RESIDENT I
2nd - 11th August 2024
Colstoun Arts is pleased to present ‘RESIDENT I' – an online and in-person exhibition of the work of our first cohort of residency programme Artists: Raffael Bader (b. 1987 in Germany), James Dearlove (b. 1970 in Kenya), Lara Cobden (b.1971 in UK), Suhaylah H (b. 1993 in UK), Marina Renee Cemmick (b. 1994 in UK), Joe Grieve (b.1997 in UK), Angelique Nagovskaya (b. 1998 in Canada) & Jen Hitchings (b.1988 in USA). Together, their work traverses literal, metaphorical, surreal, and abstracted landscapes inspired by the land, buildings, and inhabitants of Colstoun House.
please explore their profiles below individually and for any additional information please email: mclean@colstoun.co.uk
Lilith in 7 Phases - Jen Hitchings
JAMES DEARLOVE
James Dearlove (born 1970) holds an MA in Fine Art from The Slade School of Art, and has also attended the Turps Banana Art School. He currently lives and works in Cornwall, having transitioned to painting following a successful career in Television production. In 2021 Dearlove was awarded the Ingram Prize; one of the UK’s leading prizes for emerging contemporary artists. In 2023 Dearlove was chosen for the prestigious Bloomberg New Contemporaries.
Dearlove arrived at Colstoun in the depths of winter 2023, with a solo show in London with BWG on the horizon. Whilst here Dearlove embraced the short but brilliant winter light that pierces through the leafless trees, the wild pheasants fighting on the lawns and memories of dramas played out through the autumn and early winter months.
James completed 2 works for our RESIDENT I exhibition. fighting pheasants (right), and Mairches Landscape with Figures and Birds (below). Additionally, Dearlove has completed a study for Mairches Landscape and a smaller 'Still Life With Revellers'. for more information on James Dearlove and his time at Colstoun click here.
Still life with Revellers - James Dearlove
Fighting Pheasants - James Dearlove
James Dearlove working on Mairches Landscape with Figures and Birds
RAFFAEL BADER
2020 saw Bader begin to exhibit internationally, including in Switzerland and the USA. The subsequent 4 years has seen over 20 group shows with galleries and institutes inc. MDBK, ZFK, Art City Works & Blue Shop Cottage, alongside 5 solo shows in Germany and the US with galleries including Galerie Potemka & Rocket Science.
Raffael sought to experience something new and exciting with a retreat from his Leipzig studio, along with his girlfriend Rosa ventured to Scotland in search of inspiration for an upcoming solo show. From the moment they arrived Raffael was inspired sketching the cliffs above Berwick-upon-Tweed before even stepping foot in Colstoun.
Path To The Hill (Traprain Law)- Raffael Bader
Purple Hills - Raffael Bader
Calm Lake In A Whistling Wind - Raffael Bader
The Hills Still Stretch Slowly (Diptych) - Raffael Bader
"Foxes hide in bushes. Deer scurry across the paths, watching me furtively. I find myself in a place that not only offers peace and quiet, but also gives nature space to sing: The stream, the leaves on the trees, the birds and insects. Then the rough, changeable weather. I fall out of time in a house full of stories and find myself in a clearly perceptible present."
Raffael Bader, 2024
JOE BENNELL GRIEVE
Mosquito Farm- Joe Bennell Grieve
Drastic Detached - Joe Bennell Grieve
When Joe arrived at Colstoun in October 2022 he was the guinea pig for our entire residency programme, he's never one to shy away from a challenge and so without much thought or planning at the start of our residency journey I said to him... "so what do you want to do?"... he quickly responded "I want to paint a really big painting"... and so we set about collaborating on a giant work... he provided the creativity, the paint, the canvas, the wood, the ability and I provided a space... seems like a pretty fair collaboration.
Within days what started to unfold is unlike anything I was expecting. after stretching a canvas over 4m wide and 2.4m tall (a single canvas by the way not a diptych) he began to paint another painting... in my mind I am thinking to myself what on earth is happening here? and then another canvas appears, and another one again... at this point I think to myself a young 25 year old has had a laugh and this guy has no idea what he's doing. but over the course of a month Joe painted and painted and explored and foraged his way around Colstoun producing a number of large works, a massive painting and countless sketches and studies
Grieve has provided two works for RESIDENT I, 'Mosquito Farm' a comedic painting whereby mosquitos have literally sucked the colour out of an otherwise brilliant vivid colourful painting, and 'Drastic Detached' a psychadelic landscapes full of figurative elements and cloud inversions that only develops the more you view it.
LARA COBDEN
Lara immersed herself into the night at Colstoun becoming semi nocturnal during her stay with us, she produced a number of studies and paintings whilst with us and subsequently on the theme of Colstoun and the night.
"A true and surreal midsummer’s dream and a visual novel of images absorbed - ideas percolating, these meanderings have sent me down many creative rabbit holes and prompted ideas that I’m excited to explore now back in my studio...
Armed with many sketches, photos, ink drawings and a head full of memories, I’m exploring ideas for a collection of small diary paintings to inform new larger works."
We've chosen a collection of 9 smaller works and a larger work called 'Echo Constellation'
Echo Constellation - Lara Cobden
Night paintings part of a series of 16 works on board by Lara Cobden
"Effervescent with light and colour, frothing with cow parsley and wildflowers, swooping swallows, glowing sunsets, crescent moons and late night dark skies filled with stars...
I didn’t have to wait long for the mysterious Haar mist to roll in and wrap itself across the landscape like a blanket, softening edges and subduing colours - enchanting me to paint.... I love the quietness that thick mist brings and the editing out of diminishing details - paths leading off to unknown destinations, bridges crossing to disappearing land and trees that melt into the clouds - a beautiful challenge to recreate on canvas which I am enjoying, evoking the quiet softness with a limited palette.
Exploring the woods I came across roe deer, pheasants, woodpeckers, mistle thrushes, song birds, buzzards, kestrels, old pines with huge canopies to lie under..."
Extract from writing by Lara Cobden on Colstoun -2023
MARINA RENEE CEMMICK
Marina is an accomplished artist working in a range of mediums including charcoal, colour pencil and oil paint. Originally from Dorset, Marina showed talent for portraiture and drawing at an early age. After studying Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art, she became a MA scholar on the Drawing year at The Royal Drawing School, London before reconnecting with her love for Scotland. She now lives and works at Kelburn Castle where she curates their sculpture trail 'The Neverending Glen'.
Cemmick's work is in HRH King Charles' Royal Collection, with an extensive resumé of international exhibitions including Christies, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters and New English Arts Club, Mall Galleries, London.
There Are Colours In The Earth - Marina Renee Cemmick
Bathing in Liquid Light - Marina Renee Cemmick
Cemmick provided two works for RESIDENT I, both with her signature bold palette, without directly painting structure it is found in her work through use of colour and suggestion. 'Bathing in Liquid Light' slowly shows all its figures in a mess of orange, yellow and red revealing itself slowly to the viewer.
JEN HITCHINGS
"Spending six weeks at Colstoun was a transformational experience to say the least. I embarked with the intention of researching metaphysical subjects such as Celtic and Norse mythology, hermeticism, theology and theosophy, and cultural phenomena such as hysteria and witch trials. While ruminating on these matters, I observed and explored the plant life and grounds of Colstoun, noticing and imagining forms, patterns, light, and colour in the landscape. What resulted was dozens of sketches, writings, and over a dozen paintings and watercolours combining all of these elements of thought and observation which ultimately captured a mysterious darkness in light quality and grandiosity of the trees and house itself."
I spent time considering geometric structures and historically significant symbols and sequences–the triquetra and triskelion of Celtic and Greek traditions, for example–to build paintings. I combined and altered what I saw in nature to portray uncanny, suggestive, subliminal compositions, often concentrating on the creek that encircles the property. Elements of ancient myths from various cultures focusing on the role of the woman as seductress, muse, or malevolent sorceress lie within each piece I developed. Returning to Los Angeles, I look forward to inc
Jen Hitchings, 2024
Triquetra (Colstoun Water) - Jen Hitchings
Lilith in 7 Phases - Jen Hitchings
SUHAYLAH H.
Suhaylah H is fond of the term dreamscapes frequently given to her art, especially as she often references scenes or ideas from her dreams. Dabbling in everything from figuration to total abstraction, Suhaylah H is consistently drawn back to landscapes as a means of exploring the connection between material and immaterial worlds. Her studies in Environmental Geography and Comparative Literature at university fuelled her obsession with the intersection of landscape and symbolism.
Colstoun Snow Melt Study - Suhaylah H.
When Shall We Three Meet Again - Suhaylah H.
Suhaylah’s work has been appreciated by a number of notable institutions including recently the Victoria & Albert Museum who collaborated with Suhaylah on a limited edition print series. Her works have also featured in many notable international collections with increasing interest in recent time especially from Far East collectors.
Suhaylah's dreamscapes include both large- and small-scale observations of her own explorations of East Anglian terrain – from the medieval ruins at Bury St. Edmunds to swampy reservoirs, quiet lakes, mossy rocks, woven bird nests, labyrinthine roots and tapestries of vines.
Such experiences and reflections are collected through drawings, photographs, and films which attempt to record something of the intangible mysteries of these places, alongside written notes on ideas about myth, religion and history that may inspire her artistic symbolism.
River in Viridian - Suhaylah H.
ANGELIQUE NAGOVSKAYA
Clovertrails - Angelique Nagovskaya
Awakening Within - Angelique Nagovskaya
Angelique graduated with a BFA in Fine Art and a BA in Art History from Cornell University prior to pursuing an MA at the Royal College of Art. We welcomed her to Colstoun in the Spring of 2024 during which time she was shown at Guts Gallery and BWG.
Angelique has spent years exploring her inner landscape, representing the maze of emotional and spiritual limitations of humanity. self exploratory and disorientating 'Awakening Within' has the ability like a classical produced portrait to follow you around a space and take on many different appearances, colours appear richer or softer depending on lighting and as you the viewer grow and invest time in observation the painting repays you by revealing more of its secrets. Like a good human relationship as time progresses so does your understanding of the work and your connectedness to it.