Can Serrat International Artist Residency, El Bruc, Spain May 2-31st, 2023

Generously supported by The Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Abroad Program

For the month of May 2023, I was invited to stay at Can Serrat, a 300-year-old farmhouse estate turned international artist residency in El Bruc, a small town south of Barcelona in Spain. There I joined twenty other artists from all over the world and given access to individual artist studios, including four multidisciplinary studio spaces, a print making studio and accommodations set within two-and-a-half-acres. Spanning three decades, Can Serrat has hosted artist residencies, workshops, readings, theatre, and countless other events to provide artists with a creative haven with an eye on nurturing the neighboring village of El Bruc. Throughout the month there were frequent trips to the markets in El Bruc and Callbato; hikes to Montserrat to visit the monastery; and day trips to Barcelona. I was also fortunate to take part in an artist exchange with a nearby artist residency inLoft in Copons.

The aim of my residency was broadly to reflect on my artistic practice removed from my home country and studio and take time to explore some ideas about light and magnetism. I brought a variety of materials with me to draw and create light-based artworks and research ongoing projects such as LIGHT INSITU.

LIGHT INSITU explores the unique light in place, and its variations around the planet. The project began with commissioning a glass artist to craft a clear glass tube that has been gently twisted to form waves along its walls. These waves create distortion and are intended to represent an alternate light perception. Like a lens to filter out the appearance of straight lines, solids, and color, the glass tube becomes a means to connect with another spectrum, such as to the waves of electromagnetic currents that continuously flood space yet escape our perception.

The first pieces to emerge from the residency came from taking photos of the surrounding landscape with the glass tube. Mirage in Montserrat depicts the glass tube placed in front of Montserrat, a multi-peaked mountain range meaning “serrated mountain” in Catalan. During the residency, Montserrat was a prominent feature of the landscape, a defining edge often spied during my frequent hikes in the area. The waves in the glass distorted the perception of the mountain and altered the view of the horizon. In several images the glass created the appearance of a passage through the mountain range, like a mirage offering a phantom route to the other side.

Similarly, the glass tube placed at the entrance to the residency melds with the surrounding landscape. It reminded me of superposition. In quantum mechanics, a superposition is the ability to be in multiple states at the same time until it is measured. The glass tube creates a disruption in perception; a section of the view that is scrambled, pointing to an alternate spectrum of light.

Variations of light were rendered especially visible when I turned my focus on light itself. The waves in the glass tube cast a dramatic play of light and shadow that appear to transcend the object’s limits, such as in Light shadows.

To conclude the month, all the residents’ contributed their choice of text and imagery to create a fanzine together as a material reminder of our residency. This was an initiative that was carried out by the residents who collaborated, funded, printed and hand bound the books. A pdf version can be found below.

Can Serrat May 2023 Fanzine