The Resting Heart Collection
Volume 1
This web page documents the first phase of a series of creative residencies and collaborations which began in 2022 at an artist's hideaway on the West Coast of Scotland.
Volume 1 has three parts:
It's a record for those who have taken part, and a showcase for those who may wish to be involved with similar work in the future. Would you like to be part of the next phase, or just send us a message? Get in touch here!
Volume 1 has three parts:
- a short video love-letter to the place,
- a slide-show of the processes, and
- a collection of artworks made.
It's a record for those who have taken part, and a showcase for those who may wish to be involved with similar work in the future. Would you like to be part of the next phase, or just send us a message? Get in touch here!
original music by Aurelien Vaurillon
Why "The Resting Heart"?
Some years ago, I found myself having to rest. I don't mean the kind of rest that feels nice and cosy, and sets you up for another busy day. This was enforced rest - long and frustrating, but the only way to deal with pain, discomfort and unnatural, disabling fatigue. What work I could continue had to be done from home, at a far gentler pace. While learning to manage chronic illness over a number of years, with the double-edged blessing of fluctuation between relapse and remission, I sought ways to continue to develop an independent, sustainable art practice. I needed my ongoing work to embody the values of rest, care and connection with nature. I also hoped to retain a socially engaged element to my practice while "embedded" in the place where I live.
In 2022, I invited twelve people to take part in the "Resting Heart Project". This involved spending time at my home and studio on the West Coast of Scotland, individually or in pairs: a series of "self directed artist residencies". They would have the opportunity to make work and share studio space (without pressure), or simply rest, collect their thoughts, and explore the woodlands and wild shores nearby. During our time together we talked about the value of rest and retreat, and shared our observations and responses to this place. You can view some of the art works made here as well as a collection of photographs taken "in process". We reflected on how things can take longer than expected, how we can live our creative lives more sustainably, and how we define success. As I had hoped, this gentle artist-hosting emerged as a positive and connective thread in my work.
Pacing ourselves can often be more useful than pushing ourselves - and we all have an optimal pace, which can vary through the course of our lives (years, seasons, months or days). We don't all fit into a standard timeframe or model of "success" - creative endeavours can take a very long time to develop, resolve and present, affected by our varied and changing situations. We are all managing fluctuating conditions of one kind or another! We need to recognise the importance of, and the discipline involved in, a more paced way of working, rather than always celebrating the "don't stop until you drop" culture that so often leads to burnout. There are so many valid reasons why we might need to disappear from view, for however long we need, to care for ourselves and others.
During 2020 I had begun incorporating the lines of resting heart rate graphs (recorded using a wearable health tracker) into my art, and this had become a recurring and developing theme in my work. I had been following recent research into pacing as a management technique for chronic health conditions. It was interesting to learn about how people experiencing health challenges can turn these devices to their advantage, rather than following the pressure to "push yourself" and achieve set fitness goals. The data over time can be useful for noticing when we have, or are in danger of having, "overdone it", and act as a reminder to pace ourselves carefully.
For those dealing with energy-limiting conditions this can be the difference between improvement or deterioration, which can be life-changing, but we can all learn something from this approach. I found, over a five year period, some benefits from observing trends in my heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and other data. In line with the theme of the project, this does takes a long time to work - years of observations can help us see trends more clearly! But, as an example, it is possible to set an alarm to warn you when your heart rate goes above a certain rate, which can help with pacing over the course of a day and beyond.
With their kind permission, I used a portable health tracker to record participants' varying resting heart rates over 24-hour periods during their stays. It was interesting to compare a collection of single day line graphs from a range of individuals, as a visual note of the type of fluctuations we all experience, and the variations between people and days. These fluctuating lines of data have been incorporated into my artwork about internal and external landscapes in Volume 2 The question of who each graph "belongs" to isn't important in this context, it's more about witnessing a range of experience, although I did keep each person in mind while I was creating the art.
With gratitude to everyone who took part! - Alison Durbin, Roshven 2023 - 2025
Some years ago, I found myself having to rest. I don't mean the kind of rest that feels nice and cosy, and sets you up for another busy day. This was enforced rest - long and frustrating, but the only way to deal with pain, discomfort and unnatural, disabling fatigue. What work I could continue had to be done from home, at a far gentler pace. While learning to manage chronic illness over a number of years, with the double-edged blessing of fluctuation between relapse and remission, I sought ways to continue to develop an independent, sustainable art practice. I needed my ongoing work to embody the values of rest, care and connection with nature. I also hoped to retain a socially engaged element to my practice while "embedded" in the place where I live.
In 2022, I invited twelve people to take part in the "Resting Heart Project". This involved spending time at my home and studio on the West Coast of Scotland, individually or in pairs: a series of "self directed artist residencies". They would have the opportunity to make work and share studio space (without pressure), or simply rest, collect their thoughts, and explore the woodlands and wild shores nearby. During our time together we talked about the value of rest and retreat, and shared our observations and responses to this place. You can view some of the art works made here as well as a collection of photographs taken "in process". We reflected on how things can take longer than expected, how we can live our creative lives more sustainably, and how we define success. As I had hoped, this gentle artist-hosting emerged as a positive and connective thread in my work.
Pacing ourselves can often be more useful than pushing ourselves - and we all have an optimal pace, which can vary through the course of our lives (years, seasons, months or days). We don't all fit into a standard timeframe or model of "success" - creative endeavours can take a very long time to develop, resolve and present, affected by our varied and changing situations. We are all managing fluctuating conditions of one kind or another! We need to recognise the importance of, and the discipline involved in, a more paced way of working, rather than always celebrating the "don't stop until you drop" culture that so often leads to burnout. There are so many valid reasons why we might need to disappear from view, for however long we need, to care for ourselves and others.
During 2020 I had begun incorporating the lines of resting heart rate graphs (recorded using a wearable health tracker) into my art, and this had become a recurring and developing theme in my work. I had been following recent research into pacing as a management technique for chronic health conditions. It was interesting to learn about how people experiencing health challenges can turn these devices to their advantage, rather than following the pressure to "push yourself" and achieve set fitness goals. The data over time can be useful for noticing when we have, or are in danger of having, "overdone it", and act as a reminder to pace ourselves carefully.
For those dealing with energy-limiting conditions this can be the difference between improvement or deterioration, which can be life-changing, but we can all learn something from this approach. I found, over a five year period, some benefits from observing trends in my heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and other data. In line with the theme of the project, this does takes a long time to work - years of observations can help us see trends more clearly! But, as an example, it is possible to set an alarm to warn you when your heart rate goes above a certain rate, which can help with pacing over the course of a day and beyond.
With their kind permission, I used a portable health tracker to record participants' varying resting heart rates over 24-hour periods during their stays. It was interesting to compare a collection of single day line graphs from a range of individuals, as a visual note of the type of fluctuations we all experience, and the variations between people and days. These fluctuating lines of data have been incorporated into my artwork about internal and external landscapes in Volume 2 The question of who each graph "belongs" to isn't important in this context, it's more about witnessing a range of experience, although I did keep each person in mind while I was creating the art.
With gratitude to everyone who took part! - Alison Durbin, Roshven 2023 - 2025
© All text and images copyright of Alison J Durbin or the authors or artists where stated, and cannot be used without permission.