Art Residency at Chateau Orquevaux

I’m honored to have been an artist in residence at Chateau Orquevaux from April 29-May 27 of 2022. This post will be mostly a photo diary with some small explanations of each photo. The experience itself was too vast and too deep to fully put into words. Part of the reason I’ve put off writing this blog post is because it’s taken many months of digestion post-residency to pull together my thoughts surrounding it. My main takeaways were as follows.

• I was shocked at how transformed I was by the experience. I anticipated going, making work, hopefully making friends. I did not anticipate the deep kindness, the unencumbered generosity of the other residents, lifelong friends, and greater love I’ve ever experienced in any community.
• The work I made was a little different than I imagined. My palette was more influenced by the blue/green pond outside of my studio window than I meant, but I’m grateful nonetheless.
• I took so much knowledge, insights, and tools to experiment with from people I probably would have never crossed paths with.

I would reccomend a residency to anyone who has the opportunity to go, but only go if you’re willing to be profoundly changed. Here are some of my perspectives from this place. This is not an exhaustive photo catalog, but simply some photos to give you a sense of the experience. To see the works I created while in residence, please click here.

The day I moved into my studio.

Chateau Orquevaux from across the pond.

Some of the blue and green colors in the pond that I loved and included some of them my paintings.

Jad Hammoud and Faye Martin in the orchard.

The view from my room out to my balcony.

Postcards and studies on the wall in my studio.

A photo that Fay took of me in the gatehouse, where I was staying.

The church in the village of Orquevaux and nearby cows. The church bells rang every hour.

Progress in the studio.

Jad in his studio, He also gave me my first voice lesson.

Willow Rabinovich and Charles Schriver in the stable courtyard working on their sculptures.

Johnny Farris and Charles Shriver went swimming in the natural pool almost every day. I only went twice.

Making progress in the studio!

Otto Hernandez is a part of the Chateau staff and also one of the most talented painters I’ve ever met.

A little afternoon charcuterie lunch.

My lovely friend, Elissa Elliot while on our day trip to Dijon.

Beulah van Rensburg, Artistic Director at Chateau Orquevaux pouring vino for litterature night.

The band, “Pomme Frites” comprised of residents Johnny Farris (singing), Noah Stacey (drums) and Jad Hammoud (guitar and vocals) – we danced the night away.

On one of the final nights we all did light painting with Andrew Putschoegl (not pictured) in and around a floral sculpture made by Marcie Sherman. (from left: Noah, Marcie, Johnny, and Charles)

My husband Joel and I in Nice after my residency ended.

There were other residents and other moments not captured, but it’s simply impossible to share everything. I hope you got a taste for the experience and enjoyed a few snippets from my month away. Here are the works I made while in residence. If you think a residency would benefit your career in writing, music, performance, painting, sculpture… whatever – it probably will, and I reccomend the Chateau. Thank you Ziggy for being a fabulous host and making magic in your little kingdom. Apply here.