Brian Conery is a visual artist based in Richmond California, part of the Bay Area. June 2025

Before arriving at the Factory my practice was primarily about painting and works on paper. I came to Fish Factory wanting to explore abstraction more fully and also respond to any direct experiences here. At once I found the environment to be overwhelming and beautiful, the dominance of the fjord architecture, the sculpted cathedrals. Profound encounters with nature. As a lifelong rock enthusiast this place is a dream, including the bonus of the Petra rock collection/museum.

 

In recent years my multidisciplinary work has spanned sculpture, found objects, photography and painting. I’ve been trying to get at the power of objects, and how we respond to the simplest of forms and materials and how we interact with them. During my time at the Factory I focused on 2D works on paper. This included small paintings and mixed media drawings, and experimented with small cyanotypes, using both natural and man made materials. I couldn’t resist drawing portions of the sea wall and also rediscovered the beauty in kelp leaves. Back home I have been collecting dried kelp and developing sculptural concepts such as seeing them as ‘bones’.

Other projects included a ritual of writing the names of many friends lost in the last 4 years and tossing them into the ocean. For our sharing night I showed a short video I made from footage around the building and the natural environment, projecting on a wall in a small unfinished room.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about time, and its weight and meaning in this stage of my life. My experience here became more about time than I even expected, seeing it as fluid in a different way than at home, partly from 24 hour light but also a sense of absolute freedom. Along with the fluidity was a heightened awareness of sound, both the environment and water, but also the many birds. The other part of this was the absence of many sounds I hear every day back home in the urban landscape.

We took a wonderful 4×4 journey up into the mountains to visit our new friend ‘The Hermit’, an incredible giant rock that fell from the cliffs and split. I also went on several hikes into the hills behind the house that provided amazing vistas of the fjord filled with streams, waterfalls and rocks everywhere surrounded by the lush carpet of moss sprinkled with wildflowers.

Weather became a main character during our June residence, cold and rainy or foggy most of the time. We jumped at moments of sun and breaks from rain and cold. But that is Iceland. The Fish Factory building was also a primary character, its labyrinth of rooms and work in progress.

I think we all come to these places with lots of expectations of what we want to do and achieve, but I’ve tried to allow profound small moments to guide me. The ever present sea walls were a surprise and an inspiration. I’m certainly leaving here with more questions than answers, and more ideas to pursue with lots of material to inject into my daily studio practice going forward. Our cohort of 6 was a great mix of disciplines, and all serious creatives perfecting their craft, and a joy to get to know them and form a new community, if even for a short time.

Thank you to Kris, Vid, Lukas and Haffi and all the best to our wonderful cohort: Ayano, Jessie, Jane, Kate and Kiley.

Website: https://www.brianconery.com/