow, out of breath, but full of life.

When I left I was in that soft spot where there was only a thin layer between the world and my tears, not sad, just full of feeling. I had a good cry, because it was such a pivotal experience and what didn’t come out through typing it all down in words, or through the soles of my feet walking on rocks and sandy soil, or through the tips of my fingers touching and holding rocks and trees and treasures, needed to get out through the salt water exit.

I’m saying thanks forever, but this tear is baroque.

Letitia Despina

Letitia also has a book shop in Copenhagen

@SUPeR.cph

http://supertimebooks.com

@supertimebooks

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

Susan started her career as an architect. Since her student days she has also illustrated nomadic dwellings for Dr Peter Andrews’ academic books on this subject. One example of Susan’s drawings is in the V&A Museum. Susan continued to work as an architect while alongside other design and art related work. She was involved with the Royal Opera House record drawings of the stage, studied glass design at Central St. Martins College of Art and designed exhibition stands at Olympia.

Throughout her career Susan has painted and exhibited work on the North Yorkshire Open Studios and Lunesdale Studio Trail as well as local galleries. Since 2015 Susan has worked as a full-time artist and is now studying for an MA Painting at Manchester Metropolitan University.  

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