Author Archives: Janani Suri

Community Garden Artist Residency: St. Peter’s Application Form

Location: St. Peter’s Community Garden

Time period: 4/3/2019-2/4/2019

Submissions to: Janani (email surijanani64@gmail.com)

Overview

This residency will provide an artist with a working space inspired by nature and community action. Over the four-week residency the artist will work on a mural  that is reflective in some way of the time spent in the garden.For St. Peter’s Garden, we request artists specialising in painting, for we are specifically looking for a mural to go on the walls of the Quiet Garden.  

As well as working on their piece, the artist will participate in the gardening, engaging in activities that can range from landscaping, planting fruit trees, or even planning out and designing parts of the gardens. At the end of the residency there will be a small event to exhibit the mural and round off the residency.

On any one day of their residency, there might be an opportunity for the artist to conduct a painting workshop for an art group that regularly visits and volunteers in the garden. The objective of the workshop is just to create a peaceful and relaxed environment for the group through painting, in any material that the artist might be comfortable with (oil, acrylic, water-based).

Note: This is an unfunded residency, the idea being that the artist has the means and the capacity to create the piece and participate in the gardening on a voluntary basis.

Aims

The aims of this residency are that the artist will benefit from the experience of working in a community garden, and that the garden and local community will benefit from the piece of work created by the artist. It will probe the connection between art, community and nature, with the common link being the way we draw on and interact with the resources around us in a creative way.

About the place

St. Peter’s Garden, located in Fairwater, is a hidden gem featuring a combination of beautiful flower beds, vegetable beds as well as being a nature reserve. One of its highlights is a beautiful “Quiet Garden”, a tranquil, serene nook perfect for creative contemplation, prayer and peace – a wonderful and unusual working space. The mural created by the artist will be put up on the walls of the “Quiet Garden” – a legacy addition to the serene and beautiful environment of the place. Below is a picture of the space:

St. Peter’s Garden is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9:30 am -3:30 pm, and on the first Saturday of every month between 9:30 – 12:30 pm. The artist would not be expected to attend all of these time slots, but to spend at least four hours a week volunteering with the gardening activities, with the rest of the time spent creating the piece. St. Peter’s has several outdoor benches where the artist can work, as well as a covered shelter inside – but if you want to work outside, please make sure you dress warmly!

To apply:

Please submit an application of less than 250 words. The application should include the following information:

  1. Why you would like to participate in this residency
  2. Pictures, attachments, or at least a description of some of your work
  3. Your previous experience (if any) with community gardens (Not mandatory for the project)

Note. The resident artist should be enthusiastic about, or at least have a strong interest in gardening and the outdoors. If you are put off by mud and insects then this is probably not the residency for you!

This project is part of a larger project in sustainability. Here, the concept of sustainability means more than just ‘avoiding depletion’, it means drawing on the resources around you in a way that has lasting benefits to you, the wider community, and your environment. In this way, the creative process, growing food, and community participation are all understood through a sustainable lens.

For more information, you can call me at 7424620390, or email surijanani64@gmail.com .