Artist Rebecca Wyn Kelly in conversation with The Hide director, Alice Sheppard Fidler

Thanks for sharing some thoughts about your stay Rebecca.

Firstly, you mentioned the importance of sharing? Can you say something about the critiques?

 As a practising artist and someone who has been out of education for three or four years, one of the most crucial parts of your practice is sharing that practice with other people. I believe critical engagement can only really happen properly when there's other parties involved. It’s about having honest feedback and a neutral opinion of your artwork, and someone like yourself who can step in and give an objective version of your practice, because we can fall so deeply into our own thoughts and feelings, and our own opinions of what we should be doing or shouldn't be doing.

Is that why you chose The Hide?

I think artists who go on residency make a conscious decision to do so because they are looking for a different way of working, a different opinion, or a different path. The best bit about the The Hide residency for me was the offer of critiques because it felt like someone had my back, someone's observing and someone's helping. Having someone step in and switch you in a different direction or ask a question that you haven't thought to ask yourself, is invaluable, because the questions we ask ourselves are very different from the questions that people will ask of us as an artist.

You mentioned the relationship to an audience

Sometimes, I think we forget in our practices that there is an audience test as well.

We are always going to put our own opinions onto that audience, so it's having that objective through critique and having someone who can help you to step outside of what you are doing.

What about the critique structure?

There is a big difference between creating work by yourself in your living room or your studio, and stepping into somewhere like The Hide on a residency and having someone like yourself ask, how about a crit at the beginning?  Maybe have one at the end? Because that way you are held accountable for what you are doing. I think that accountability is important in art, and we forget you must be held accountable for the stuff you're trying to communicate. Sometimes you can be too apprehensive about inviting those critical moments, that critical engagement.

Rebecca and Alice in the end room

When we were chatting you talked about the importance of space, can you elaborate?

One of the biggest offers you make is space, that important space for critical engagement, but also a space outside of your practice, a fresh location, and fresh environments in a different place. And at The Hide you potentially have access to both a clean space, the end room with all those windows, as a reading room or contemplation space, and a dirty space, if we can call it that, the studio. Those two spaces are really important for artists.

I felt like if I wanted to, I was able to go into the studio and paint or pin things into the wall as well as have enough space to layout those letters in front of a fire in the big end room. I always have a fire going somewhere usually, so I have loved having the wood burner.

In terms of outdoor space, Obviously I am here in November, but there is a huge amount of outdoor space too, a big courtyard and the whole of the garden.  If I came back in six months’ time with a different project in mind, I could have been down in the garden the whole time.

Another thing that came up was the relationship between residency and community?

Contemporary art is quite specific, is quite difficult to find people who will be able to engage with a practice that's quite complicated. We all need to share and find a way to be in a community of people. On the residencies I've done, there's always been other artists floating around and it’s important to accept that. You find a way to work with and be with those artists, there's give and take. We also know, as artists, within two minutes your whole concept of what you need to be doing can change, so we need to be flexible too.

Finally, you mentioned Bohemia, which was a bit of a surprise, can you explain?

The Hide as a complex is fab. It is a bohemian home and it’s clearly all about creativity. It’s obvious your passion as a family is art and culture and inviting people into that space is quite a special invitation really, allowing that culture to seep into other people’s lives.

You are inviting other bohemians and like-minded people into your space, that's a great thing to celebrate. when you're on residency there's an expectation that you're free, a freedom that you might not be getting in your studio or at home every day. At The Hide, your freedom matters. I really felt like if I wanted to dance round the garden naked I could!

Thanks Rebecca.
It was lovely having you here. Good luck with the project.

Rebecca ad Alice in the studio