Joya: AiR / Louise Hardy + Martha Barr / UK

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Martha Barr + Louise Hardy / UK

MOTHER & DAUGHTER

LOUISE HARDY

“My second visit to Joya: AiR represented a very special return. I‘d experienced once before the magical spell it casts on everyone who’s lucky enough to have discovered this wonderful residency. This time, I was accompanied by my daughter, Martha, a sculptor, to spend two precious weeks sharing our commitment and passion for making together. Away from the distractions of office work and daily life, at Joya: AiR I’m always able to throw myself headlong into uninterrupted studio days, tired but content at night, waking each morning thinking only about the work I’ll make that day. This total submersion in my practice allows me to push the work forward with energy, rigour and focus, affording me time to experiment much more freely.

At my residency here in 2024, I’d begun to explore ways in which I could use a variety of materials to best suit my own multi-layered approach to image-building. Through lengthy and chaotic processes of accumulated mark-making and then considered, controlled excavation across the surface of each drawing and painting, I began to feel my way toward finding in each piece something of the essence of the topography of the land around me. At this visit, I saw those same concerns and approaches consolidated and readdressed but this time with a much clearer and concise sensibility, resulting in a body of work that has a greater complexity and clarity of vision.

Donna and Simon remain consummate and relaxed hosts making everyone feel welcome and nourished, not just by the delicious food that Donna sustains us with but by the nurturing environment overflowing with fascinating and inspirational creatives, a simple and sustainable approach to living and a home filled with beauty and light.”

Louise is a London-based painter, having completed her MA Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School in 2023, followed by two residencies in 2024 and group exhibitions in 2025. Her long-awaited solo show opens in London in June 2026 with a further residency in France planned for next year and a return to Joya: AiR after that. She has work in many private collections both in the UK and overseas, with major purchases by the FSA in Canary Wharf.

MARTHA BARR

“During my time at Joya: AiR, a two week-long residency in Southern Spain, I researched the earth through touch, excavation and construction, experimenting with processing and hand building marl, the local clay of the area. My plan was to take an intuitive approach to making in the wild, exploring the land but mainly spending time analytically learning about the ecology, geomorphology and clay characteristics of the area. This plan to clinically uncover and research the earth very quickly shifted.

Wandering through meadows, forests, hills, valleys, I was overcome by the abundance of clay under my feet. My studio quickly became my storage space and the land my playground. Guided by green beetles, worms, rocks and the ground itself, I squeezed and squidged the earth in my bare hands feeling the stones graze my skin. I replanted seeds and rehoused worms I found, listening to the silence and the occasional flutter of birds and butterflies. I sat on a rock caked in dirt facing the sun, then danced and dug and sung and stomped the earth like a child.

While acknowledging the strong traditional foundation of ceramic craft, clay recycling and the history of Vélez Blanco, I gradually focused on simplicity, using minimal tools and steps in the processing of wild clay, to connect to the earth in a primordial way. I created a series of vessels that stood content and quiet amongst the constant crackling of this dry land. The sculptures I built there no longer felt like visceral post-human beings in an enclosed space but gentle, spiritual guardians of the land. Whether slumped over a rock, nestled under a tree or standing tall in a purple field, these sculptures seemed comfortably at home, as though they had always been there, looking out onto a harsh and arid place. Simply pondering. Simply noticing.

Folds, rolls, slumps and holes appeared across their smooth surfaces dictated by the weight and plasticity of the clay, shaped and guided by armatures, stones, insects and the changing weather. These vessels will eventually crack, crumble and be dissolved by nature, falling back into the hole excavated beside them. This cycle reflects the inevitability of life. Perhaps these structures will survive as permanent ruins themselves, inhabited by plants and overcome by the insects that kept me company, offering them a simple token of my gratitude.”

Martha is a Manchester-based artist, having completed her Fine Art BA at Manchester School of Art in 2024. She is a maker, facilitator and artist specialising in sculpture, working across a diverse range of creative environments - from theatres and schools to workshops and studios - assisting and being mentored by a string of renowned sculptors from Nicola Ellis to Antony Gormley. Prior to attending her first professional residency at Joya-AiR in 2026, she has exhibited work in a series of group exhibitions, performed in live events, designed an installation at an international festival and directed multiple social- engaged projects. She was awarded the Graduate Castlefield Fellowship Award in 2024.

MOTHER & DAUGHTER

Louise: “The bond between mother and daughter is always a special one, but even more so when that extends to the creative bond between mother and daughter artists. From encouraging finger-painting to chalking pavements, the cutting and sticking of school projects, then an art college awakening and the pursuit of an art practice in the wider world, there is no greater joy or pride for a mother than watching her daughter wanting to follow a similar creative path.

Having talked about and admired each other’s practice over the last seven years and more recently over the phone from our studios in London and Manchester, the opportunity to work alongside each other at Joya: AiR was a tantalising one. It allowed for endless conversations throughout the day around our common interests of collapse, renewal, spillage and excavation, working in intuitive, performative ways and led to a sharing of materials and processes around tactility and play. It also led to many walks, hugs and a lot of laughter! It was a rare gift for us both and one that we’ll aim to repeat again and again.”

Martha: “Most poignant to me was simply a view into a window - a window I would pass each day. I would watch inside, as a masterful painter stood contemplating and pondering, until a shower of colour would erupt out of her. I would stand witnessing a pure balancing of measured control and visual understanding. I would eventually get spotted or walk on, later rolling coils of the earth in between my palms thinking about this painterly performance from my mum, gliding paint across surfaces with meticulous tenderness and freedom as she listens to Van Morrison or Max Richter. Those two weeks I was enveloped in inspiration and guidance - held, nurtured and guided invisibly and directly by mother nature and my own maker, my wonderful mother.

A mother and a daughter stand on a hill, conducting their craft and dancing with their thoughts.”