R E S I D E N C Y : J A N U A R Y 11 – 31, 2 0 21
E X H I B I T I O N : F R I D A Y J A N U A R Y 2 9 , 1 – 5 P M
Anna Garrett (ENGLAND)
Painting, Botanical Illustration, Ethnobotany
www.annagarrett.co.uk
Anna Garrett (b. 1993, UK) graduated from MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London in 2019. She previously studied BA Fine Art at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in 2014. She has exhibited in over forty exhibitions in the UK and internationally, including two solo shows and two residencies. Recent work focuses on the ‘slow- gaze’ of drawing, and the relationships between art practices, activism and rewilding. “Notes from the Field”, exhibited at Goldsmiths MFA Degree Show, adopts a methodology of drawing as ecological activism. Anna is concerned with the importance of wildness in the in-between patches and ecotone of ‘human’/‘natural’ environments. Her research interests are towards an ecofeminist approach to more passive notions of rewilding. Through entomological observations within living ecosystems (and of extinct insect pollinator species) the work traverses the realm of art and science, as well as symbiosis between plant, insect and human. Playing the role of amateur entomologist, Anna combines an active engagement of specific site, species and community in context with wider ecological crisis. She focuses the ‘slow-gaze’ of drawing as method to connect to multi-species relationships, and aliveness itself in an entangled, biodiverse web.
During her residency at Guapamacátaro, Anna created a series of ink drawings depicting the pollinators found at the hacienda. To identify them, she conducted entomological and botanical surveys in 16 distinct microclimates (one pollinator per survey, 4 surveys in each location: garden, old granary, woodland and field.) At the Open House community event local children participated in her pollinator project by searching for the pollinator drawings on site. They had a map and had to match each location to the right insect.
Emily Seville (ENGLAND)
Sculptural Ceramics
www.emilyseville.com
Emily Seville is a Manchester based visual artist and maker working predominantly in ceramics and watercolour painting. Her work is concerned with our relationship and connection to the natural world, focusing on our intrinsic link to the land and the mark we are making upon it. Through her work she aims to envision a more harmonious and balanced relationship with the natural world. She tries to maintain an ecologically focused practice through the materials she uses, examining them from a sustainability perspective, while exploring the benefits and positive impacts nature can have on our mental and physical wellbeing. Within this, she has created site-specific work that incorporates ideas of the place, and has explored rooting site in her work during her time at the following residencies, Rucka Residency in Latvia and Guapamacataro Centre for Art and Ecology. On a more personal and local scale Emily has been creating work focusing on her Granny’s garden, drawing from her grandmother’s plant knowledge and her emotional connection to the place to create personal pieces that connect both to the garden and their relationship.
At Guapamacátaro, Emily explored her connection to the place and created site-specific clay works. Processing clay found on site, she sculpted a series of small vessels in the shape of found leaves. She also processed natural fibers to create paper pulp and reconstruct the leaves.
Patricia Watts (USA)
Curating, Writing
www.patriciawatts.blogspot.com
Patricia Watts is founder and west coast curator of ecoartspace. She has curated over thirty art and ecology exhibitions including Performative Ecologies (2020), Contemplating OTHER (2018), Enchantment (2016), FiberSHED (2015), Shifting Baselines (2013), MAKE:CRAFT (2010), and Hybrid Fields (2006). In 2016 she initiated and project managed a site-specific permanent public artwork entitled Cloud House. Watts is a pioneering curator who has worked with artists who engage the natural world for over twenty years. She has a visionary entrepreneurial approach to curating that supports transdisciplinary and transformative collaborative environments.
At Guapamacátaro, Patricia worked on a new Art and Ecology book. In her “spare time”, also painted, embroidered and hosted several virtual global forums, where relevant topics such as tree genetics, biopiracy and fire ecology were discussed.
Guapamacátaro Art & Ecology 