Spring In The Woods: Immersive Analogue - Group Artist Residency (21 - 24 May 2023). This residency offers a unique opportunity to immerse ourselves in the wonderful Ashcombe Woods, considering ways in which to deepen our experience of presence through analogue film and photography processes. Our art-science approach supports a holistic approach to analogue image making; for example, how do the ways in which plants grow/support themselves affect our ability to develop film with them?

About the Residency

We will be staying in the delightful YHA Tanners Hatch cottage nestled in Ashcombe Woods, on Ranmore Common SSSI high up in the Surrey Hills, with its mixture of native broadleaf woodland; home to oak, holly, silver birch, yew trees and heath. There is a diverse community of breeding birds, insects and beetles, which includes the satin raise moth and white admiral butterfly.

We are hoping that this will be an enriching creative experience, a chance to reset and recharge whilst immersing in the materials we will be working with, aiming to bring these into our practice and see how we can create a two-way conversation with our environment through analogue image-making.

We encourage artist residents to contribute their own skills and practice – perhaps sound recording, drawing, writing, digital film and image making, printmaking or those already involved in hand processing and printing who would like to extend into plant-based processing, tinting and more extended approaches to image making. Bring your cyanotypes and anthotypes!

Space on this residency is limited, by both available accommodation and the more hands-on nature of the offer - it’s very much an opportunity to share skills and encourage eachother to gain confidence through our DIY approach, with this immersive approach facilitating shared outcomes each day from different processes.

This residency will be led by Dr Joanna Mayes and Carolyn Kennett FRSA

Joanna Mayes will be bringing:

*16mm cameras and film for hand processing

* 16mm lens extension tubes for macro filming

* Standard 8 cameras and film

* Super 8 camera and film

* Clear film & found footage to share for drawing and writing on film in the evenings

* Alternative/plant film development skills/research interest

* Tinting with plants (might be tricky at this time of year, but we’ll try!)

* Phytograms

* Maybe some DIY printing/ ways to print/share film in the field

* Simple developer materials – coffee, washing soda, vitamin C

Carolyn Kennett will be bringing:

* Expertise in ecology, astronomy and the prehistoric (we will be thinking about properties of materials, cycles, alignments and the story of human engagement with sky and and landscapes)

* Cameras for pinhole and medium format image making & caffenol development

* Naked eye star watching skills

Practicalities

Accommodation:

This hostel offers communal spaces, both indoor and outdoor. We will be adhering to all current Covid-19 regulations and government guidelines. Check out our FAQs and don't hesitate to get in touch using the enquiry form. The hostel has a well-equipped self-catering kitchen. There is a sitting room and dining room which offers some shared workspace, but this is very limited so we need to think of portable ways of working with a focus on the outdoors. Lots of outdoor space!

Accommodation options are: a shared bunk room in the cottage (it’s going to be a bit tight so we can fit everyone in!) or camping in the private grounds. It’s ideal for everyone to stay, but you are also free to stay offsite if you have a camping ticket. We are planning to spend lots of time outdoors with a cosy fire and everyone contributing to the food to share at the end of each day (nettle soup from developer waste material??). Residents are responsible for bringing their own food/we will discuss ways of sharing.

We are in taxi distance of railway stations, so we will be arriving by train in keeping with our eco-aesthetic. There is a NT carpark nearby. Our truly immersive experience includes a .75 mile track from the nearest parking/drop off so we are all limited by what we can carry. We will have a zoom meeting well before the residency to discuss shared materials/pots, pans and food supplies so we don’t waste valuable space!

We will be offering a programme of residency activities (see above), but these are all optional and you are welcome to use the time in whatever way you see fit.

£299- full price per person
£199 - camping in grounds

Prices include shared accommodation for three nights in this special location and full use of the hostel.

Please note that all accommodation is shared, with rooms allocated by gender. We will discuss details with you prior to your stay to make sure you are comfortable with the arrangements.

If there are spaces free at the end of round one, there will be a second call announced.

Useful links

Mayes Creative Website

Tanners Hatch YHA

These woodlands form part of the National Trust Polesdon Lacey estate:

“Polesden Lacey was a truly remarkable legacy, left to the National Trust in 1942 by Dame Margaret Greville and so it feels very touching that this land purchase has also been enabled by legacies left to the Trust.”

– Katherine Mills, General Manager, Polesden Lacey