On the 15th July I boarded the plane to Cyprus flying from Bristol to begin my residency at the Cyprus College of Art. I had been thinking about this for a while and was excited about being accept onto the residency programme, spending up to six months abroad in another country.
For the following six months I knew I would be meeting some new artist friends during the summer school months and travelling across the country, both in the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish occupied territory, visiting sites and exploring Cyprian culture, daily life and this beautiful island.
The heat hit me as soon as I disembarked from the plane, hugging me - immediately the sweat began to pour from my body - I could not wait to change into something more comfortable.
When I arrived I met George who was in the studios, working away. He showed me around the studios then my room. After arriving and being shown around I settled in and changed into something a little more comfortable, before heading back to the studios, meeting Ken, who is also staying here. We introduced ourselves and had a quick conversation about the place before heading to the studio to make some calls to my family and friends letting them know of my safe arrival.
This week has been spent generally relaxing, meeting other artists staying here for a month or two and exploring the immediate surroundings, walking in the countryside, going to the beaches for a swim, having long conversations on art, music and life, sharing stories and anecdotes. The days are very hot and humid, with the occasion cooler days and evenings, allowing me to do a little work, but the days can get so hot that you just want to sit, read and drink plenty of water.
The other artists (Ken, Tom, Holly, Natasha, David, Gwenan, George and Vicki plus three more arriving on Monday), are a mixture of fine artists, illustrators and designers currently studying for their BA or about to embark on their MA course. Joseph , a visiting Professor from the Republic of Czechoslovakia will be giving a talk about his work and I've had the pleasure of discussing our work, the importance of humour and sharing our thoughts about art, life and culture. We will be giving a talk about our work next Wednesday to the rest of the group and we hope everyone will also share and talk about their work too.
On Monday a few of us will be exploring the west region to visit some sites, Monasteries and visiting some villages - I will be sharing these images in my next post and will have more to share with you. In the meantime I hope you enjoy these images and if you would like to see more and be kept up to date you can find me on Twitter (@adgros), Facebook or via my website (www.adamgrose.com).
Until next time - Ad ;D
