“Before arriving in Spain, I was gearing up for this residency with ambitious goals. I intended to earnestly begin work on my next larger musical composition, be it for one of my bands or another ensemble. I was going to bask in the benefit of unstructured time and pound out an opus. The week before arriving, my project Only A Visitor released our second full length album. Between the release that gave me, and my recent readings of composer John Luther Adams, who writes a lot about compositional process, I realized that my initial goals were needing readjustment. I instead decided that I would “do” and “make” very little, taking off the pressure. I wanted to really open up, become a vessel. I’m so glad that I made that change to my plans, and this residency has been the absolute perfect place to do that.

The first morning that I was at Joya: AiR, I was very jet lagged and up at 5am, which happened to coincide with the “blood moon” full lunar eclipse – I could see it from bed! That set the stage for a deeply resonant week. Even though some participants stays overlapped with mine for only a day or so, I felt like I learned a lot from the other participants. Putting together a short presentation helped me solidify my current lens into my artistic practice. Long walks, exploring, listening to the landscape; a few ideas came to me during this time that seem like such obvious directions for me, but I really feel that I would not have been able to access them if I was at home. 

The food, the design, the space, the quiet, the stars, the dedication to sustainable living both environmentally and psychologically: this place is a true gem.

I am so grateful for Simon and Donna and what they have cultivated here at Joya: AiR. Even a short stay of one week has given me a lot, and I am thankful to be able to carry that back with me to my every day in Vancouver”.

Robyn Jacob