The Arctic Residency, October 2024
I was awarded a residency program in the Arctic in October 2024. On a sailboat we explored the Svalbard Archipelago for 17 days. We woke up in a different landscape each day. This was a life-changing experience for me.
“Being stunned together at the frozen and remote landscape of the Arctic, not being able to find words to express our feelings, and being the last human beings in many places connected the artists, scientists and the crew beyond imagination. With no routines, church bells or prayers, the time was slow and gentle, and so was the low disappearing sun; yet the days were heavy as we wanted to see more of this landscape with the fear that we will forget it too soon.” This sentiment from the residency will be my inspiration for the theater play I will be writing from this journey in the Arctic. I am immensely grateful to the Boulder Arts Commission to help make this happen.
I will write a love mystery rather than a murder mystery. I was envisioning that the impermanence of the icebergs would reveal a human dark psyche in face of mortality. However, I realized that in the darkness and silence of this remote place we looked inside ourselves. In this elevated state and magical place, love becomes the channel for emotions. Thus, I will speak of love.
My intent is to urge people to stop and question whether we will be able to hold on to our delicate surroundings such as the icebergs which will disappear if we don’t change the way we live.
Italy Residency, July 2021
The residency program at La Macina di San Cresci located in the Chianti region in Italy was an opportunity for me to learn about the local ways of living, and the history of this region both of which influenced my art. I worked at the stone-walled studios beneath our apartment house and in the garden beautifully designed and maintained by the architect couple, who restored this historical complex built in the 9th century. During my 3-week residency, my daughter and I visited the surrounding towns and sketched at their small piazzas. In the afternoons, we walked by the vineyards, and olive groves and in the evenings, we watched fireflies revealing themselves in curious places among the olive trees across from our residency. We also met a few local artists and took woodcarving lessons from the Italian sculptor; Alessandro Nutini. As a result of this time, I created a series of collagraphy prints inspired by the Etruscan civilization. This “Minimalismo Etrusco” series was an important phase of my “simplifying” efforts which allows me to assume meaning with less and to offer an indirect but enjoyable pathway to truth by presenting a mere hint of the meaning it carries.