Read Anatomy of an Artist Residency, Part I
In 20 days, Jeane & Sukanya board an Air Canada jet to Dublin to begin the art residency they have talked about for more than two years.
Sukanya is a painter and paper cut artist. Jeane works in photography, mixed media, and tapestry.
Sukanya is searching for stories of women, everyday and ancient, goddess and maiden and mother and crone. Jeane is searching for ancient symbols and practices and weave together women’s experiences through the millennia.
Ireland is a treasure trove of ancient and myth and mysticism and stories. It’s easy enough to travel from one goddess site to another and gather what we needed. Tourists can do that.
We wanted more. We wanted collaboration. That’s a little trickier. Apparently, there is no central registry for artists to book a collaborator, like booking an AirBnB or renting a car. Too bad. We could use one of those.
Instead, we reached out to artists we found on Facebook, through Irish art groups, through professional art associations, though word of mouth. It’s a risk to reach out to others. It’s a risk to respond. We persevered. There HAVE to be artists who want to collaborate.
Initially, more than 15 artists responded that they were interested in our project, six finally committed. Without hesitation and with tremendous generosity, six Irish artists in various parts of the country offered ideas, places to stay, places to work, people to meet. Please read about them in Our Collaborators section above. You will be hearing a lot about them in the next month.
Creating a residency from scratch is a challenge. It’s not a common model, and it’s an experiment. We are very grateful to the artists who already have taken a risk to work with us. It’s a privilege to meet this way.
There is no art in a vacuum. Jeane and Sukanya invite you to add your voices, ideas, suggestions, comments, and art to the project.
Read Anatomy of an Artist Residency, Part II
Symbols & Stories 