Designing my ‘art residency’ in Paris
My intentions for Paris, illustrated beforehand
While in Barcelona for a few days before heading to seven weeks in Paris, I met with a new friend, artist Corrina Sephora Mensoff. She mentioned a site that advertises artist residencies. I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to go on an artist residency myself? I thought that being given time and space to work on my art would legitimize my work.
When I was first starting out as a writer, I was obsessed with the idea of going on a writing retreat or residency. I spent a lot of time researching and applying for residencies, with no success. Now I wonder if my time would have been better spent doing the writing rather than seeking someone else’s approval or permission to do the work.
En route to Paris, it dawned on me that I could design my own artist residency. Having a framework or structure for our creative time allows us to focus and produce work, so I brazenly began calling my time in Paris an artist residency.
choose yourself
In his book Choose Yourself, James Altucher talks about not letting others decide your fate. We no longer need someone to approve of us or our work and give us an art residency. I designed this time and focus, planning well in advance to make sure it happened.
When people commented ‘I’d love to go to Paris for a couple of months!’ I replied, ‘Plan for it and do it!’
What I chose so I would have the space and time to focus on making art:
Corral my teaching time into the first four months of the year, so I wasn’t in teacher mode.
Home in on what I wanted for my time in Paris so I could work in the office beforehand and be focused in Paris.
Omitted business development while I was in Paris. Planning and strategizing could happen later.
Organize my time so my client calls were clustered on a handful of days rather than spread out.
Sold a series of paintings to help fund my time and give me a challenging project to focus on.
Eliminate expenditures for the four months beforehand to save for treats in Paris.
Because of this choosing, I was able to hold a focus and take my time and projects seriously. This kind of planning and designing a framework for projects is what I do with my clients. Having clear motivation and planning in advance helps them to feel more satisfied and accomplished. (And have more fun!)
You don’t have to run off to Paris or some other exotic location to design your own residency. It takes a bit of planning, saving and patience, but you can do this too.
Often at the end of a residency program, participants are asked to do a presentation that sums up their experience and shows their work. I’m hosting an online webinar to share what I learned from this process and some thoughts on how to design your own residency.
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