Joya: residency coordinator / Anna Spear / 2026

Anna Spear graduated in BA Fine Art at Manchester School of Art, specialising in wall sculpture and installation - working obsessively between clay, steel, paper and wool, responding to her upbringing in rural Derbyshire, England.

Spear balances the engineered with an unintentional becoming, as materials precariously lean and hang, happening out of pure practicality, forming expressions of rural gestures that mimic an ease found in countryside ‘sculptures’. Working through states of tension and looseness when forging, felting and extruding, her installations are made up of half-formed sentences and defunct objects that repeat in ordered rows, prompting perhaps inconclusive or uncomfortable questioning of rural ethics and agricultural workings.

In Anna’s roll as a Residency Coordinator within Joya’s AiR Professional Development Programme, Anna contributes to the daily organisation and practical life of the residency. She supports visiting artists and writers, assists with presentations and resident changeovers, and participates in Joya’s shared programme of artistic, ecological and land-based work. She was drawn to the programme through her interest in rural environments, material processes and site-responsive practice. During her time at Joya, she hopes to develop her understanding of cultural production while extending her own sculptural practice through direct engagement with the surrounding landscape.