Full Circle VARC Artist’s Residency with Marc Rigelsford (aka Magic Arm)
This August I am delighted to be a VARC Full Circle Artist in Residence with sound artist Marc Rigelsford (aka Magic Arm).
Over two weeks in August Marc and I will be working towards the creation of a seasonal sound piece and site specific installation for the VARC Full Circle celebration on September 6th 2025.
Our Full Circle residency will culminate in a collective gathering on the moors of Highgreen on September 6th 2025. People are encouraged to select one of a hundred small stones, each wrapped in a tone of indigo dyed felt, to take with them on a walk. We will gather together within a stone circular sheep stell. This is the site for our seasonal sound composition to be experienced intimately through wireless headphones. Everyone is invited in turn to place their wrapped stone, one by one, on top of the blue felted wall, completing a full circle ceremon.
Site specific installation with indigo dyed felted wool from Fransje Samson with sound composition featuring haiku written and read by Patrick Gabler, 150ft stone circular sheep stell on the moorlands of Highgreen.
On these endless days
A sky draped in pure pigment
Of infinite blue
- Patrick Gabler
‘In 2025, VARC will be celebrating an incredible achievement – 25 years of supporting artists and providing creative activity in rural Northumberland.
It will also be the conclusion of VARC as we know it, as the funding that founder Leo Amery so generously put into the charity will have been spent. There could well be another part of the VARC story, but to mark the end of this chapter, former artists-in-residence will shape the final year programme, Full Circle.
All VARC artists were invited to express their interest in spending time back at Highgreen. Some responded with the idea of finishing a project that they had started on their residency, and others proposed to make completely new artworks or suggested new collaborations. The impossible task of shortlisting from over twenty submissions lead to a decision to try and make all the projects happen.’