by Vanessa Nagamine, Mixed-Media and Textile Artist, Rise and Repaint Member
When Rise and Repaint announced its virtual residency program, offering a month of dedication and focus on artwork for the members of our community of women and non-binary artists, curators Liezel and Pegah provided a prep checklist. It included a prompt for reflection: how do you want to use the residency to improve the stage your work is currently in? We received a form that helped us reflect on our practice and current career stage, categorized into the types of residencies that would be most useful to us. These included categories like Researching Residency, Exhibition Residency, and Documentation Residency, among others, as well as the option to create our own custom residency format.
I found myself in a dilemma: would it be better at that moment to keep creating new pieces for my fabric comic series I AM NOT A ROBOT, or should I invest that collective studio time into documentation, building my website and portfolio? Alternatively, since I would have peers to work with during the residency, I could experiment with new techniques by tapping into their expertise.
Unable to decide on my own, I turned to the community and posted my dilemma in our Circle group. The best part of being in a community with artists from all over the world, each with unique perspectives and backgrounds, was receiving feedback that helped me organize my vision regarding where my work stood.
I ultimately chose what I nicknamed a "Keep Going Residency," dedicating most of my time to creating more pieces for the series I am currently developing.
However, to my surprise, I experienced a major breakthrough over the course of the residency. I did make new pieces, but I also ended the month with professional photo documentation, a website, and a portfolio. All ready to present my art professionally for open calls and other residency applications.
Thanks to the guidance and resources provided during the RR Virtual Residency, I achieved results far beyond my initial expectations, all within an environment of creative freedom, deep respect for my process, and total support.
