Tillie Stevenson > 22 y/o fine art and illustration student at coventry university, uk
documenting my year abroad studying visual arts at ecav in sierre, switzerland
main instagram @tllstvnsn
art instagram @brain.junk
People mentioned in posts:
Chelsea - switzadventures.blogspot.com
Ash - uemyrltt.blogspot.com
I took a ride to town earlier to get some quick shopping, and there was something about this afternoon/evening that made it feel particularly magical… the way the sun sets leaving the town in shadow whilst the mountain tops gleam in the light, it has to be one of the, if not the best views i’ve ever seen.
We went to a project space called MAXXX in Sierre a couple of days ago, to hear a talk by two artists that had been working on a project and book based on sounds. We both ended up buying their book ‘Seismographic Sounds - Visions of a New World’.
I found this discarded mirror around the side of the Théâtre Les Halles, by the train tracks, and brought it back to Movimax. Will eventually be doing something with it
Monday, 26 September 2016
Half n half. We found the resident McDonalds and large shopping malls!
We went to the city of Lausanne after the workshop, and Lora took us to some shops before they closed. i say “took us” i mean “she was running ahead urging us to hurry with us sweating and crawling along behind”. Huge art shop which we’re making a note of going back to. It’s so strange to see people drinking freely in the streets, everywhere. We watched the sunset from above the town with the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame behind us, an enormous gothic building which we circled twice trying to find an entrance but with no luck. We got the subway back to the main train station and then so came the two hour journey back to Sierre. it isn’t as fun when you can’t see anything out of the window. When we got back at about…. half 10? The others were having a party in the lounge but we were so tired we went to bed and conked out
On Saturday several of us from the Inn took the train to Sion, where i bought a bike and ate the second best burger I’ve ever had, at a place called Holy Cow. The first is one i had only a few weeks ago back in wales. this year is a real burger discovery year
In the evening we were given a musical performance in the living room by another inn-mate and his friend, who both play drums. It was kind of mesmerising to listen to… The drums were passed round throughout, and i found the rhythm quite easily but then keeping up with it was a different matter. needless to say i won’t be becoming a musician any time soon
Later that night we went to a nearby music venue/club/thing (there’s clubs in sierre??) where there were a variety of live acts playing all sorts of music, it was gr8. The place is called The Hacienda, apparently used to be an abattoir, and is hidden within the building below, which i’d taken a photo of a couple of days ago before knowing what it was
on friday we caught the train to Yverdon Les Bains, where we took part in a sound workshop in this beautiful old building in the town. It’s probable that i interpret things in an entirely different way to the french speakers, as at this place there were many video installations of which were explained to us (in french) and so my sight became the only sense in which i could try and understand it by. That and the few hints other classmates would drop to me, and the odd random words i could pick out by myself (I’m learning slowly i promise)
We used mics to walk around the town and record the sounds, venturing everywhere from the nearby church to a water fountain situated in a roundabout. Then we handed them all in, had lunch, and on return to the workshop found that the mics had each all been fitted to a speaker. There was a countdown to switching them on and hearing the playback which was pretty unnerving because i could tell they must all be switched on at exactly the same time however they were counting down in french and did at least 2 warm ups, in which i almost pressed play. luckily for me i held on
hearing back all the sounds from the day was surprisingly magical, bringing the outside world inside and letting it flow through all the crevices of the old building. Car engines and exhausts had the most dominant noise, and then a recording of a man who had been playing pipes in the town square took over
A little network of sounds on a sunny friday from a small town near the swiss-french border, who knew it could open up a ton of possibilities and ideas
This week were were allocated our studio spaces!! We have a key card to check in and out , and lock our individual rooms. I’m sharing with Chels and another girl, it’s a pretty big room and made up of 80% window. The building is called Movimax, there were studios at the school available but we decided to grab this one as it’s pretty close to the inn so we can come here more frequently.
Just before the bridge over the train tracks, is a make-shift little shelter in which you can place unwanted items, or take them… I present to you, the giving box!
It’s main occupants are books and clothing as far as i’ve seen. We took all the leftovers from that scavenging night at the inn and left them there. It’s a great idea and i find it wonderful how no one seems to have sabotaged it (as far as i know) like i would expect with something like this back home
Anyhow today! Was the first day of our course. Even though the whole introduction was in French I’m not that worried - of course I’m still trying to learn it and have begun to pick up on some words - butttttt it’s art. Art speaks all languages
We went to a bar after our last class at 4pm, and having been told they didn’t serve my typical spontaneous decision drink of cider - went straight for wine, not too bad a choice at 4.50 a glass (i was expecting a hell of a lot more okay) we chatted with the others for a bit, by others i mean basically the whole class had shown up to this pub, resulting in the rearrangement of several tables and chairs. They seem pretty interested about us, asking us where we are from and how long we’d be there. I managed to get two names, Julie and…. Tybbu? (It’s swiss and shakespeare inspired) Everyone is swiss apart from the 4 of us from the Inn
We went grocery shopping, and may have bought wayyyyy too much pasta…. And in between classes on our lunch break the sun finally came out!! Me and Chels wandered about the streets for a bit staring in awe at the views - I’ll post photos at some point. At the inn later the last of the masters students arrived and there was a lot of catch ups going on so after we’d been introduced and eaten tea we left them to continue, BUT an hour or so later Chrisantha (I remembered a name) came to my room and said they’d cleared out the whole inn of leftover belongings from previous students, had placed them all in the living room and invited us to scavenge, which I maybe shouldn’t have done as I’ve ended up with more clothes…. But also a new hand luggage case so it’s okay
Dying for a walk but the weather is so grim. The way Lora complained about the rain made me hopeful that it’s usually a sunnier place than the one we’ve been greeted with. Everyone seems very ‘to themselves’ here, going about their own things. I’ve learnt that a few of them originate from countries which are currently rather unstable, politically, and so this quiet town hidden away in the mountains is a pretty relaxing place for them. They all seem very wise
The town itself is amazing, the architecture especially, each building is unique to any other and painted beautifully, and so from above i expect the town to look smothered with all sorts of colours. Talking about being “up there” I’ve heard of this ski resort called Crans Montana which is situated somewhere in the surrounding Alps, which I’m desperate to visit, but having to wait until classes start to see what (if any) free time I have. Also need maps. Lots of them. This is turning out to be the sort of place where often you can’t just google where the place is that you want to reach, you have to walk, get lost, keep walking, and so on. The fact that the mountains are visible everywhere you go is dreamlike, like an alien landscape.
Due to some unusual (i promise) forgetfulness I’ve left my art supplies at home, resulting in me hurriedly buying some cheap pencils and fineliners from whatever supermarket i could find. My mum has kindly decided to post me my pencil case though so hopefully my last minute purchases will last through whatever work i do until it gets here.
It’s so tempting to just do everything right away and go everywhere!
p.s We are glued to this language app which is supposed to help us learn french. Will it work? Probably not, but stay tuned. à bientôt!
someone in the Inn is playing this song and its giving me major nostalgia about this past summer. I’ve realised that the restaurant below are keen radio listeners, and constantly have some swiss fm station on, which plays the most random variety of music. The kitchen here is the tiniest kitchen I’ve ever seen, it’s fit for 2 people and has to accommodate about 15 which i imagine can get pretty hectic. I am hoping to try some home-cooking here so maybe i’ll be picking a more unusual time to try it so as to avoid the over-crowding. I think most of the residents are quite avid cookers, and hopefully i can pick up a few things to add to my non existent kitchen skills.
Never thought i’d be living in an Inn occupied solely by artists. It’s called Auberge des Collines, and situated above a Bella Italia restaurant! There are 14-15 rooms in the inn i think… my room handily has a sink and mirror, and a greedy three windows, though i suspect may get slightly irritating because of all the constant light entering through.
^This is the entrance around the back of the building. The house key magically open both the main door and the room door
We were welcomed with an amazing tea last night, made by one of our inn-mates of whom i can’t remember her name… but I know she was from South Africa.. there are also Venezuelans and Egyptians, and saying we’re “British” just sounds rather dull in comparison. There are mountains right outside my window, and a lake (which apparently we can swim in!) we’re going to the shops soon with one of the girls on our floor for groceries, she will shortly be finding out how awful our version of the student diet is
“You should buy some golden eggs, you know those ones you can get for 50p? You could sell them for thousands in Russia. Although i doubt you’ll find many in Switzerland”
I’m aware that i’m making money that will go towards my trip, but at this point i’d rather be walking through a forest somewhere in the Swiss mountains than cutting numerous Yorkshire hams day in day out. However flight is booked and ready! Albeit possibly going a bit overboard with the hold luggage weight…
My friends have given me a little french phrase book and Switzerland pocket guide to help me out whilst i’m there. I’ve bought a big orange winter coat in hope it’ll somewhat prevent me from catching a cold or flu during the winter, and numerous other clothing that i deemed warm enough but not ‘too keen’ warm. Planning to take at least one of my many sketchbooks and as many pens as i can, as i’m afraid of discovering that all art supplies will be unaffordable whilst there.
