In May 2016 Rowan and I travelled to Podere Conte Racani in Umbria, Italy to complete a 10 day artist in residency. Tomaso Thellung, the artistic director of the cultural park at the Racani farm selected myself and Canadian, Russian born, Ilya Viryachev to be part of his dream to create a cultural attraction for tourists.
Ilya created a beautiful mural of The Poet on the side of a converted barn that is developing into a performance/gallery space. Rowan and I created two sculptures inspired by the magnifico natural surrounds of the property we were staying on.
Ilya created the following video that captures our shared experience at the residency..... https://vimeo.com/167567065 
Our interview and overview of the residency can be found on this link  http://www.conteracani.it/
For a viewing of my digital presentation of our residency...use this link x........ https://prezi.com/hih10gfgvd4_/artist-in-residency/#

La Potenza e Armonia della Natura 
The Power and Harmony of Nature
This sculpture was inspired by the powerful efforts of nature found in the wooded area of the Racani property. Roots growing through rocks, trees sprouting from the centre of a giant boulder, the ivy (edera) growing over everything and the beauty of the poppies (papavero)
The wine/olive oil storage bottle was also discovered on site and became the feature of the sculpture.
Most of the iron used in this piece was also found close to this site. Some of the upcycled iron was 80 years old!
We installed this piece at the base of a giant, ancient oak tree next to the cultural building adorned with Ilya's mural.

Racani Yin Yang
This piece was inspired by the namesake of the property, the racani lizards.
Anna, the farm owner particularly loves these cheeky little creatures, and once we started seeing them with their vivid green markings and lightening quick movements, it was decided that they would have a sculpture of their own.
The pedestal for the piece was created from 80 year old iron trusses found on site.
These images are taken outside our studio.

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Pictured below are the 6 art cards from the Italian Residency series! 3 are images from my travel sketchbook and 3 are beautiful favourite images of the sculptures. These are available for $5 each x
($5 p/h will be added to any postal orders)
​contact me for order enquires x

This was a gift for Anna I created from the old fencing wire found on site xxx It has been wired on to an old cattle yolk above the fireplace.
Thanks to Tomaso and Anna for including us in their cultural dream!