A week-long in-person residency at MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland centered on history and folklore.
Using the rural community of Sanquhar, Scotland as a laboratory, artists will spend a week making artwork; learning about the place, its people, and its history; and discussing how art can capture, share, reflect, comment, and otherwise engage with a sense of place. The goal of the residency is to develop an individual methodology for responding to place in one’s art practice and to make a work of art about Sanquhar that speaks to and about the people and land. Our hope is that artists will return to their home communities with fresh eyes and be prepared to see their communities in a unique way.
During the residency, artists will make an artwork that will be exhibited at MERZ Gallery as part of “Mythical Landscape: Secrets of the Vale”, an exhibition by an international group of artists, all of whom traveled to Sanquhar to investigate a sense of place and make artwork that speaks to the rich history and folklore of the region. Artworks reference stories from the past (true or otherwise), consider the history of the region, and speculate on future myths and legends.