XVI
Chronicle Pepperpot March 12, 2017
Vermont Studio Center Alumni:
Versia Harris and Ewan Atkinson
ALTHOUGH there isn’t a readily accessible database of artists from the Caribbean region who have participated in the Vermont Studio Center’s
residency program, I was informed that the number is far greater than the nine I had incorrectly estimated in the first article of this series (it could be
VERSIA HARRIS BARBADOS APRIL 2013 “The Vermont Studio Center is a collection of houses and studios
well over fifteen). This number is expected to increase as two more artists from the region prepare to join the program in the very near future.
made available to over 50 artists at any one time to use and produce work. I applied as a way to keep myself involved in art making after leaving school in 2012. I wanted the
Work made by Versia Harris while at VSC
“I was an artist in residence at the Vermont
experience of a residency and also to hopefully connect with artists outside of my small island. The VSC's isolated location and serene surroundings emphasize the time and space that
the invaluable time spent in Vermont and the importance of that time to the development of their individual bodies of work.
residents have. It becomes an incubator for artists and creativity, where you are not only cutoff from your regular life but also from the rest of the world.”
A collection of works produced by Harris during her time at VSC
Work made by Versia Harris while at VSC
EWAN ATKINSON BARBADOS SEPTEMBER 2006
Stepping up to the platform to share their experiences at VSC this week are Barbadian artists Versia Harris and Ewan Atkinson. Both reminisced on
A section of Versia Harris’ studio at VSC
studio center in September 2006. This was the second residency I had been privileged to attend (the first occurred in 2001 in Trinidad, at CCA7). In both cases the experience was unforgettable and invaluable. Residencies have been important
milestones for me, keystones rather. Definitive developmental transformations in my practice and person are forever bound to artist residencies. My time in Vermont began with some difficulty. The spacious white room that was to be my
studio was daunting. I was not used to operating in such a space, and the perception that I was to “fill it” with work seemed improbable and Turn to page XVII ►►►