I’d done a site visit before going for my first residency stay at Wysing Arts Centre, so I knew what to expect. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming there as well, which helped make the most of our time.
It was nice to work in a different space. I enjoyed the farmhouse and being in the country.
I am going to use the time at Wysing to make a full-scale horse puppet of a character called Ned. Ned is a royal hippy horse and will be part of some of my performances when he is finished.
I worked a bit differently than I do in the studio. I was able to connect with nature a bit more, and it was nice that I didn’t have to rush off to get the train because the place we were staying was onsite.
We were trying out some new techniques – we found out what worked and didn’t work and might use this in the future. The tail took a long time to make – I thought it looked really good – all the colours mixed together. For Ned’s tail next time, I might not use withies and instead use artificial hair or leather or something.
When I go back, I’d like to try working in a couple of different spaces. There is one outdoor venue I’d like to use in summer and also the gallery space, which could be good for a performance as well.
Wysing Arts Centre is a thriving cultural campus in South Cambridgeshire which hosts experimental artist residencies. This year, the team at Wysing invited Lucy to spend time there to explore her practice within the rural setting of the site and the context of their residency theme for the year of re/wild.
Led by her own deepening interests in puppetry and performance, Lucy is using the time there to explore working with natural materials and with iterative making processes. The residency will continue in 2023.