photo Suzanne Gainer

Joya: AiR / Oriana Confente / CAN

“I came to Joya to harmonize my practice, seeking sustainable alternatives to traditional (often toxic) photographic methods. While in residency, I tested forms of plant-based film development. Some techniques worked, and others didn’t, but I felt fortunate to have space to play with new processes without the pressure of deliverables. Equipped with a darkroom studio and free to roam around the expansive land surrounding the home, it was a joy to take my time exploring and learning about the prickly plants growing in the area. 

My project became about impressions: What impression was I leaving on this place? What impression was this place leaving on me? The physical impression of activated plants on a photographic emulsion, and the abstract impression left by their silhouettes. 

I left Joya relaxed, invigorated, serene, excited, and well-fed. 

Thank you, Simon and Donna, for this incredible, enriching experience”!

Oriana Confente

Oriana Confente is a writer, photographer, and maker-of-things. They completed a Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Communication Design at the University of Waterloo (Canada) in 2020, where they began developing research-creation projects through experimental media. Their practice continues to be research-based and explores concepts connected to posthumanism(ish) and sustainability.

Confente is currently based in Montréal, where they have exhibited multimedia works. Their writing and creative projects have been published in Feral Feminisms, The Digital Review, Batshit Times, and more.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Oriele Steiner / GBR

“My experience at Joya: AiR was truly unforgettable. It was a much-needed escape that allowed me to fully embrace my artistic freedom and explore without any limitations. One of the highlights was working with the clay from the landscape, which led me to create my first sculptures. It was a liberating experience to shape and mold the clay into tangible works of art.

I also found solace in the stillness of nature, which was a stark contrast to the busy streets of London. I would spend hours walking, taking in the serenity and tranquility of the mountains. Being surrounded by such breathtaking scenery and a supportive community of talented artists was incredibly inspiring. It encouraged me to push the boundaries of my practice and explore new artistic directions.

Donna and Simon, the hosts of Joya: AiR, were warm and welcoming. They not only shared their artistic processes and journey with us, but also treated us to some of the most delicious food I've ever tasted! Their generosity and hospitality added to the overall experience and made it even more special.

The residency allowed me to experiment with new materials and techniques, which refreshed my artistic practice. I feel invigorated and motivated to incorporate the new ideas and inspiration I gained from Joya: AiR into my current work. It's exciting to think about how my art will evolve as a result of this enriching experience”.

Oriele Steiner

Oriele Steiner is a painter based in London, UK. She received her BFA from the University of Brighton and completed the Turps Banana Correspondence Course in 2022. After graduating, Oriele was chosen to part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries and then rewarded a residency with them in Liverpool.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AIR / Justin Carter / GBR

“Staying at Joya: AiR was a fantastic experience which gave me the opportunity to explore the local environment and to learn more about the landscape, agriculture and hydrology. The accommodation and studios are the perfect base-camp to work from, and the steady stream of artists and writers creates a supportive and nurturing situation to make work in and to refresh your ideas and thinking. All of this is made possible by the amazing hosts Donna and Simon who are there quietly supporting and facilitating the resident artists and sharing their amazing experience of setting up Joya. The magic glue that keeps everything together is the wonderful food cooked up each evening – a healthy mix of tasty delights prepared with skill and affection from local ingredients.

Whilst staying at Joya, I found myself writing and painting, as well as exploring more familiar methodologies of intervention in the landscape. Most of the work was quite provisional and exploratory in nature, but I did manage to make two versions of a work called ‘Mirage’. This site-specific intervention was installed along a dried-up gorge which suffers severe drought followed by flash flooding, causing massive erosion in the landscape. The project involved carefully harvesting microplastics from the local area to make small blue 'colour fields', (suggesting water) just beneath the dried-up river bed.

The process of collecting and photographing the plastic material aimed to accelerate the normal process by which this harmful microplastic material (a waste product from the surrounding agriculture) will inevitably enter the soil and water table, eventually ending up in the sea. In this instance, the plastic material was safely removed after the images were taken, preventing any harmful impact. The work is supposed to lure and then shock the viewer, acting as an environmental warning about the dangers of microplastics in the ecosystem”.

Justin Carter

Justin Carter is an artist based in Glasgow. Recent exhibitions include: The Howse Shal Be Preserved at Rockingham Castle (2021), Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories and Transformation at The Lighthouse, Glasgow (2020) and Blood From Stone at Fineshade Wood, Northamptonshire (2019). Last year his work was included in Dark Mountain Project publication (issue 21) which focussed on the theme of confluence. He has exhibited throughout the UK as well as in Europe, Japan, China, Australia and the United States. He is a Reader in Contemporary Practice; Art & Environment at Glasgow School of Art, and works in the Sculpture and Environmental Art Department, based in the School of Fine Art.

“My work is an attempt to understand the natural environment we are part of. How do we sense it and make sense of it? The resulting artworks are an attempt to make this connection tangible. Looming environmental concerns have caused me to engage with active elements within the landscape exploring the extent to which the artist can move towards a non-human perspective”. 

photo Justin Carter

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Ima Montoya / ESP

“I enjoyed my experience in “La Joya” where I opened many doors that time and memory had closed”

"La Joya"n izandako esperientziaz gozatu dot. Denboraren poderioz oroimenak ahaztutako hainbat ate zabaldu dira bertan.

He disfrutado my experiencia en “La Joya” donde he abierto muchas puertas que el tiempo y el olvido había borrado”.

Ima Montoya

Ima Montoya was born in Bilbao where she studied Fine Art at the University of the Basque country graduating in 1986. After graduating she moved to Madrid but has since lived and worked in Japan, Russia, UK, Hungary and Mexico. In 2021 she moved to Barcelona where she currently lives and works.

Her latest projects have related to The Mediterranean, specifically North Africa recently exhibiting in Tripoli. She is currently working towards an exhibition in the Instituto Cervantes in Tunisia.

She has previously exhibited at Museums, Art Fairs, Art Centres and galleries in Europe, America and Asia such as The London Art Biennale, Venice Arte Laguna, Zona Maco Mexico, New Port Art Museum (USA), PINTA New York, Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow Winzavod Center, Museo de Asia in La Habana, London Royal College of Art, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, EU Berlaymont Headquarters in Brussels, Imago Mundi Benetton Collection, Instituto Cervantes Centers in Moscow, Budapest, Bucharest, Brasilia, Sao Paulo.

www.imamontoya.com

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Taïs Bean / FRA

I came to Joya: AiR for the third time. There is a reason why this place and its people keep calling me back.  My mother always used to tell me “You have to have your head in the stars and your feet in the mud.” It takes hard work and realism, as well as optimism, generosity, courage and daring vision to be able to create a place like Joya. I find that these qualities make the spirit of this place, embraced by the vastness, beauty and peace of its magnificent natural environment. 

Spending time at Joya has, each time, been a beautiful human experience, a grounding remembering of the value of things I tend to take for granted, such as water, soil, fire, energy, and a tangible experience of human impact on nature.  

It is both sobering to witness the human led ecological crisis so clearly shaping this landscape, and it is equally inspiring to see Simon and Dona moving forward with visionary solutions while deeply listening to the land and culture they are interacting with. My time at Joya has always enriched my ecological understanding, in a way that is not disparaging, but rather inspiring and motivating.

I find that this setting makes for a space of focus and commitment to my practice, and a vast openness to dreaming and inspiration. Each time I’ve come to Joya, I have left realising that my practice was impacted in ways I couldn’t have anticipated. 

It pushes me to experiment, reflect, be present to my work, my senses and my vision in uniquely peaceful and rich ways. It promotes inspirational exchange with talented people with various practices and backgrounds. I always leave with a nurtured heart. 

I thought I would be working on my writing, and instead I ended up discovering that my black and white line drawing needed to move towards painting, and even find its way out of the paper on rocks, wood... and I was reminded of the importance of the materials I choose. For a long timeI didn’t dare to explore new materials with drawing, and now I feel inspired by a field of possibilities as vast as the horizon surrounding the Joya residency.

Taïs Bean

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Lindsey Creel Cherry / USA

‘I arrived at Joya: AiR with the expectation to spend the week away from my daily tasks being productive in the output of my art practice. I knew the setting of Joya would be beautiful but I was completely taken by the picturesque landscape and the true quiet of the location. I spent my short time at Joya exploring, researching, collecting reference photos, and working through more experimental drawings. I highly recommend going for more than a week if you are able.

The outcomes of my dedicated work time at Joya were only a portion of what I’ve brought home with me. Getting a world away from the everyday grind allowed me to detox from the product driven cycles I’ve been swimming in. Spending time over meals, hiking, and chatting by the wood fireplace with other artists in residence is something I didn’t know I needed. I felt cleansed by my time there. The atmosphere Simon and Donna have created is difficult to describe. Joya is a magical place that I hope to visit again soon’.

Lindsey Creel Cherry

Lindsey Creel Cherry is an SFASU Art Professor (drawing) and visual artist currently living in Garrison, Tx. She has an M.F.A. in Studio Arts from Stephen F. Austin State University (2021) and a B.F.A. in fashion from the Savannah College of Art and Design (2009). Creel considers art and design two branches of the same tree and does not discriminate when it comes to art media. She has a background in patternmaking and drafting in the apparel industry, and was featured on Season 14 of Lifetime TV’s “Project Runway.” Creel's drawings are inspired by her connection to working in nature in East Texas.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Emma van Meyeren / NDL

‘I came to Joya: AiR to delve deeper into my first work of fiction. Responding to the 1986 novel Mystiek lichaam by Frans Kellendonk I am interested in the embodied experiences of queer people in the Netherlands during the 80s. Arriving for a stopover in Granada first, I was pleasantly surprised to walk into several processions. Catholic excess is a big theme in Kellendonks work so it was interesting to see some rituals I had not experienced since childhood. Later, in the quiet surroundings of Joya, I found the peace to combine walks through the hills with contemplation on the lives I am trying to convey in my novella’.

Emma van Meyeren

Emma van Meyeren’s background is in Literary Studies, completing a BA at Utrecht University and an MA at the University of Amsterdam. She has published extensively in Dutch magazines and websites such as vice.com, De Groene Amsterdammer and the Dutch Review of Books. This year her work was awarded with the Prijs voor de Jonge Kunstkritiek (prize for young art criticism). She published her first book in 2020 with the Feminist Press Chaos, it was titled 'Ook ik ben stukgewaaid' and contained essays about grief and its rituals. She continues to work on this topic with the Read My World festival, where she organizes and teaches diary writing workshops on various feminist subjects.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Anna Franke / DEU

‘During the time at Joya AiR I moved my studio outside, into the gorge of the dry riverbed. I hiked for 2 hours every day with a full backpack and looked for a place to paint. The fallen giant pine trees, the clay soil in different colour nuances, the many structures in wood and rocks inspired me to trace the rhythm of dryness and watercourses, the movement, the cycle of life and transience, and to transfer this energy to my art.  I worked experimentally: I wrapped raw, unstretched canvas in the branches of the fallen tree trunks to bring movement into the material. I mixed the colours with clay, eggs, black ink and spices and let them run into the folds or sprayed over them. Action painting in nature. I rubbed the structures in the wood and on the stones onto the fabric using frottage techniques.  I sewed found things such as fox bones and small branches and snail shells onto the abstract paintings. 

I am interested in the physical and energetic connection of myself and my art with the earth. 

A very intense experience in this unique landscape and a reconnection with myself and nature. All framed by wonderful encounters with other artists, delicious healthy food and cosy evenings in front of the fireplace ...’

Anna Franke
Illustration + Konzeption

www.annafranke.com

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Amy Corcoran / UK

‘I arrived at Joya: AiR with a number of half-formed ideas but very much open to discovery and new directions. I drew inspiration from the incredible scenery Joya is nestled within. Despite a number of uncharacteristically cold and cloudy days at the start of my residency, I found myself compelled to explore this wild landscape, which is so different to home: golden birdsong and bright clay, seas of conifers and rainbows of stone, the delicate aroma of newly unfurled almond blossom, and the twinkle of snow-capped mountains in the distance. Everywhere the signs of spring arriving, made more glorious by the sun's own arrival in my second week.

Days spent exploring - down into the barrancos and up the mountainsides - were both soothing and invigorating. What emerged was a desire to capture something of the essence of this unique place and my experience of it. I returned to my creative 'first loves' to do so - text, pencil, paint - which felt wonderful. Additionally, I recorded sound, took photographs, and experimented with pinhole cameras and non-toxic developing processes. I also played with other image making techniques, including cyanotypes, and with turning the studio into a camera obscura.

I am so grateful to Donna and Simon for the welcome and care they provided, for the wonderful dinners with nourishing food and great conversation, and for the opportunity to have both time and space to explore, experiment and create. It was a real privilege and joy to spend two weeks at Joya, and I have no doubt the residency will have a profound impact on my practice for a long time to come. 

Also, big shout out to the animals, especially Nippy’.

Amy Corcoran

Amy Corcoran is an artist, writer and researcher whose practice oscillates around human rights and ecology, and incorporates film, photography, sound and installation. Amy employs these mediums to produce intimate spaces for reflection and embodied sensory experiences. This forms a more fundamental exploration into catalysing other modes of knowing through creative practices. In the contemporary climate, she understands art to hold power when it opens up empathetic spaces, including those that move beyond the human.

www.amycorcoran.xyz

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Aileen Harvey / UK

‘Being at Joya: AiR exceeded any attempt I had made to imagine the landscape. The almond trees were coming into bloom as I arrived (from grey London rain), pink and white against the bluest sky. To wake up early with the sun rising over the ridge, birds outside my window, felt like a gift. It was not only the beauty but the time, away from everyday responsibilities and distractions. Each day at the cortijada held only what it needed to: quiet, good company, sunshine, and a sweet slow pace with room to dream, explore, and absorb. At Joya, Simon and Donna have created a place that nourishes creative work, artistic community and a thoughtful integration with the environment.

I fell into a rhythm that alternated time outside and studio making. Focused work in solitude was interwoven with, and sustained by, many conversations. The other residents were a delight that I hadn't counted on, but those exchanges – of support, ideas, jokes – became constitutive of the residency, of work as well as relaxation afterwards: watching the sun set, Donna's delicious dinners, chatting by the fire.

For the first few days it made sense for me to be receptive rather than productive. I drew outside at a spot above the dry riverbed, I took photographs, and I filled my studio shelves with a pale spectrum of earth colours, plant matter for ink, and strange or weathered objects. After a while I began to make work with the inks and pigments, branching from familiar methods into new contexts and techniques, changing scales. A giant process-led drawing was followed by small, exploratory paintings on old wood; both approaches were experiments, with materials and in how I develop imagery. They generated an unexpected redirection towards the human figure: albeit humans mingled with landscape, as memories, stories and hybrids, layered in.

It feels as if being at Joya: AiR has brought about something hard to measure but significant within my practice: a set of small shifts, connections and openings, the effects of which will continue to unfold.

¡Muchas gracías, Donna and Simon, for this place that is so difficult to leave!

Aileen Harvey

Aileen studied philosophy at Edinburgh (MA 1998) and Cambridge (MPhil 2000), and worked in academic book publishing (Routledge 2002–2016). Later she studied sculpture at Wimbledon College of Art (BA 2008), taught on a foundation (LMU 2011) and was a studio assistant (Susan Collis 2007–2013).

Solo exhibitions include: Blind Alley Projects, USA (2022); One to Ten Gallery, Hastings (2022); and An Lanntair, Stornoway (2011). Group exhibitions include: Bruton Museum, Somerset (2021); La Ruine, Geneva (2020); Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield (2018); Standpoint Gallery, London (2016); Leach Pottery, St Ives (2015); Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent (2014); Customs House Gallery, Sunderland (2013); Karussell, Zürich (2013); and The Photographers' Gallery, London (2009).

Aileen presents her research at academic conferences, and her essays on photography, drawing and walking have been included in books (Northern Light 2018; Proximity and Distance 2020; Disturbed Ecologies, 2023) and a journal (NANO 2014). She published a photobook: An Absent Portrait: Emmanuel Cooper (2013). Her artwork has been written about by Bridget Sheridan in Walking and the Aesthetics of Modernity (2016) and Laura Davidson in Doggerland (2016).

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Sanne Bjerg / DEN

"I came to Joya Air with the main purpose of stepping out of my familiar surroundings in order to get a clearer view on the two manuscripts I am working on at the moment. This worked very well - coming to clarity about how I believe I can weave the two texts together to a more interestingly convoluted collage of sorts.

But on top of that the hours of walking, running, climbing, hunting and gathering rocks, bones and other stuff in the barranco, also turned out to be very inspiring for my work with collage in both paper and 3D. This resulted, among other things, in a totem site that proved itself as a powerful spot for a full moon ritual, inspired in part by Basque rituals that Ima Montoya generously shared....;-)

Habitually a loner I had planned on spending my 4 weeks at Joya Air more or less in isolation, but to my great surprise the socialising with the other (changing) residents turned out to be a great inspiration - and a lot of fun ;-). Friends were made!  Sharing art and thoughts was a thrill - not to mention the fact that I quite unexpectedly got myself initiated to Instagram through a joint effort of teaching from everyone!

Last but not least the caretaking, cooking and companionship of Donna and Simon made my stay so smooth, pleasant and joyful that I can hardly wait to come back.

Their place is so full of beauty, nature, quietness and the constant calming presence of the mountains. From my studio I watched the almond tree outside my window turn from brownish grey to fully blossoming pink during my stay, making the slow passing of time viscerally present in a way that was very nurturing for my work as well as my mental health ;-). Gracias!"

Sanne Bjerg

sannebjerg.dk

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Karlijn de Lange / NED

"During my one week residency I wanted to emerse myself and my work in nature as much as possible. Upon arrival I let the sun, wind, light and temprature direct the course of my days. Lots of my mornings were spent hiking and biking in the vast nature around Joya: AiR. I took photos and gathered rocks to work with in my studio during the afternoons. The amount of inspiration was overwhelming, which resulted in the start of several different projects simultaniously to further develop at home.

An important part of going to Joya for me was to connect with other artists and to have conversations about each others practice. I was fortunate to enter a warm group in which we were all open to welcome others in our studios. These frequent visits and interactions throughout the week resulted in insightful talks and deep bonding as a group.

After a dark winter in my home country this was a beautiful time to gain new energy for the start of the year. I look back with great joy and gratitude for taking part in this introspective experience."

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Sietske Bosma / NED

‘The week I spent at Joya: AiR turned out to be exactly right. Coming from a darker and colder northern Europe, I felt some relief in the sunlit mountains of Almería. What struck me at first was the silence in the mountains that magnified the sound of birds taking flight. The warm atmosphere Donna and Simon create and the support of all the other residents made an impression on me as well. Experimenting in the given space without a pressure to perform helped me to focus on my creative process and explore new ways of working. This I’ll take further in my practice and I'm very grateful to Joya: AiR for the opportunity.

sietskebosma.com

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Dave Griffiths / Senior Lecturer and Section Head, Art Post Graduate Taught / Manchester School of Art Postgraduate Residency

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Rachel Clancy / MA Painting / Manchester School of Art Postgraduate Residency

The Joya: AiR residency gave me the opportunity to step back and reflect on my usual painting practice and experiment with other mediums and techniques. Being immersed in the peaceful, picturesque landscape allowed me space and time to develop my drawing technique and allow new subject matter to inspire my future paintings.

Whilst I came with an open mind of what I wanted to create, the freedom and long sunny days allowed time for exploring, drawing and collaboration with other students. Currently exploring interiors in my painting practice, I found myself particularly drawn to the intricate architecture and design of the Joya building itself. The residency has opened my eyes to different ways of working and was the perfect opportunity to break my every day routine and reflect.

Thank you to Donna and Simon for being so helpful throughout the trip and welcoming us into their wonderful space!

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Alastair Fallon / MA Painting / Manchester School of Art Postgraduate Residency

At Joya: AiR I left behind my painting practice to focus on creating new work which reflected the unique soul of the landscape that I had the privilege to witness. I decided I would make charcoal from the local almond, pine and olive trees so I could make organic and authentic marks that could only be made in Joya. I began to make charcoal drawings by a formula of small repetitive movements that reflected the process of carving the wood when making the charcoal itself. These repetitive movements slowed the work down and allowed me space to make more careful considerations when guiding the work.

The rest of my time was spent on daily hikes and meditations, moments of quiet reflection, and inspiring conversations with the other resident artists.

The work I made in Joya I could not have made anywhere else, it is a truly special place. Thank you Simon and Donna for giving me an experience that I will carry with me in life and in my work

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Kimberley Beesley / MA Painting / Manchester School of Art Postgraduate Residency

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Georgina Hustler / MA Painting / Manchester School of Art Postgraduate Residency

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Eleanor Cunningham / MA Painting / Manchester School of Art Postgraduate Residency

‘My time at Joya: AiR came as a welcome opportunity to step back from my painting practice and focus on drawing. The meditative process of thinking through drawing, in tandem with my experience of the landscape, has driven me into a new phase of working, giving my practice new life.

Aside from drawing, I spent my time walking in the surrounding mountains, exploring the land, quietly reflecting and writing, and having stimulating conversations with other artists. Spending time in the vast natural landscape was a relief from the speed of day to day life in the city. I relished the feeling of slowing down, and found the week at Joya to be a deeply peaceful experience.

Thanks to Donna and Simon for sharing such an incredible space with us and being such wonderful and welcoming hosts’.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Brianna Beckford / MFA Painting / Manchester School of Art Postgraduate Residency

‘What initially attracted me to doing a residency at Joya: AiR was the freedom of being away from digital mediums I learned to have a crutch on. Recently, I've appreciated exploring new modes of making, and that's what I intended to continue doing here.

In Joya, I found a place that resembled a home I was used to, while still existing in a completely different environment. Joya: AiR and Velez-Blanco as a whole are incredibly enriching and made me think about how to mesh the new and the old, how to bring old crafts and workflows back into the present day. There's an amazing confluence of presences at Joya that make it a ghost site sprung anew, especially considering its ecology and history.

Although I didn't come with a set plan, my intention was to create and have fun. Plant weaving, 3D modeling, and alternative photography became the prime areas I navigated. Donna and Simon were incredible in giving me insight that informed my work and research. An absolutely amazing experience and place’!