V.A.R.C mini residency

Visual Arts in Rural Communities (VARC) is based at Highgreen, Tarset, in Northumberland. VARC funds and manages an ongoing programme of artist residencies, providing opportunities for artists to develop their work in response to the rural landscape.
In July 2024, I was invited for a mini residency at VARC by the artist Jenny Purrett. We had never met before, but we had followed each other’s work on Instagram. We share a deep interest in nature, drawing, and the continual exploration of organic materials.
Jenny was a great and very generous host. We began the day working on a large scale in a muddy field, surrounded by foxgloves and saplings emerging from trees damaged during Storm Arwen. Wrens flitted in and out of their nests, hidden among heaps of dead branches—an environment that, at first glance, seemed chaotic and destroyed but was, in fact, teeming with life and regeneration.
Immersing ourselves in this landscape, we used clay, peat, and ink to create spontaneous marks, with the rain and wind becoming our unwitting collaborators. Later, we moved to the studio, where we worked with botanical inks I had brought and clay we had gathered from the field.
Together, we created a series of drawings that explored the unique properties of clay and peat as drawing materials. The results were both surprising and deeply satisfying—particularly a discovery of peat’s velvety, deep black tones.
I also returned to the field and experimented with hammering foxgloves to transfer their natural dyes from flowers to paper.
The experience of working in direct connection with the landscape, using materials sourced from it, undoubtedly invigorated my practice. It opened new ways of creating art and deepened my connection to nature.