Transformations

November 2024 Newsletter

Transformations

A ramble through the woods in Southwest Pennsylvania evoked the musty smell of decaying, dry, and rumpled oak leaves, as I sensed the light sweep of leaves underfoot as I made my way through the trails at Bear Run Nature Conservancy.

This month I attended an artist residency, one offered by Design Inquiry. I’m new to the world of artist residencies as I teeter on the edge of artistry. This group doesn’t pretend to teach you how to be an artist. Rather they show you how everything can be an art project. Yes, everything.

My fellow resident artists were courageous, open, and beheld the world as a global prompt for creating something. They were graphic designers, many who are teaching in Design Departments at the college level, some still students pursuing an art degree. There were about 15 of us. Most of them drove to our retreat, which meant they filled their cars with paper, pens, paints, paper cutters, cameras, film, silk screens, exotic printers, video cameras...they came equipped to make things, to unfold their full repertoire of artistic skills and expertise.

I arrived by plane and packed my old Mamiya film camera, a pocket watercolor kit, some old yarn, and watercolor paper. Oh, and an unopened packet of gouache paints, which I’ve never used. I felt pathetic.