Around the world, artists have had to make changes to their art practice and studio use, due to the global pandemic of Covid19. For many, this season has meant NOT being able to go to studios outside the home to make work. In Tetouan, Morocco, art residency directors and artists Jeff McRobbie and Rachel Pearsey are among those. Because of Covid19, Green Olive Arts had to cancel the Spring and Summer 2020 art residencies. These two artists turned toward an unexpected but welcome season of uninterrupted studio time at GOA. They set up their spaces and organized materials … and then the lockdown hit Tetouan. It was a tough moment, but they packed up supplies, easels and tools and headed to their homes.
Today’s post is a prelude to a series of interviews with former Artists in Residence at Green Olive Arts, to see what they are doing during this pandemic. So step into the home-studio of GOA’s own Rachel Pearsey for her perspective on making art at home during confinement.
A New Studio With A View…
How have you had to flex or pivot your art practice in this unprecedented season of home confinement?
I had really been looking forward to working at Green Olive Arts during this season. Because our studios are usually filled with changing cohorts of visiting artists, my own studio for the past 5 years has had to be mobile. My cabinet of materials and tools has wheels, and I set up as space allows. I move between the different studios in each season. I tuck it all away in our resource room when the studio is very full. When we have an empty studio between residencies, I enjoy having the space to spread out.
It has not been the most convenient way to work – never feeling like I can really settle in… I’m a mixed media artist using assemblage and collage in my art. I work best when I can have in front of me all the objects and collage materials I’ve been collecting. It helps me to be able to see them, ponder them and, over time, discover where they belong in my work. I like to be able to leave my work in progress out, so that I can easily step into it and continue. If I have to go through all that setup just to begin, it can keep me from even starting.
I’ve often thought that I should just give in and set up my studio at home. I wouldn’t have to be uprooted so often. But… I love working in the community of other artists at Green Olive Arts. And I love having access to all the tools, equipment and resources there! I can use the printmaking press. If I need to build or cut something for my work, I can quickly step into the wood shop. I can invite critique and conversation with other artists about my work in progress. And as I see the work they are creating, I can be inspired with new ideas and techniques. I love that…and so I have stayed.
When the Covid19 lockdown kept me from working at Green Olive Arts, I realized this was actually an opportunity!
In setting up my home studio, I was finally able to settle in and put my studio wall back up!! This wall of quotes, pictures, inspirations and ideas has always been up in front of my studio table. I’ve done this for the past 20 years. It comes down and goes back up whenever I move, and is added to and edited each time. This wall is like a quilt, from all the places and seasons I’ve been in. It always comes with me. The pieces have been stored away though, for the past 5 years while my studio was mobile. As I finally got to put them back up, I realized this was their ninth iteration! It was really therapeutic to work on, full of good remembering. The wall looks different every time, but with much the same, and I felt like I was finally home!
My new space is definitely not as big as Green Olive Arts, but it works, and it has an amazing studio view. I’ve set up in my guest room / workout room. I was able to rearrange things so that I would still have space to exercise. That has become essential for my sanity and health, since I can’t go outside (except for groceries every three weeks). I do have a tiny balcony, though. It just needed a custom-cut board mounted as a table, to make it usable. The day that we ventured out to the studio to gather our supplies, Jeff McRobbie helped cut a board for me. It has been so wonderful to work out there, in the fresh air, with my breathtaking view of Tetouan’s mountains. That view makes climbing five fights of stairs worth it every time!
Improvised balcony studio table, with a view of Tetouan’s mountains.
What are you currently working on in your studio at home?
One of my biggest projects during this time has been the launch of the second edition of my art book. This began just as we went into lockdown, so thankfully I had undistracted time to pour into it! I’ve spent time doing a lot of research for a future series, and continued with my assemblage/mixed-media series on womanhood. I’ve also really been enjoying working on finishing my sketchbook from the trip I took to Italy last August. It was an amazing trip – a long time dream fulfilled. I explored the architecture and art of Italy, sketched everyday, and visited seven cities in ten days. As often happens when travel sketching on short trips like that, I came back with a number of unfinished sketches. After busy fall and winter seasons, I’ve finally had time to finish them and blog about the experience.
Watercolor wash and ink travel sketch of Florence, Italy, by Rachel Pearsey.
What does creative community and/or social sanity look like for you right now? How are you staying connected and grounded?
I am SO thankful for technology these days! It’s amazing that I can be isolated and yet so connected, with video calls and messaging. I have a number of artist friends that I’ve been connecting with regularly. We’ve been sharing our work, talking about our process and even collaborating on some projects from a distance.
But my favorite and most life-giving collaboration has been a Quarantine Drawing Challenge with my honorary niece and nephew. They call me Tata, which is a local term of endearment, like Auntie. The seven-year-old son of Peter Herron (Green Olive Arts director of hospitality) is quite an artist and his six-year-old sister likes to draw too. We are here in the same city, but isolated from each other in our separate homes.
The challenge began after he used his dad’s phone to send me a picture of something he’d made. He had drawn a note for me, using special pens and paper I’d given him. Now, each day one of us takes our turn choosing the challenge, like “something in the kitchen”. We each make a drawing and we send each other pictures of them through their parent’s phone. We’ve been exchanging voice messages back and forth too, discussing our drawings, encouraging each other and such. I just grin from ear to ear when I hear their precious voices and see their drawings. I may not be able to hug them, but “my cup overflows” with joy and love, even in my confinement! It’s also been great having something to look forward to, and having the structure of doing a drawing every day!
Quarantine Drawing Challenge with young friends.
What insights about creativity in a time of crisis can you share with other artists?
I know that everyone’s experience of this is different. I have an artist friend who was walking through a personal health crisis in the midst of this pandemic. For her, the weight of it was just so heavy that she could not bring herself to create. For others, the act of creating or designing or writing is the thing that keeps them sane. It calms the anxiety, or helps them escape or focus or rise above the darkness swirling around them. For me, both of these extremes have been a part of my experience.
I went the first three weeks without really feeling the weight of the isolation. This was probably due, in part, to having the focus of these projects and creative collaborations. That was really helpful. It eventually did set in though… the thickness of the aloneness that makes me have to take deeper breaths, the loudness of the silence, and the sadness of all the suffering going on outside my walls…
But I come back to my anchors… I come back to what I know is true and doesn’t change, even in the midst of crisis. And creating helps me to meditate on these things. So does playing my piano and singing… That has long been a place my anxious soul goes for rest. I’m so grateful I have a piano here in Tetouan!
What have you been learning?
I have learned more clearly from this that I was made to be in community. Even though I’m an introvert and a homebody, 51 days at home without human touch has made that very clear. Sometimes we don’t realize what we’ve got ‘til it’s gone. I am very thankful that I at least have my virtual community. But I’m looking forward to the day when we can all be together again. I’m looking forward to giving lots of hugs, welcoming artists into our studio again, and sharing creative community with them. I can’t wait to wander in the medina of Tetouan. I want to find my friends there, back at work and able to provide for their families …Someday, hopefully soon.
“My Vineyard Is Mine To Give”, detail – mixed media (assemblage, collage, and lino print) – by Rachel Pearsey