Our last day at Gullkistan we went hiking near one of the oldest churches in Iceland. we walked by milky waterfalls and rapids lined with wild blueberry bushes ( albeit a month too early to gorge ourselves). Brooke went with Jon the Mountaineer husband of Alda, one of the 2 women who run the residency, and I took the “high” road back the way we came. When we saw Brooke stranded on a tall wall of shale I was glad I did. She crawled up Auke’s body to get the plants to grab on to. Filthy footed but happy she made it and even tracked the challenge points on her GPS. An art piece will follow soon.
We showed our work in progress of Tangled Dreams through the temporary rust screen Brooke made and we got some great feedback for the final editing when we get back. Also have another video installation in the works. Very lucky to have met such an amazing and eclectic group of artists including Auke, a terrific young animator from Holland, Guttrun, a former East German artist living in Paris, Amy, a new media artist from N. Carolina, and Yu Jun, an incredible concert composer as well as every other kind of musical genre imaginable just to name a few.
As with my two other residencies I used my time at Gullkistan to get back to my “roots”, drawing and painting what was around me and letting ideas that had been back burnered by the busy-ness of my “regular” life, bubble up to the front of my mind. I am sure these beginnings will lead to exciting work in the months and even years to come!
Did you know that golf was big in Iceland – short season but long days.
Elizabeth Sher Media Artist 