We had a peaceful twelve days at Gunyah in November. I started doing another round of edits on my novel Totem, a bit of a painful process - made much easier by all the distractions/inspirations nearby. The moon eclipsed and turned blood red on our second night there - we went and watched it down on the jetty. Another night we saw bioluminescence in the foam lapping at the shore of the boat ramp down the road. As promised by my friend Vanessa Berry (and as other artists in residence have mentioned in their reports), there were two very friendly sheep dogs just up the road who were available for pats on afternoon strolls; we also saw the silky backs of a pod of dolphins one sunset at the cove (after many fruitless evenings scanning the waves), were visited by kookaburras, and I returned several times to the Yacaaba headland to do the challenging walk to the summit. The window seat was my work station and I spent many hours there reading, thinking, half or fully asleep, and idly taking notes. Plans and schemes were formed and ideas took shape. I'd love to return one day. Thank you Gunyah!
Annelise Roberts
Gunyah Residency Report
November 2022
My time at Gunyah was very productive. I set up downstairs, with my computer, monitors, midi controllers and guitar, with a full window view of the bushy back yard and North Arm Cove waters. It was a dynamic setting, there was always weather, bird wars and boats to watch from the still and contemplative room. I managed to write a substantial chunk of an audio/visual piece of music I had been envisaging. This is the first piece of music I have written with actual music notation for possibly 10 years, so it was nice to connect with that style of working again. I found the residency productive in the standard sense, the sense I was expecting, but I also found it to be productive on a deeper level. The landscape, the atmosphere, and the inward facing process of writing music that is yet to be played unearthed some emotional holdings that I didn’t know were there. In this way the residency became a space to explore and process these feelings and really confront unexamined beliefs I have about myself as an artist and composer. Hard feelings at times, but so refreshing to unearth, process and return back to Melbourne feeling quite different. I look forward to developing further what I started at Gunyah next year.
Jack Palmer
Gunyah Residency Report
November 2022
