I came across Coachwerks a year ago via the great World Wide Web, sitting at home, 5000km from Brighton. I was looking for a place to travel to and create, exchange & meet simple, creative, open-minded individuals.
After reading CW's blog, I was seduced. The anti-clique logo made any doubt vanish.
I contacted Graeme and in January, decided to go have a look at that idyllic work-in-progress project and help out if I could. Upon arrival, beyond the dust, the stacked drywall sheets & the cold, the beauty & the potential of the place was overwhelming. After -humbly- helping out David building his darkroom, I went back home, knocked on wood and made the wish to have the chance to come back and collaborate on a creative project.
Graeme & I kept in touch.
Months passed.
I was meant to spend autumn in England and wanted to find an artist residency to work on my Love Graffiti project, an image bank of love graffiti I hunt wherever I go, aiming to trace down the authors and discover what happened to the stories behind those indelible signs of love.
Knocking on wood worked: Graeme had an openning in CW's schedule.
I would be Coachwerks' first visual artist in residence, an honor!
And so last month, I find myself fiddling with Graeme's patented lock device and pushing the gate at 19 Hollingdean terrace once again.
As I ask for him, i'm told he's on the roof. I smile.
And it's yet another warm welcome. I feel at home.
Between my Love Graffiti hunting sessions all around town, I had the tremendous chance to share the day-to-day life with CW staff and took in every single moment spent with them, getting to know devoted artists and participating in events, in the making of Coachwerks.
Between sharing a bowl of warm home-made soup together, plastering and baking cookies for Maggie's upcoming community caf, I got more out of my experience at CW then I could have ever dreamed of, along with new friendships and a new sense of me as an artist, to an extent that is difficult to translate into words but that sits deep in my heart, gently rocks & keeps me warm.
On the flight back home, I was going through a booklet Maggie & Graeme produced a few years back for their Bookville project.
Like a bold centerfold, red & blue letters spell out this motto: Stop thinking, start doing.
It seems to me this was the genesis of CW, a place where exploration is a prerequisite, where learning is not only encouraged but praised and where wrong ideas don't exist. Places like these are rare and ought to be cherished and supported. They allow freedom within oneself.
Stop thinking, start doing.
The note is pinned to my wall.
I read it every morning, a reminder of constant creativity, of an unforgettable artist residency and of a place to go back to.
Anne-Julie AjZ Vallée
Québec city, Québec, Canada
