What is so special about Studio H Art Residency?
Well this is not an institution but a fellow artist who genuinely and generously offers her studio and home to a stranger artist in order to start a dialog and set up a propicious environment for an artistic and human exchange.
At first I felt a little disturbed by this unusual setting, hesitant about what kind of response I should or should not have to it. Because this is unheard of, isn’t it? Or is it just me?
But soon enough Heidi made it feel so easy and natural that I accepted it as what it was and has been. A lifestyle I would say. A place where art making is connected to a whole other things. Like:
- living with others as a member of the family and taking care of what needs to be taken care of. The cats, the lunch, the plants, etc.
- Like learning and participating to working in the garden, which in fact had been a wish of mine. And indeed I have found it very grounding to be in direct contact with nature’s essence. Hands-on. It’s also a good activity to balance out with my creative works which may not require to use my body as much as I need to.
- Inspiring conversations with other artists about art and life, getting to know them, seeing their works and processes and giving feedback to them or continuing the conversation by creating something from what we see. Do I make any sense?
As Heidi puts it, this Art Residency is a collaboration. It is an exchange that is based on giving and recieving on a human level which then firtilizes one’s creativity and being.
On top of bathing in an environment that allows me to grow with others and the world, the freedom that Heidi’s Art Residency provides is an opportunity for me to make conscious choices as to what is most meaningful to me to work on, and through that process, digging deeper within… But this needs to be another topic.
Have you ever heard of such Art Residency?
Would it be an experience you would do or not?
What would you make out of such Art Residency?