Presence & Process: Artist Residency
A week of embodied, reflective making at Malvern House, Nottingham (3-9 June 2026), offering artists and creatives time, space, and community to explore presence, awareness, and creative process within a supportive, dialogic environment.
The Presence & Process: Artist Residency, invites participants to slow down, pay attention, and connect deeply with their creative process. Rooted in both contemporary art and Gestalt practice, the residency explores how presence, awareness, and experimentation can open new ways of seeing, being, and making. It offers a supportive environment to notice habits, respond to the moment, and rediscover vitality through play, curiosity, and authentic dialogue. Centring on embodied awareness, emotions, and materials, the residency fosters connection, integration, and creative growth within a nurturing community.
About the Residency
Set in the historic surroundings of Malvern House, Nottingham, Presence & Process is a week-long residency offering artists and creative practitioners time, space, and community to focus on their development. The programme combines guided group activities, one-to-one sessions, and individual open studio time with shared meals, reflective check-ins, and evening sharings. Working across diverse creative forms—drawing, writing, performance, sound, movement, and natural interventions—participants are encouraged to explore, experiment, and exchange ideas within a supportive, dialogic setting.
Guest speakers and visiting artists from Nottingham’s vibrant art scene will join for talks and dinners, enriching the week with new perspectives. Designed for artists, creatives, and those interested in embodied approaches to practice, the residency offers a rare opportunity to pause, reconnect, and make. The residency is intended as a holding environment for exploration and focuses on process rather than outcome. We embrace not knowing, stuckness, and difficulties as normal experiences of creative practice.
Each day balances shared activity with time for individual focus. Mornings begin with a group check-in, followed by collective activities. Afternoons offer space for self-directed practice and optional one-to-one sessions. Evenings often include sharings, group discussions, and reflective conversations.
Typical day includes
Breakfast, lunch, and evening meals are provided and shared communally.
Morning check-ins
Group activities and exploration
Afternoon self-directed time
Optional one-to-one sessions (sign-up)
Evening sharings, group discussions, and further self-directed time
Practical information
The residency runs from Wednesday 3 – Tuesday 9 June 2026 and takes place at Malvern House near the centre of Nottingham. Accommodation is provided either onsite at Malvern House or in a nearby B&B. Participants will have access to a range of studio and work spaces within the house, including quiet areas for drawing and reflection, large light-filled shared studios for making and experimentation, a workshop with basic tools, and a roof-top writing room with views across the city. Outdoor spaces in the surrounding gardens offer opportunities for reflection, drawing, or site-responsive work. All meals are vegetarian or vegan and shared communally as part of the residency’s ethos of care and collaboration. Each day includes group check-ins, led workshops, and dedicated time for individual practice, alongside one-to-one mentoring and opportunities for sharing work in progress. Visiting artists and curators from Nottingham’s lively art scene will join for talks and dinners. The residency offers a balance of structure and freedom—providing time, critical reflection, and space to explore your creative process(es) within a small supportive community.
Who is it For
This residency is designed for artists, creative practitioners, and others interested in embodied, process-based exploration. It welcomes those working across visual, performative, written, or interdisciplinary forms, as well as educators and therapists who engage in creative processes to support their work. Applicants should have an openness to experimentation, dialogue, and shared enquiry rather than a focus on finished outcomes.
Visit the website here: https://www.claystudionottingham.co.uk/artist-residency-presence-process