Michelle Echenique
Artist
The Ano Asites Art Residency
I spent October 2021 on the island of Crete at the Ano Asites Artist Residency. The residency was established to bring creativity and life back to a declining rural village. As such the residency encourages artists to engage with the community to create site specific pieces.
As is my usual mode, I arrived with no preconceived idea of what I would do. That changed almost immediately as the ancient practice of mosaic-making on Crete pulled me toward working in this medium. After making a couple test pieces using found material, I began the public art project. Working with the municipality and with help from the villagers, I executed a mosaic on a fountain just below the town square entitled Fish Out of Water.
​
View from my residence
First Mosaics
Click on an image to see it full size and with annotation.
All of the tile for the project was either found by me in the area or donated by the villagers. Always key is that the artwork is contextualized within a place’s natural and human history. For me that is achieved by engaging the community both personally through direct communication and materially, in this case, asking for tile donations to complete the piece.
The other half of the equation is considering the setting, in this case the fountain’s surroundings and use. The physical presence of water, both streaming from the fountain itself and in the broader environment, informed my decision to present fish in the mosaic—a reminder of a fundamental aspect of water at a site where that might not be considered.
See Fish Out of Water in context.
Site Specific Mosaic
Click on an image to see it full size and with annotation.