Writing Artists’ Residencies in Scotland: The value of residency experiences from the perspective of the artist

Iles, Morag (2024) Writing Artists’ Residencies in Scotland: The value of residency experiences from the perspective of the artist. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Conducted in collaboration with three Scottish residency organisations: Bothy Project, Cove Park and The Work Room, this research project explores the value of artist residency experiences in the practice, career, and livelihood of artists. Following an ontologically driven framework, which acknowledges the performative nature of the research process (Gibson-Graham 2008), this research purposefully prioritises the processes of value formation from the perspective of the artist; capturing how residencies are felt and experienced by residents in relation to ongoing material and discursive entanglements.

The varying activities and residency offers proffered by Bothy Project, Cove Park and The Work Room are indicative of the range and scope of residency practices available in the contemporary climate. As studies, each organisation’s residency offer is not intended to (re)present an exemplar residency opportunity in a simple positive sense (Vergunst and Graham 2019). Rather, this thesis exemplifies and demonstrates the environmental and conceptual conditions in which ideas, practices, and artworks flow through the world. In turn it draws attention to that which artists are working with in the development of their practice and identity.

The nascent academic field of residency research, within which this study resides, has accelerated during the delivery of this thesis, with the majority of theory being developed by the sector and practice-led research. This thesis contributes to this by highlighting a constellation of value-based themes, which research participants have identified as cumulatively transforming their practice identities and artistic subjectivities (Mezirow 2008; Wakefield 2013). Framing residency as a process-method (Healy McMeans 2021), the research advocates ‘artist-centred’ residency opportunities, in which residencies are considered part of the ‘textility of making’ (Ingold 2009).

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported by funding from Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities (SGSAH), University of Glasgow College of Arts ‘Research Training Support Grant’, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council ‘Engagement Funding’ via SGSAH.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Literature
• Supervisor's Name: Zoë, Dr. Strachan, McCue, Professor Kirsteen and Rodger, Professor Johnny
• Date of Award: 2024
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2024-84430
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 03 Jul 2024 11:28
• Last Modified: 03 Jul 2024 11:32
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.84430
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/84430

Related URLs

• https://doi.org/10.17868/73633
• https://arrcsite.org/