All that I have (poems & collage) La Joya,Los Gazquez, Spain

We have been collaborating as artists for a few years now. Sometimes working very directly with each other and at others times in a looser role; acting more as a kind of sounding board for each other. Our working relationship is based on a common sensitivity and a fluency in the way we create and also how we read ours and others work. We use this and our knowledge and experience of making to define and refine ideas for new work through dialogue.

So far the work we have engaged with has been very diverse, ranging from large and permanent public commissions through to short intimate films.

An idea that has been incubating for a while now is the desire to collaborate on a book which combines images with text. This idea came out of a series of collages called Duende that Kate began two years ago triggered by the death of her mother. Working in David’s studio up in Scotland Kate felt more able to tackle this subject at a distance from her familiar environment and from the one she had shared with her mother before her death. David talked with Kate around the work and helped her articulate her thoughts about the pieces.

This kind of stimulus and response, involving text and poetry in a discourse with imagery made through collage, seemed to ask to be given further consideration in its own right and as a starting point. The possibility to literally cut and paste in the twin processes make it seem an obvious way to collaborate across the disciplines, shaping and reshaping their forms through a continuing dialogue.

We had been waiting for an opportunity and a location that feels the right time and place and Joya: arte + ecología at Cortijada Los Gázquez possibly was it.