Residency at Arte De Obra - The Art of Building, Haria, Lanzarote

Following an invitation from Bettina Bork to develop a flag for Arte De Obra, this return visit was an opportunity to get closer to a Lanzarotian audience and way of life.















Unlike my previous experiences of the island, this was a time spent largely in reflection and preparation for the Fiesta where Bettina and I would run workshops.















Since first visiting the island with Art Aspects earlier this year, I have become increasingly interested in Lanzarote as a place to make art. The immediate creative response was ´PAUSA´, a flag made while the Icelandic volcano was stopping flights all across Europe. This brief pause in 'business as usual' was an opportunity to appreciate the value of rest to any working process. As a place to reflect before the next move, Lanzarote has the perfect combination of peoples, landscape and climate. Like many others I feel the process of 'doing' and 'being' is incredibly valuable yet the former seems to be the only option for most modern societies.


The Fibonacci spiral can be used to represent pause and growth, preceding expansion.
















Flags and Lizard Masks at the Punta Mujeres Fiesta

During the mask and flag making workshops at Punta Mujeres on Sunday 5th of September children and adults took part creating all kinds of colourful masks and flags!














With support from the Punto Joven organization of Haria, the team worked non-stop for 4 hours to get as many people involved as possible...














...in addition the group contributed to a large shared flag in the form of a spiral. This 'Spiral Flag' will be shared between Punto Joven and other sites in Europe.
































Working with Arte De Obra & Punto Joven provides a unique means of exploring our relationship with nature and communicating with an entirely new audience on Lanzarote.












Images and symbols of nature become the starting point for a collaboration between the artist and architect which will also result in a flag commissioned for the Arte de Obra centre in Haria.



















Finally we hoisted the trace of the days activities before passing it on to the Punto Joven youth organization, Haria.