Stonehouse–Glasshouse: A New Kind of International Residency
The evocative title Stonehouse–Glasshouse encapsulates the connections and contrasts of this independently run residency program. The brainchild of two collector couples – Melbourne-based Michael Schwarz and David Clouston, and London-based Antje and Andrew Géczy – the eponymous ‘houses’ sit in different hemispheres and together comprise a unique opportunity for selected Australian and New Zealand artists.
German-born Antje Géczy’s training and practice in high fashion and fine jewellery had taken her to Paris and London, where she has been a trustee of the Contemporary Art Society of the UK. She purchased the priory attached to an 11th-century church in Chenaud, a very small village in the Dordogne region of south-western France, about one hour from Bordeaux and three hours by train from Paris. The Géczys’ holiday home of over a decade is not far from here, and Antje had conceived of the priory as a site for a residency to support European artists, who had been the focus of the couple’s collection. It was while living in Melbourne that the Géczys met Schwarz and Clouston, who own the Glasshouse building:
a creative hub in Melbourne occupied in part by independent space Gertrude Contemporary. With these avid supporters of local artists, a plan evolved for the cross-global residency.
Schwarz is currently a trustee of supported studios Arts Project Australia, and with his partner Clouston is a Foundation Fellow of the National Gallery of Victoria. He explained that the four founders were looking for ways to expand their support of artists beyond straightforward collecting. “One of the things that.. Subscribe to read this article in full
