Reflections on Combined Residency with Koos and Staff:

Wednesday, a day of “Rest after our Final Presentation, Sarah and I meet with Koos de Jong, director of .ekwc, Marianne Peijnenbur, staff advisor and Anouk Rooth, PR intern. When we asked what would they tell us, we’re told the meeting is for listening only. They want to know our experience.

Koos asks good questions. He first wanted to understand the shift from our initial idea when applying to .ekwc, our expectations and then the reality of our experiences.

We closed in early on conceptual idea – arriving in June with a clear direction and proposed design solution; make a translucent panel for an architectural skin, Use space to define an experience using light and surface.

I had a base understanding we’d use porcelain either as a slip or as a slab. The particulars of scale, how we’d manage to achieve flat, thin translucent “ceramic skins”, and what was possible, eluded me.

In my mind, we “Stop Experimentation” when we came in June for the longer of our two stints at .ekwc (nine weeks) Day one upon arrive in June, I attempted “scale” – the panel weighted 3 – 4 x’s the final panels, was not translucent, but demonstrated could make “large panels” _ 30 x 50 cm.

However, even the last panels we made less than one week from the final presentation, uncovered subtle shifts in working methods, hand positions, details and potential refinements. During our talk with Koos, I sketched a diagram attempting to define the profound transformations of being in a combined residency. {see adjacent pdf}