Doug Shaw: Exploring the Path
Photograph taken by Doug Shaw out on the Minchinhampton Commons
Previous resident Doug Shaw shares his experience from a week-long residency in The Suite at The Hide in July 2024, funded by the Arts Network Sutton.
I undertook a week long residency at The Hide in July 2024, funded by the arts charity, Arts Network Sutton. My time there was largely reflective, bookended by two mentoring sessions. I walked the local area extensively, contemplating and working on my current creative project 'The Path' in a new setting. I recorded the experience using a blend of creative techniques, alongside conversations with people I met on my travels.
My intention was to reflect on my practice and explore my current project through techniques familiar and unfamiliar to me. I took a variety of artistic materials with me to The Hide, and after my first mentoring session, I settled on a minimalist approach.
I had planned to travel more widely across The Cotswolds but there was so much to explore locally I chose to focus on where I could get to under my own steam. My car didn’t move an inch all week.
Having chosen to take a pared down creative approach, I used basic printing techniques to record my travels, backed up with photography and journaling, two skills I've not previously used much. I walked almost 100km up hill, down dale, through woodlands, over commons. I researched local places of interest and spent time in nature. I collected leaves and feathers and used these to make relief and cyanotype prints as a way of cataloguing my walks. I took lots of photos - really spent time getting close to nature, and I wrote a reflective journal. I made time to engage with people on my walks - speaking to pretty much anyone and everyone I came across. People gave me tips and advice, and my journeys were often tweaked because of these interactions.
There were many highlights from my time away - an obvious one perhaps - is the huge benefit of having a whole week largely to myself. I phoned home most days - and after chatting with my partner Carole one afternoon, I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary alone in a pub looking out over the hills at sundown. It was fab - the view and the dinner I mean :)
The mentoring sessions with Alice were useful and they're helping me think about further developments to my practice.
If I had to pick something that really stands out - early in the residency, I spent maybe 15 minutes in conversation with a guy named Chris. We met on a ridge on Redborough Common where a strong breeze was enabling kestrels and buzzards to soar fantastically. We watched the birds, and as we spoke, Chris picked a tiny plant for me which I ended up recording as part of my cyanotype collection. Chris also recommended a local ice cream factory which I visited several times, and an abandoned gothic building deep in the woods which I visited the following day. This interaction with Chris spawned new ideas, and I captured a lovely photo of a kestrel wings open in the wind. I will remember this conversation and what came from it - for a very long time.
The legacy from my time at The Hide is still being shaped. I plan to apply to the Arts Council for DYCP funding, and my new interest in bookmaking is developing. My community art practice has shifted slightly - I'm more confident in letting my own practice infuse some of this work. For example, I'm running a pop up print workshop using the path of the Wandle as inspiration, and I've been running bookmaking sessions, showing others how easy it is to make your own journals.
- Doug Shaw, July 2024