WIGWELL LODGE RESIDENCIES

Wigwell Lodge is a property in Derbyshire, owned by The Ampersand Foundation since 2018. Situated in the countryside thirty minutes from Derby, the Lodge is conceived as a residence space for reflection and production. It will host not only artists and curators, but also academics and writers.

Alone or in partnership with other institutions, Wigwell Lodge provides accommodation and living expenses to the person in residence giving them an opportunity to explore and discover the Midlands cultural and natural heritage.

Our present resident is Ellen Burroughs, in partnership with Wirksworth Festival. Ellen Burroughs is a socially engaged artist and educator from Leeds whose work examines human behaviour and development, referencing social anthropology, psychology and folklore. Her primary practice is printmaking, with visual works that bring photography, collage and drawing into traditional print processes such as lithography, etching and screenprint. Over time, her practice has expanded to include sound, installation and performance. Ellen graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2023 and runs Lutra Studio, a space for collaborative projects in printmaking and drawing.

Over the course of her residency at Wigwell Lodge, she is developing work that explores the value and nature of children’s self-led play in wild spaces locally. Ellen is working towards series of prints, a binaural sound piece and a fragrance designed to evoke inner memories of childhood explorative experiences of wild spaces. Ellen is working with local stone, foraged materials and field recordings- alongside drawings that map her children's play.

RESIDENCY PARTNERS & PREVIOUS RESIDENT ARTISTS

Artist residency - Wirksworth Festival partnership

In partnership with the Wirksworth Festival, a regional arts festival in Derbyshire that has been running for over twenty years, the Foundation now runs an annual artist residency. Each year, an artist will be selected and invited to reside at Wigwell Lodge for three months in the summer. During the course of the residency, the artist will produce work for the festival.

Previous residents: Stef Kerek (2024) https://skerekceramics.wordpress.com/ Mustafa Boga (2023) https://www.mustafaboga.com/ Feral Practice (2023) http://www.feralpractice.com/ Jemma Gunning (2022) https://www.jemmagunning.com/ Liane Lang (2021) https://www.lianelang.com/ Mike Shaw (2019) https://michaelshaw.art/

Artist residency - Ikon Gallery partnership

In 2025 we partnership with the Ikon Gallery, a renowned arts gallery in Birmingham founded in 1964, to hold a residency for Singaporean artist Robert Renhui Zhao. Zhao is a multidisciplinary artist whose used his residency to continue his practice of examining the relationship between humans and nature.

Art history residency - Association for Art History (AAH) partnership

In partnership with the AAH to create an annual art history residency for researchers and academics. The residency is intended to give researchers, at all stages of their career, the opportunity to spend focused time on their research/writing while on sabbatical. The residency is available to AAH members and will run for up to four months from October to January each year.

Previous residents: Dr Robert Mills, University College London (2024) Susannah Thompson, The Glasgow School of Art (2023)
Dr. Patricya Smith (2022) Prof. James Hellings, University of Reading (2021) Mark Rawlinson, Associate Professor in Art History, University of Nottingham (2019)

Lens-based artist residency - Photoworks partnership

From 2020-24 we partnered with Photoworks to offer a residency opportunity for lens-based artists, running each year from February to June. Arts institutions from across the Midlands came together to nominate the candidates. Photoworks is a platform for contemporary photography working nationally and internationally. www.photoworks.org.uk

Previous residents: Matthew Arthur Williams (2024) https://www.matthewarthurwilliams.com/work Charlie Fitz (2023) https://www.charliefitzartist.co.uk/ Monica Alcazar-Duarte (2021) https://www.monicaalcazarduarte.com/ Freddy Griffiths (2020) http://www.freddygriffiths.co.uk/

Please contact each organisation to find out more about how to apply.