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

"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

Nine Quadrats @ Joya

“My residency at Joya: arte + ecología has opened my practice to routes and pathways I didn’t know existed. This was the case even from the application process, where I was successful in securing the residency through the University of the Arts London Environment International Artist Residency Programme. I was already being inspired by reading about Joya’s important mission, their approach to resource sustainability, and the artistic research that Simon Beckmann had done into the ‘ephemeral water systems’ (Sistemas Efímeros). Joya seemed the perfect setting to experiment with land and environmental art, which I researched and blogged about ahead of the trip; I wanted to somehow link this to mapping the terrain, which I also investigated prior to and during the residency.

Whilst I prepared a good deal before the residency, in reality no one can really be ready for the sights, smells and sounds of Joya. The location is set amongst contouring almond groves, surrounded by pine-clad mountains, with an ever-changing light, which changes from silvery through to deep amber-pink. Despite the beautiful studio with stunning view, I couldn’t wait to hike the nearest mountain, and ascended the nearby Sierra Larga. The summit is covered in sculptural limestone paving. Standing at the top, taking in the panoramic view, I recalled some of the land and map research I had done ahead of the visit. I decided to try and ‘capture’ the topography and biology using an interpretation of the quadrat sampling technique (see pictures).

Upon descending to the studio, surrounded by other artists creatively exploring the landscape in other ways, I constructed a second square, this time on the map. Starting with the location of the quadrat I had just constructed, I identified eight other corners or midpoints of the square. Over the next ten days I visited each of these and assembled a location-specific quadrat, made only of the resources in the location environment – stones usually, but also sticks and the bare earth. Other photos are included in this blog, and a full narration of the piece is provided here.

Without the residency at Joya, it is unlikely that I would have taken this step into an unfamiliar territory and explored making temporary, sustainable art deep in a fragile landscape. The location, the presence of a curated group of diverse and fascinating artists, the critical guidance of Simon Beckmann (and the insanely good food provided!), all enable a fertile and productive experience. This setting has allowed me to take some important steps forward in my artistic practice, and I will never forget the opportunity Joya has provided”.

“My poetry and scholarly work is concerned with the nexus of landscape, society, and politics. Working in the field of postcolonial ecopoetics, my work examines human relationships with the natural environment and how these are affected by the global political economy, both historically and in the present. I am particularly concerned with decolonization and environmental justice and the ways in which environmental literature, as an activist practice, can help to examine and dismantle oppressive political systems and the environmental degradation that results.

I travelled to Joya: AiR to begin a new poetry manuscript after an inspiring research trip to the UK. My new work is a book-length poem that delves into events and experiences of British colonialism in Canada and South Africa in the early nineteenth century. I was particularly interested in coming to Joya: AiR to undertake a period of focused experimentation in a foreign, rural environment. Ordinary prosaic or lyric language is inadequate for expressing the extent of alienation and difficulties experienced by early colonists and the lasting violence and dispossession wrought on the indigenous populations they encountered. My language experiments over the past several weeks have taken me far outside of my ordinary poetic practice and I am inspired and excited by the results. I leave here with a skeleton of a manuscript, many completed poems and a direction for the work ahead.

Thanks to Joya: AiR for an excellent sojourn and to the amazing new network of friends I made during my stay”.

Emily McGiffin

http://amzn.to/2yQ67Oc

https://www.brickbooks.ca/books/between-dusk-and-night/

“After spending a fruitful summer in my London studio I came to Joya: AiR looking for a few quiet days of reflection. I wanted to think and write about the work done prior to the residency and also collect some visual information for new work on my return.

I managed to do all that and had a great time. Thank you Donna, Simon, Soli, Sessi, Mark, Nele, Max and Fufu. You are all amazing and made me feel so welcome. I admire this step you took and the life you lead now, it gave me food for thought. I hope to be back one day for a longer period”.

Gabriela Giroletti