Winter Residency 23-24

Seven artists were selected for the residency which started in the first week of December 2023 and concluded in last week of February 2024.

Tebogo Boikanyo Matshana, a visual artist and writer based in Johannesburg South Africa. She has founded the Birdhouse Interactive platform which combines visual art, narrative poetry and technology towards digital storytelling. In addition, she works as an Archivist at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg South Africa. Tebogo visited the MS University Fine Arts Department at Baroda and many other historic buildings around Gujarat. She continued working on her poems and illustrations during the residency. She also conducted Tunnel book where participants had the opportunity to transpose a poem of their own into an accompanying visualization of a tunnel book.

Michael Zank, a Boston based writer, currently traveling in Europe and India, worked on a book-length study on Maimonides and his modern readers (Spinoza, Cohen, Strauss). He is also a great musician and enthralled everyone with his clarinet. While Michael was at the Boathouse, he became a father figure to Miko.

Miriam Shenitzer, Boston based Artist and Educator, took a workshop on How to DRAW with hands and not mind, in which she made participants draw with their left hand using sticks, brushes and other media. Miriam worked on her artworks of flowers on Fabric Panels and displayed them at Boathouse. She also indulged in shopping and sightseeing with other artists while taking long cycling trips around the Boathouse.

Vanessa Valero, a textile Designer from Colombia, explored the old city and worked exhaustively on hand made paper using inks. She gave a talk at Anant University and also visited the students’ exhibition at the National Institute of Design. She also conducted a workshop on Pattern making which was enjoyed by all the participants.

Hans Pelsmacker, a Belgian sculptor, artist, ceramist, textile designer also works with glass. Hans was very architecturally motivated. He was exhaustively looking at works of all the famous architects Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, B V Doshi, Gurjit Singh Matharoo. He even travelled to neighbouring city of Patan and Baroda to look at the architecture there. Alternating between one day of exploration and one days of absorption, Hans balanced his time in the residency. The Basement studio was dear to him for the way it began to glow in the morning with the eastern sun and remained cool throughout the day despite the sweltering heat of Ahmedabad. His works with paper and scraps of metal and fabric were greatly inspired by his architectural observations. Hans also gave a Talk at the Anant University.

Thérèse Lynch, an Irish born multi-disciplinary artist based in Glasgow, is a successful editor, cutting programmes for television, while bringing up her family. While most artists are feverishly working or busy networking with local artists, Therese was more interested in taking long walks in the pastoral landscape.

 ” My work is rooted in a playful exploration of process and materials. I arrived without an artistic objective and no materials, my intention to immerse in the unique circumstances of the location and respond creatively and innovatively. “Strait and Narrow” is the outcome of this process. Constructed from discarded kite-string and confetti scavenged from the Boathouse environs, the rigid, towering sculpture rises four meters from the ground. ..In time, this work will fall away, dissipate, leaving only the memory of it, echoing the ephemeral nature of existence itself.” 

Susanne Hangaard, a noted ceramist and artist from Denmark explored visual motifs in Ahmedabad for her future designs. She gave a talk at the Anant University and enchanted students.