Winter Artists Residencies 2025

About the Open Call

Winter Artists Residencies 2025 A Sometimes Project Each Residency has a unique theme, and two lead artists or specialists who will inspire and provoke you to think, create and respond differently to this theme. Each residency takes place in a stunning location in Devon/on Dartmoor, in accommodation with shared dorm-style sleeping arrangements, and social spaces that have open fires. A chef will provide breakfast, lunch and evening meal. There is no expectation to create new work (we cannot offer exhibition opportunities attached to the residencies). We ask for one page of something made on site to include in a future zine-style publication. The residencies are self-funded. This years themes are: The Lithic Estuary, with artist Dr. Rona Lee and Poet Dr. Alyson Sarah Hallett (at Saltercrease House) 31st Oct to 3rd Nov Migration, Identity and Rurality, with writer Dr. Davina Quinlivan and film maker Antonina Szram (at Saltercrease House) 4th to 7th Nov Embodied Archaelogy for Artists, with Alan Endacott and Fay Stevens (at Bellever YHA) 2nd - 5th December 2025 The Lithic Estuary with artist Dr. Rona Lee and Poet Dr. Alyson Hallett at Saltercrease House, on the Erme Estuary, South Devon This intimate artists’ residenciy has only 4 spaces available. This means you will have time and space for more meaningful engagement with Rona and Alyson, and with the residency themes. Laura and Caroline (A Sometimes Project), also artists, will be joining you. Over 2 days and 3 nights we will walk, watch the stars, and move with the tide. Rona's workshop: Amulets or specimens, inert or sensate, decorative or industrial? Minerals form crucial elements within both earth and bodily systems. In this workshop we will take different 'mineral' artefacts - geological postcards, stone ashtrays, inlaid marble tables (produced for 19th century collectors / colonists) and sparboxes (imaginative assemblages of found crystals made by miners) - as a starting point for engaging creatively and critically with existing and yet to be conceived mineral imaginaries. We will explore ideas of the more than human, geo-representation and extractivism, experimenting - through play, sharing making, talking, reading, collage, abstraction, deconstruction, found materials and actions - with artistic methods of developing new ecologies of the lithic. Alyson’s workshop: Listening to Stones. What does it mean to listen to stones? Do they have voices? What language do they speak? How can human ears perceive the vibrational frequencies of slate, granite, scree? During this workshop, we will make experiments together and share articulations of what we hear and see and feel. There will be an emphasis upon valuing creative practice as a site of exploration in relation to rocks and stones. We will also read poems and texts that augment our understanding of what listening and writing can be. The work will be fun, experiential and open to anyone who is interested in exploring how we relate to rocks and stones. Migration, Identity and Rurality, with Dr. Davina Quinlivan (writer) and Antonina Szram (Film maker) at Saltercrease House, on the Erme Estuary, South Devon. This intimate residency has only 4 spaces available. This means you will have time and space for more meaningful engagement with Davina and Antonina, and with the residency themes. Laura and Caroline (A Sometimes Project), will be joining you. We will be thinking about the ship carrying Joanna of Aragon who was rushing back to Spain to claim the throne of Castile when their fleet were wrecked in the area. The wreck is totally submerged, but is now a seagrass bed which is a nursery for sea horses. Davina plans to explore the idea of Joanna's voice and sounds connected to the living world through text and image. We will explore the idea of the river as a space of 'phantasy' and haunted archive. Climate, colonialism and migratory presences will be explored through free association, automatic handwriting experiments and we may even create a tarot deck based on the stories we encounter (via archives and a walking tour of the site). Beyond Joanna's story, I will build on my own body of work which focuses on radical concepts of embodiment, nature, mythology, ancestral knowledge, class and identity. If we try to 'resurrect' Joanna, what is brought to the surface and why would her story matter to us now? What can we learn and where do we both belong now as inhabitants of Devon? How do our stories intersect and why? Antonina’s workshop will encourage participants to experiment with speculative responses to layered narratives where the site, the estuary and shoreline, are protagonists. We will explore creative ways of honouring the cultural threads from many places that weave people, stories and histories together. Boundaries and bodies, porous and shifting like a tide, are not made of straight lines or hard edges. As Da Cunha, D. & Mathur, A. point out, in The Invention of Rivers (2018): ‘The line by which representations assert the land-water divide is drawn in a time when water appears containable and not when it is precipitating, evaporating, transpiring, and generally behaving in ways that defy delineation’. What if we thought about bodies, migrations and identities in this way? Participants will engage in a range of performative acts, exploring thresholds which signify borders, especially where the river meets the sea. Embodied Archaeology for Artists, with Alan Endecott and Fay Stevens at Bellever YHA, near Widecombe in the moor, Dartmoor The attractive stone-built accommodation offers 15 spaces for artists, in a building designed for 37! This means that you will have space to explore your ideas. Day One will be led by Alan Endacott and will involve an elemental day of walking across Dartmoor from Fernworthy reservoir, then a steady climb up the forest track, stopping to explore Fernworthy stone circle on the way, until we reach the moor gate and walk along a grass track to the twin Grey Wethers circles. We then climb to Sittaford Tor to hopefully enjoy some fantastic views! Alan discovered the Sittaford stone circle in 2007 and last year he led excavations on some of his newly-discovered sites, including two more stone circles near Taw Marsh, Belstone. Day Two will be led by Fay Stevens, whose session ethos is: Dartmoor is a mosaic of vast moorland, internationally important blanket bogs and granite tors set within deep valleys containing woodlands and rivers that support a wide range of habitats, including heathlands and grasslands. It is a landscape Fay has spent some time in as an archaeologist through my study of Bronze Age metalwork deposition and excavating one of Dartmoor’s iconic Bronze Age ‘reaves’. We will step into the deep time history of this locale with a focus on an artistic praxis of sensory engagement and the human body as an artistic tool. Please bring materials you can carry that will inscribe – you can interpret inscription in any way that feels right for you. The hostel is surrounded by the open moorland and forest of Dartmoor National Park, with easy access to a network of off-road routes for walking. YHA Dartmoor is a comfortable, rural retreat which boasts cosy features including a woodburner and exposed stone walls. The famous Dartmoor ponies often pay the hostel a visit from the nearby open moorland. Accommodation is in shared, dorm-style rooms with gender-based allocation, with only a couple/3 of artists sharing each room so that everyone has plenty of space. Access by car is recommended (parking is available). A dining room, kitchen, lounge and ‘classroom’ are all available for use. Alan Endacott Alan was born in a Dartmoor longhouse, on the family farm near Throwleigh. He started collecting social history material from the age of seven and went on to become the founder Curator of the Museum of Dartmoor Life in Okehampton in 1981. He also managed Finch Foundry in Sticklepapth from 1989 until it was handed over to the National Trust in 1994. He attained a Diploma and an MA in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. He served as Area Manager for Devon and Cornwall for English from 1996-2004 before setting up a stained glass studio in Cornwall. He relocated this to his native Throwleigh in 2019 and is currently pursuing a life-long passion for Dartmoor’s archaeology as a self-funding PhD researcher withthe University of Exeter, studying the Prehistoric Ritual Landscapes of North-eastern Dartmoor. He discovered the Sittaford stone circle in 2007 and last year he led excavations on some of his newly-discovered sites, including two more stone circles near Taw Marsh, Belstone. Fay Stevens Fay Stevens is an academic, archaeologist, curator and artist. Her work is a process of excavation, an unravelling of layers of time, memory and substance. It is a philosophical enquiry and experience, concerned with trace, elements, the senses, inscription and corporeal interplay. She specialises in the philosophical school of phenomenology as a critical and performative prism through which she works. She has held artistic residence in England, Scotland, Hungary and Spain, curated visual and performance events in Arnolfini (Bristol), Salisbury and Bath and hasexhibited her work in UK, Berlin, Sweden, Hungary and Japan. She is Departmental Lecturer in Archaeological Theory, Methods and Approaches and Head of Programmes (Social Sciences) at University of Oxford. A large opening at the front of the building allows the tide to gently spill into a cavity below the main lounge. Remote, surrounded by mature woodland and expansive estuary, Saltercrease House offers an unforgettable experience. Access by small vehicle is possible, though we recommend you either park and walk, or arrange to be collected from Totnes train station . Situated on the banks of the River Erme, and made up of two (internally adjoining) cottages, this stunning property sleeps 8 in 4 twin rooms. With two kitchens, two dining rooms and two lounges warmed by open fires (and central heating throughout!) there is space to eat, socialise, work, relax and sleep. Saltercrease House Dr. Rona Lee Dr Rona Lee is a Devon born, London-based artist, whose research led practice operates in an expanded manner, encompassing performance, photography, sculpture, video and situated intervention. Current work is concerned with the human/more-than-human entanglements of contemporary life along with methods of charting and challenging patri/colonial imaginaries of the phenomenal world. Recent exhibitions, include ‘mineralis insurrexi’, Worlds Away, MAC, Birmingham (2023); ‘An Extractive Index’ and 'Modern Lapidary', Lithic Entanglements, Sedgwick Museum of Earth Science, Cambridge (2024); ‘Litho/Domous, The Geological Unconscious, Hypha HQ London (2025). Lee has been commissioned by various galleries (Beaconsfield, John Hansard, Newlyn Art Gallery, Firstsite, Dilston Grove, Bluecoat) and public bodies, (William Wilberforce Museum, National Oceanography Centre, Amsterdam Light Festival). She has received awards and grants from ACE England, Leverhulme Trust , AHRC and is the currently recipient of the Acme Studios, Jonathan Harvey Tenant Award. Dr. Alyson Hallett Alyson Hallett has been working with the migration habits of stones for nearly thirty years. The work began with a dream and it has continued to unfold slowly, strangely, somatically. Alyson's poetry has been carved into a city pavement and into boulders. She counts rain and wind among her audiences. At the intersection of material realities, Alyson works to explore what it means to collaborate with Earth-based beings. She has published sole and co-authored booked and continues to collaborate with artists, sculptors, geologists and geographers. Dr. Davina Quinlivan Davina Quinlivan is the author of ‘Shalimar: A Story of Place and Migration’ (Little Toller Books, 2022) and ‘Possessions’ (September Publishing, 2026). She holds a PhD in Film from Kings College London (2010). She has almost two decades of experience teaching cinema, art and aesthetics in Higher Education and publishing as an academic, journalist and creative writer. She is currently an Artistic Lead with ‘Emblaze’, an Arts Council England funded imprint of Paper Nations, a creative writing incubator with Bath Spa University, illuminating diverse writing in the South West; she is also an AHRC-funded Story Fellow with StoryArcs. Her creative non-fiction has been published with The Willowherb Review, Litro, The Clearing, Caught By the River, Writers Rebel, Quay Words (Literature Works). She is a co-founding member of The New School of the Anthropocene. Antonina Szram Antonina Szram is a multidisciplinary artist with a rich educational background and extensive experience in film, performance, and ecological projects. Her artistic journey was influenced by her studies in the studios of artists Dr. Teresa Klink-Kobierska and Lidia Cankova in Lodz, Poland. She then pursued art history, film, and media science at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, earning her BA in 2001 and an MA in Visual Culture in 2003, although her studies were interrupted. In 2021, she completed her MA in Contemporary Art Practice at the University of Plymouth, UK. Szram's artistic practice is characterized by her inquisitive approach to storytelling and her experimentation with various mediums. Her notable works include 'A Silent Walk,' a moving image work commissioned by Radical Ecology and Plymouth Culture, and 'ultraSounding,' a short film screened at the New York Short Film Festival. Szram's work often explores the complexities of human experience, delving into themes of identity, community, and the environment.

What is Offered

Each residency provides a unique theme, inspiration from two lead artists/specialists, workshops/walkshops, shared dorm-style accommodation with social spaces and open fires, and a chef providing breakfast, lunch, and evening meals. Participants will also have an opportunity to contribute to a future zine-style publication.

Requirements

The residencies are self-funded, costing £600 per person, payable in two parts: a non-returnable deposit of £200 by September 20, 2025, and a final payment of £400 by October 20, 2025. Participants are asked to provide one page of something made on-site for a future zine-style publication. There is no expectation to create new work.

How to Apply

To apply, send 100 words about you and your practice, and 100 words about how this residency relates to your practice and what you hope to gain from attending, to asometimesproject@gmail.com by 15th September. Selected artists will be notified by 17th September, along further practical information.