ARTISTS TALKING

With space for up to five artists, Green Close Studios is a small collective workspace housed in a converted barn on the banks of the river Lune in the village of Melling in north Lancashire, not far from the Yorkshire and Cumbria borders. It came about through the vision and determination of two artists, Sue and Pete Flowers.

This profile forms part of a portfolio of material around studios including the studios toolkit ' designed especially for artists thinking of setting up some kind of workspace facility ' case studies of studio organisations at different stages of development and more.

Background

Sue Flowers was brought up in rural Lancashire and – inspired by the country setting – felt an urge to return there after studying and taking her first steps as a practising artist in London. Her father owned a redundant barn building in Melling village. “It was unheated and run-down and full of old parts of agricultural machinery,” recalls Flowers, “and it was far too big for just the two of us, so we thought: ‘why don’t we make it a space to share with others’? We knew there was a need for studio space in the area, so we decided to advertise for other artists.”

A notice placed in a-n in 1991 set off a chain of events that led, eventually, to the launch of Green Close Studios in August 1998. “I was an artist at the early stage of my career back then,” says Sue Flowers, “and I didn’t know anything about arts infrastructure and how it worked.” The a-n advert helped to put her in touch with people who did. The County Arts Officer saw it and – as it chimed with local priorities – encouraged the District Arts Officer to make contact. They, in turn, introduced the Flowers to the people they needed to know in order to turn the idea into a reality.

Drawing up plans for the building and sourcing funding for refurbishment proved a long and arduous process. “It took six years from acorn to oak tree,” says Sue Flowers. But, with help and support from the Community Council of Lancashire – an agency whose role was to help build capacity in rural communities – they eventually made it. Their vision for Green Close was given a realistic grounding through Sue Flowers’ experience of having grown up in the area: of being interested in arts, but not having access to it; of valuing the beauty of the rural setting, but being frustrated with the isolation that also comes with it. “We wanted to marry the buzz of creative work with the buzz of a beautiful place,” she says, “but we recognised that whilst rural villages have idyllic qualities, they can also have their disadvantages.”

Funding towards the £42,000 refurbishment costs came from Europe (the ERDF Objective 5B fund for the regeneration of rural areas) and from the Rural Development Commission. The artists contributed £10,000 of their own resources. The barn building remains the property of the Flowers – who acquired it through a peppercorn arrangement with Sue’s father – but it is leased back to the company which runs the studios, Green Close Studios Ltd (of which the Flowers are directors), on a twenty-year lease.

The company has a cooperative structure and ethos, and artists who occupy studios for more than a year are given the opportunity to become directors. So far, none have taken up the challenge. “It is difficult to get others involved in taking on the responsibility,” says Sue Flowers. “We have offered it to two artists, but they have declined.”

Ten artists have been resident at the studios since it opened. The longest anyone has stayed is three years, the shortest six months. “Our aim has always been to be ‘by artists, for artists’,” says Sue Flowers, “and to try to keep rent as low as possible.” There are many challenges, though, to operating from a rural location. Transport issues and costs, and access to services, can impact significantly on artists, and have resulted in a relatively high turnover of occupants.

Reaching out

The studio layout is open-plan, on three levels, with disabled facilities on the ground floor. The studios can accommodate most types of practice. Pete Flowers is a painter, Sue Flowers trained in 3D design, specialising in ceramics, but is now working in the field of environmental art, alongside her socially engaged work with communities. Ailsa Josland, the third artist currently at Green Close, is a ceramicist. “Our building is open plan and we want to encourage a sharing, open culture,” says Sue Flowers. “If people just want to come here for a while to paint or research that’s fine, but if they’re interested in community-based work, we can accommodate that too.”

“We want to share innovative ideas and be proactive,” says Sue Flowers. “We’re determined not be seen as a sleepy little studio in the middle of nowhere.” To this end, discussions are currently underway with freelance curators working with the British Museum to set up a residency in 2007 for the Mexican ceramicists Tiburcio and Israel Soteno. Though this would be the first full-blown residency at Green Close, the facility has played temporary host to a number of visiting artists from overseas, including a Japanese story-teller and some Nigerian musicians. “We are very keen on developing cross-cultural initiatives,” says Flowers, “outside influences can be especially important in a village which has a quite homogenous identity.”

Annual exhibitions and open studios events help to raise the profile of Green Close’s activities. “It would be fantastic to be part of a bigger open studios event in the area,” says Sue Flowers, “but currently we do our own thing.” In 2004, Green Close took its open studio on the road, holding it in a marquee at various agricultural shows across the North West. “Showing work in places like that is not particularly about selling,” says Flowers, “it’s about letting people know that we’re here, and sharing the work.”

Since 1998 the studios have developed programmes of outreach work with the local community, including an annual tree dressing celebration each December. “We’ve really enjoyed and benefited from it,” says Sue Flowers, “but, at the moment, it is based too much on artists’ good will and free labour. We want to develop a more sustainable approach to delivery.” Discussions are underway with the district council to try to achieve this. “We are looking at the building developing as a centre for the wider delivery of the arts in the area,” says Flowers. “It’s eleven miles to the nearest gallery. The studios offer a chance to familiarise people with art within their community – to share the joy of creativity with them in their own setting.”

Environmental objectives

(As adopted by the management board on 3 January 1997)

Contacts

Green Close Studios
Green Close Barn
Melling
Carnforth
Lancashire LA6 2RB

015242 21233
info@greenclosestudios.co.uk
www.greenclosestudios.co.uk