Snorkelling Artist Residency - part one

Exploring Scotland's underwater worlds

This August I was accepted on to a snorkelling artist residency. I can’t really think of anything much better than a project that blends art and water together. Joined by eight other artists, we had an intensive four days in the water and on the shore- snorkelling, filming, drawing, discussing, sharing, eating, walking. It’s one of the most meaningful group experiences I’ve had in my life, and I’ve never felt more connected to Scotlands seas and coasts than I do now, knowing more of what’s below the surface. 

This post is a written transcript of my youtube video of the same title. I’m building a short series, to document the frankly life affirming experience, and wanted to share with you what it has meant, what I’ve learnt, and how I’m hoping to bring my learning into my artistic practice moving forwards. 

If you’re new here, hello! I’m Orla, a Scottish artist, illustrator & designer making artwork and films to connect people to creativity and nature, often bringing my art outside.

To tell you the story of how this experience came to be, lets start at the beginning. I applied for this residency immediately after coming back from a diving trip in Greece. It was my first time scuba diving, and I fell in love instantly. I’m not into adrenaline fuelled activities, but found scuba to be the perfect level of adventure for me. Somehow the water immersion felt like home - something to do with the breathing, the physicality, the colours and the movement. Akin to being up a hill, there’s nothing that brings forward the scale of personal importance when put into the biggest body of water in the world. Anyhow, I’d shared a photo of me and my partner diving, and a friend promptly sent me the application form to this snorkelling residency. Before I knew it, I was accepted on and heading north. Another marker of what’s for you, won’t pass you by. 

The residency was hosted by the ‘Argyll Hope Spot’ - a group committed to protecting and voicing the importance of marine conservation, located roughly along the Argyll coast: found along Scotlands west coastline. It’s the UK mainland’s only Mission Blue Hope Spot; a very special stretch, and a marine protected area. To quote from their website, “Collectively, Hope Spots can help to protect and restore marine biodiversity on a local, regional, national and international scale.” 

The purpose of the residency is  to share the Hope Spot communities knowledge and love of this special environment, in the hope that each artist takes it forward in to our individual practices. Art is a brilliant tool for non-verbal communication, able to communicate how places feel - their emotional importance - as well as physical, cultural, environmental and scientific. The aim following on from the residency experience is to create work that shares the wealth of diversity and rich ecosystems worth protecting. People cannot care if they do not know, and we’re less likely to be motivated to protect, if we haven’t experienced or at least seen the world that we are a part of. 

The Team 

Now that you’ve got some of the back story, I wanted to introduce you to the brilliant team leading and tutoring us. We were led on all things water, snorkelling and safety by swim & snorkel coach Dan the Merman, and obsessive swimmer and artist Lottie Goodlet (her words, not mine!). Dan runs  water based experiences in and around Argyll, so if you are lucky enough to be in his neck of the woods, do check out his website to join on one of his trips. Lottie makes the most beautiful seaweed pressings, capturing the colour and form of the underwater worlds in a stillness, allowing you to really see just how magnificent and varied these plants are. 

Back on land, the residency was led by artists Louise Scammel and Jane Smith. Both artists are fountains of knowledge when it comes to all things print, and led us through various observational drawing and jelly plate printing techniques. Their teaching was focused on play and drawing to learn to see more - two things I am deeply passionate about in my own practice. It felt such a luxury to be on the receiving end of tuition, and so good to make for the fun, with no aim at the time in mind. 

I’ll pop links to all of the tutors, fellow artists in residence websites below, so you can check out their work - as well as links to the Argyll Hope Spot and Mission Blue. 

Underwater Immersion - Kit

This has been my first outdoor focused residency - outside of self initiated research trips - and I was kind of nervous about spending so much time in the water. Although I swim regularly outside, I knew that it’d be a little different to immersing twice to three times a day, and to top it off, I have the worst circulation in my hands and feet. If you’d like to try snorkelling out for yourself, I’ll share the water kit I brought along for the colder temperatures. 

As a disclaimer, it’s probably a good idea to find someone who knows the water well, to take you out on your first few trips. It’s important to understand the water, tides, safety and so on - I certainly felt way more at ease with Dan there. To prepare, I took along my winter wetsuit, gloves, boots and tried out a hood for the first time. This addition was a game changer, seeing as I’d have my head in the water much longer than usual. 

The second game changer was a dry robe. The moment I put it on, I felt like I’d been accepted into some kind of tribe - to me, the dry robe is the symbol of the outdoor swimming community, and some might say, a trend. But I’ve got to say, I can totally see why they are so popular now! I lived in mine during the week, and it made the whole wriggling out and into wet wetsuits ten times more enjoyable. The last pieces of kit were a swim float and of course, my snorkel. I’ll pop links down below to help out. 

Day One

The first day was spent getting to know one another, getting comfortable in the water, covering basic snorkel skills and very excitingly - drawing under water! In the morning, we learnt breathing techniques to help keep us relaxed in the water, which set the tone for a very calm week, and really helped to be present for the trip. I honestly think it was this that helped to keep my body temperature so regulated, and not loose my fingers and toes to the cold. 

Our first day snorkelling was focused in and around the pier close to where we were staying, letting us get used to the kit and water. I know what I’m about to say is ridiculous, but what struck me was just how close to the shore line so much life lives. Of course I know in theory, that the sea is home to many creatures - I’m sure most of those we will never know or meet. I just hadn’t appreciated just how awesome and varied life even 10 cm below the water surface, and growing on piers is. It’s so deceptive when looking at the flat black and glassy calm of the sea’s surface, that there’s a technicolored, textured world living and growing right below that divide. Immediately I got that same sense of awe and humbling that I felt when diving - but this time, minus the whole ton of kit that scuba requires. It’s pretty liberating, being in the water in such simple equipment, and being able to witness so much so close to the shore. 

Our second dip of the day took us around the pier on an observational drawing exercise: drawing under water! Now, before you get fancy ideas of fine art masterpieces being created under the waves, I’d like to bring you back to something I’d mentioned earlier: using drawing as a way to see more. The drawing we were doing wasn’t really about the end result at all - more a way to focus attention on one strand of seaweed or sea squirt and understand how it moves, it’s colour, its shape. The drawing helps lodge it in your minds eye, to take away and develop afterwards. None the less, it was such an exciting process, to take our pages and tools under the waves, to scribble away to my hearts content. 

On my journey to Argyll, I was accompanied by a beautiful audiobook called Ebb & Flow. It’s written by Easky Britton, a Scientist, social activist and surfer. Incase you’re also a fellow sea lover, I couldn’t recommend this book more. It’s a lovely balance of holistic and scientific perspectives on our relationships with water, and dotted through with exercises you can do to explore your own connections to water. 

If you are interested in swimming in open bodies of water yourself, I’d love to share with you a design from my latest collection of t-shirts. Each design has been inspired by my most recent paintings, celebrating my love for nature and the outdoors. This one’s called night swimmer, is printed in the UK on 100% organic cotton, and is now on my website store alongside other designs, available to ship world wide. 

This first day flew by in a blur of sensory overload: so many colours, conversations, animal and plant names, plus the physical adjustment of learning to float, keep still, and to be honest, just see and take it all in! I finished up the day in my tent, tuning in to Easky’s book, listening to the sounds of owls and the nearby river, and writing some thoughts in my sketchbook before turning in for the night. 

Join my next video or written post in the series, where I’ll be sharing more about this week long snorkelling art residency. 

As always, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you outside. 

Links

Artists in Residence: 

Danielle Banks: www.daniellebanks.co.uk/

Rachel Brooks: www.rachelbrooksart.com/

Fergus Hall: www.fergushallmusic.com/

Luke Winter: www.storywagon.co.uk/

Vicki Fleck: https://www.instagram.com/vbgannet68/

Nicolette Macleod: https://nicolette.me/about/ 

Renuka Ramanujam: www.studiomudra.co.uk/

 Fiona Gell: https://www.instagram.com/fi_gell/ 

Residency Guides: 

Lottie Goodlet: www.soundofjuraseaweeds.com/

Dan the Merman: www.swimdanthemerman.com/

Residency Tutors:

Jane Smith: www.janesmithwildlifeart.weebly.com/

Louise Scamell: www.louisescammell.co.uk/

Argyll Hope Spot: www.argyllhopespot.scot/

Mission Blue: www.missionblue.org/

Kit:

Snorkel: https://amzn.to/3OGwFsY

Wetsuit: https://alpkit.com/products/silvertip-womens?variant=39731525451881

Swim Socks: https://amzn.to/3QH38St

Swim Gloves: https://amzn.to/3P19QBo

Tow Float: https://amzn.to/3qCxcUy

Dry Robe: https://amzn.to/3YG3Tgo

Dive Hood: https://amzn.to/3YG6HKq 

Please note that some of these links are affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission should you choose to purchase. All brands are ones that I personally use and recommend to friends.