The Nest

The Drugs Don’t Work, But the coffee does

| Charlie

Filmmaker Adrian Dowling reflects on his Nestival Residency

It took me more than two months to apply to do the residency. I kept putting it off because I find those kind of things very difficult, but after attending one of the F13 meetings I felt quite comfortable in the space. Duncan Whitley [a former Talking Birds Resident] was pushing me, saying “Why don’t you do it? I think it would be good for you.” So I recorded a voice application with the help of my daughter, Kady, who’s doing all the technical stuff while I’m reading off some paper because I find it quite difficult to write things down.

Continue reading →

Action Rayz in 3 Dimensions

| Charlie

Jazz Moreton and Alan Wan Wijgerden reflect on their Nest residency

Over the course of this residency, we developed a shared artistic voice that built on our individual experiences of disability. We had a great time examining our shared practice throughout this residency. Although Alan has more professional experience (an age thing, not a professionalism thing!), Jazz has a mind full of fresh ideas and solutions to almost any creative issue.

Continue reading →

A window of uninterrupted music

| Charlie

Mason Le Long Reflects on his Hatching Residency with Talking Birds

To be honest, I thought it sounded too good to be true. Talking Birds promising to pay artists to come and work in their studios for ten days, and not even asking for any finished material at the end of it? I thought there must be more to it than meets the eye.

Continue reading →

Finding Joy

| Charlie

Nicola Richardson and Marianne Taviner reflect on their Hatching Residency

We are Nicola and Maz, the Directors of Vortex Creates. Vortex is a Coventry based organisation who for nearly 15 years have specialised in igniting the imagination of audiences through transforming spaces and creating showstopping costumes.

Continue reading →

Scratching the Surface

| Charlie

Selina Masih reflects on her Nestival Residency

I had a great time at The Nest, A two-week art residency in the studio ‘Helloland’. It was painted in a cheerful yellow which made me instantly smile. Two whole weeks to fully immerse myself in this project, I was super excited! For over 2 years I’ve been waiting to find time to explore ‘paint carving’ an art-form I came across during lockdown, created by the Australian artist Hannah Jenson. 

Continue reading →

The animal needs more space

| Charlie

Rosalind Harvey reflects on her Nest Residency

Recently I have been thinking a lot about space. The literal, physical space in which to do one’s work (Virginia Woolf’s ‘Room of One’s Own’), but also the mental space you need to carve out in which to write, to think, to create. I normally work from home and am very used to doing so (I’ve been a self-employed writer-translator for almost 15 years now), but after spending more time at home than even I am comfortable with during lockdown, my relationship to working from home has shifted.

Continue reading →

HELLOLAND

| vornster

Kim Hackleman reflects on her Nest Residency

“Language is a life raft.”
Amanda Gorman

The Nest is a home base and shared workspace for Talking Birds, a company of artists based in Coventry, England, known for their “gently provocative projects which explore, and seek to illuminate, the profound and complex relationships between people and place”(1). This week I completed a two-week, funded residency inside The Nest, in the wonderful studio called ‘Helloland’.

Continue reading →

Conditions of Creation

| vornster

In June and September of 2022, B.O.O.K took part in a two-week residency at Talking Birds focusing on access riders.

B.O.O.K (Building Our Own Knowledge) is a working group of Black artists, curators, and researchers based in the West Midlands which re-distributes resources via artist residencies, commissions, and projects – with an emphasis on building sustainable ways of working/living and nurturing the development of ‘slow art’ practices.

Continue reading →

Satis House

| Charlie

Corinne and Daisy reflect on their Remote Nest Residency.

I’m Corinne, a disabled self-portrait artist. This year marks my fifth year of spending almost every day confined to the same 2 by 1.5 metre space, my bed. During my residency my only childhood and imaginary friend Daisy helped me transform a vintage dolls house into our childhood home. I’m Neurodivergent and was never encouraged to read as a child, but at the age of 15 read my first book Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’. It was a struggle and both my family and teachers discouraged me.

Continue reading →