Thursday 11 June 2015

Remy Dean Joins The Residents

I am glad to announce that I will be the writer in residence at Helfa Gelf’s Haus of Helfa 2015.

Haus of Helfa is part of the 'Lost Spaces' project, a collaboration between Helfa Gelf, Oriel Mostyn and the Llawn03 Festival. It facilitates the use, by creative artists, of otherwise disused buildings. Haus of Helfa is the flagship of this project and is located at 26 Augusta Street, Llandudno AKA The Tedder House.

The Tedder House at 26 Augusta Street, Llandudno
 has been many things... now a home for creativity
Beginning in August, I will be joining twelve other artists who will be working in, and with, this unique and stimulating art space. Every weekend through September, the doors will be opened to visitors who can watch the work in progress and chat to the artists about their ideas, concepts and methods. The residency culminates in the launch of the Llawn03 Festival on the weekend of 18, 19 and 20 September.

I enjoyed Haus of Helfa 2014 and wrote a piece about it here on this weblog. It was a great success and I hope we can, at least, match its success this year.

I intend to develop work in collaboration with the other residents, and also with visitors and the wider communities. It is early days yet, Jack, so watch this space (or follow me on twitter @DeanAuthor) for more details!

In the meantime, YOU can get involved simply by sending me a postcard...

A selection of contributed postcards will be displayed within my exhibition area linked to this year's Haus of Helfa theme: Revisit / Reveal. You can write a postcard linked to any one of the three stimuli below:

1.  send a postcard to your former self (or to your future self, because one day you will be your future self's former self), imparting some significant nugget of information, or asking yourself a few questions - funny or philosophical.

2.  describe a place and time that you would wish to revisit but cannot ever again - poignant, pensive or polemical...

3.  or simply recount an anecdote of something that you have experienced when in, or near, Llandudno - be as straightforward or poetic as you like!

It is up to you what postcard you send, I would suggest one representing your local area (from whatever far-flung part of the world you live in), or your own original drawing or design. Suitable postcards will be selected for public exhibition at Haus of Helfa during my residency in September 2015 (I would recommend including no personal details apart from name and location, if you so wish). Postcards will be considered as donated, cannot be returned and will not be used for any other purposes other than those linked to this artistic venture. Some may be published on-line or in resulting printed artifacts. As I will not be able to reimburse you for the cost of postcard and postage, I will, on your behalf, donate £1 per card for the first 50 received, to local Llandudno charity Hosbis Dewi Sant.

Please send your postcards to:

Remy Dean
Haus of Helfa 2015
P O Box 1
Blaenau Ffestiniog
LL41 3ZB
United Kingdom

I look forward to receiving your contributions!

You can check out my Helfa Gelf homepage here...