I spent one month at Jentel Arts Residency in Banner Wyoming. I had been to one other art colony and it had been for writers only, so I didn't know what to expect with two writers, two painters, and two photographers. The result was a strange mathematical equation where 2 plus 2 plus 2 equals at least one hundred. For one month, all of us worked in our individual studios during the day, and we came together in the evenings preparing food and sharing ideas about our work. Soon, the photography images were spilling over into the paintings and the paintings became large metaphors that spilled into the writing. It was an explosion of creativity, a mind meld that was better than anything I could have imagined. An art residency is a huge, generous gift of time and space. From the first cup of coffee in the morning to the last sip of wine at night, the conversation was about our lives as artists, which was sometimes breathtakingly funny when we learned what each of us had done to support our art. If you are an artist and you had ever imagined what it might be like to have an entire month to work only on your art, take a look at the world of art residencies. Take a chance and apply.
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