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In Empirica, different creative practices from the realm of art, craft and design are used as a catalyst for thinking and making research. Artist and doctoral researcher Montana Torrey led the research group on a tour of her studio during her winter project residency at HIAP Studios on Suomenlinna Island, where she shared her process and experiments for her ongoing research. 

During the month of February, Montana worked in HIAP’s Augusta Gallery developing material studies for her doctoral research which explores how expanded painting and printmaking can be used as tools to investigate the geological imaginary via overlapping temporal and spatial scales. Drawing from previous field research, she focused on two case studies: a printmaking project that examines the glacier palimpsests or striations of the Fennoscandia Shield in the Helsinki region through collagraphs, and a painting project entitled, What Color is the Cambrian Sky? This research investigates the temporal distance and deep time of blue Cambrian clay and its material transformations, from clay to pigment to surface.

HIAP, the Helsinki International Artist Program, offers artists the opportunity to engage in creative work and conduct research. The studio space becomes essential, not only as a place to create but also as a tool for thinking through visual possibilities, processing ideas, and testing materials. This environment allows for experimentation and hands-on exploration, enabling artists to deepen their understanding in a practical, embodied way. Creative practice requires dedicated time and space for careful reflection, which is why the studio serves as an invaluable resource for both the intellectual and the artistic development of research.