Inside Out. Artist Residency July 2023, @DepARTmentryde.

Ryde Arts periodically commision artists to spend time in a window space that faces a busy high street in Ryde, the idea that artists can create new work, try out ideas…but that their process is shared - live - with the general pulic who pass by outside. Both windows face an often busy bus stop, and the space I occupied had a front and elevated floor level, like a stage.

From the inside the window captured a rectangle of ever moving bustle, buses parking, coming and going, and presented a wide cross range of people who could sit, stand and look in. This rectangle was like a TV, presenting a slice of Ryde life in real time. As a site and time-specific artist, I wanted to incorporate the big features the space had to offer from the inside, which, by default, presented a never-ending narrative of the outside, public.

The only seperation was the 1cm(?) thick glass.

This residency, then, became an examination of how the inside collides with the outside, the interior with exterior, the mind with outside obligations. How the collision between the (art) educated abstract artist balanced with the art knowledge of people on the street, how the marks both spaces created would overlap or would they be different? Would one set be ‘better’ than the other? Does knowledge shine through? And, of course, I was interested to explore the idea of hierarchy, access to art ( esp abstract work), the place of artwork and spaces of the subconscious with the constant watch of the public. Could I create a three dimensional painting, essentially, that encompassed the inside and outside space of the bus stop and could I create an impermanent environment where people could move through painted expressive marks?

There is a booklet that has been produced about musings, findings and ideas for further research. Please email for copy.