“The value of a good studio is immense. It has its own special mood and atmosphere; a studio holds the secrets of the ideas. They are functional workshops filled with the tools and materials of the trade. Past work looms threateningly, a constant reminder of past ideas, both successful and unsuccessful, which are a spur to do better, and they encourage me to stick to my dictum that it is more progressive to make big mistakes rather than take the easy path.”
Robert Callender always acknowledged the value for emerging artists of studio visits during which they could get a sense of how committed artists lived their lives and in the surroundings they created. Over the years countless individuals and groups of young artists have become frequent visitors to Sea Loft. In the last decade many emerging Japanese artists have visited.
Callender felt a great affinity with the Japanese people after frequent visits to the country – a country and culture that had a special place in his heart. And so in the true spirit of the late Robert Callender’s generosity towards his fellow artists, we have established this residency in his name, offering the following key opportunities for emerging artists initially from Edinburgh College of Art and others from Japan and later from Scottish art colleges, plus Dutch and Chilean artists at the start of their professional career.
A month to live & work in Sea Loft, an outstanding studio situated on the beautiful Fife coastline and within easy reach of the city.
A further month working in Japan in the cities of Kyoto & Osaka.
The opportunity to exhibit in both Scotland & Japan.
The prospect of working alongside a young artist from a different culture and learn more from them about their culture.
A chance to study first hand the work & tremendous hand-and-eye skills of the late Robert Callender.
The possibility of working in this vibrant international studio which presents opportunities of meeting with a range of professionals including visual artists, authors, anthropologists architects & scientists.
The stimulus and support of dialogue with frequent visitors to Sea Loft.
At the same time, quiet to focus on ideas & work.
The experience of working as a professional artist out of art college in the world of the arts.
The chance to contribute to the working atmosphere of a well established studio.
Residency Artist Paul Meikle at Sea Loft
Current / Recent Artists
2022 | 2023
Kirsty Smith | kirstysmith.com
Maya El Nahal | mayareid
Scott Hunter | scotthunter
Kirsten Gair | gairstudio.com
Mhairi Fenton | mhairifenton.wixsite.com
Martin Crawford | martincrawfordstudio.com
Emily Atkins | emilyatkins.org
Chloe Charton + Emily Carton | portendcollective.com
Johanna Saunderson | johannasaunderson.com
2019 | 2020
Luis Guzman | naturalsigns.net
2018 | 2019
Russell Beard | russellbeard.com
Tokumasa Matsubuchi | tokumasa
2017 | 2018
Yulia Kovanova | kovanova.com
Previous Artists
2016 | 2017
Paul Meikle | paulypocket.com
2016 | 2017
Stephen Kavanagh | stephenkavanagh.co.uk
Lotte Bosman | lottemilenebosman.com
2015 | 2016
Patrick M. Lydon | pmlydon.com
Nishiko | billytown.org
2014 | 2015
Melissa Lawson | melissa-lawson.tumblr.com
Chieko Terashima | teraworks.webcrow.jp
2013 | 2014
Niall Stevenson | niallstevenson.com
Masahiro Kawanaka | masahiroart
2012 | 2013
Kaori Matsumura | matsumurakaori.net
Joseph Calleja | josephcalleja.org
Residency artist Kaori Matsamura at Sea Loft
Resident artists Nishiko, Patrick M. Lydon & Suhee Kang
A Spotlight on Past Resident Artists
Chloe Charlton and Emily Charlton are moving image practitioners based in Glasgow. The artists’ newly formed collaboration was marked by their experimental 16mm work Memories of the Shoreline (2021). They are currently working on Soft Landing, a process-driven project utilising analogue film techniques to reconstruct a mountainous landscape. Chloe Charlton’s body of work to date has addressed the geological world transmitted from the camera’s animating eye. She graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 2021 and her films have screened at Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Ilaji Studio, and Transmission Gallery. Emily Charlton is a recipient of the BBC Arts and Arts Council England New Creatives scheme and received her MA in Experimental Film from Kingston University in 2021. Her work has been published in the Fieldnotes Journal and screened at the ICA, FILET, Strangloscope and Alchemy.
Indonesian-born Scottish Artist, ecologist and broadcaster Russell A. Beard MFA uses video, sculpture and printmaking to explore the liminal space between order and chaos, growth and disintegration.
Arising from the social, geo-political and environmental uncertainty of the 'Anthropocene' Beard’s work emerges at the nexus of fine art, dark ecology and the environmental humanities and represents an on-going exploration of the tensions between the creative, generative force of life’s perpetual becoming and the cosmic processes of entropy and decay.
Using salvaged materials and found objects Russell A. Beard presents a series of works that touch on deep time and the cyclical nature of materiality while drawing on spontaneous physical and chemical processes that deeply resonate with seismic societal and ecological transformations currently underway.
Working across genres of documentary film, temporal installation, farming, and social practice, the heart of Patrick M. Lydon and Suhee Kang’s work is the human relationship to nature, and a cultivation of ecologically interconnected ways of thinking and being. Since 2011, they have had the pleasure to interact with audiences in the UK, Korea, Japan, and the USA. They recently completed a feature-length documentary titled Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness.
After obtaining an undergraduate degree from Gray's School of Art in 2010 Stephen Kavanagh's practice developed beyond the painting degree he now holds. Exploring both 2 and 3 dimensional outcomes for different projects, allowing the material and subject matter to shape the finished products. Awarded the RSA John Kinross Scholarship in 2010, which provided an intense period of research in Florence, leading to a large body of work exhibited across the UK as well as Florence and Paris. Investing in several self funded research trips across Europe and Southeast Asia fuelled his inquisitive nature and contributed towards his extensive portfolio. In 2013 Stephen returned to education, obtaining his MFA degree from Edinburgh College of Art in 2015.
Since graduating he has continued his exploration of subject matter and materials, expanding his practice further into the sculptural realm, as well as developing film and sound pieces. Focusing on how we interact with the built environment he investigate its impact on us, exploring themes such as place, space, destruction and absence of presence. Recently he has participated in residencies in Catania, Italy and Minneapolis, United States. Stephen's practice continuously evolves in response to his interpretation of the built environment. Exploring place and space in relation to locations experienced firsthand, witnessing actions or responding to past events.