Coin Your Own Story
Can you imagine what stories would be like if a person were to tell them without any experience?
Fiction is a great form of creativity, similarly, reflections from raw experiences are a great foundation for encouraging stories. The thing about reflections, though, is that they help not only the reflector, but they share an insight with the ones who heed them. Experience is something that is inevitable. Life starts with it, and there is no limit to it- however, there is depth to it.
When presented with an opportunity, even those who choose to let it go, gain some extent of experience. And those that do dive into the extended pool of opportunity let the twists and turns of the experience coin their story.
A wise woman- Alice Walker- once wrote,
“Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.”
In regards to these inspirational words of Alice Walker on ‘phases of growth’, below are a collaboration of reflections from our past residency artists on their experiences at Starry Night Retreat!
“I have many favorite experiences!! Hard to pin them all down…but here I go on a little list: learning to two-step at the Pine Knot;; riding a bike underneath the stars on an empty road after a long soak in the hot springs;; laughing on a hammock with new friends;; mesquite-smoking a fish from the Rio Grande;; climbing Turtleback Mountain (or at least part of it);; delicious friendly meals from Monika;; waking up and feeling totally rested and ready to collect rocks;; watching the sun set (almost every night!) but especially at White Sands, oh, and fresh margaritas in the daytime!”
Jennie:
“I enjoyed the quiet. I also loved borrowing your blue bike and riding around town meeting some of the unique people in the town. I especially loved soaking in the hot springs at night.”
“My work has changed conceptually quite a lot. Before my practice really centered around the relationship between the subject and myself, as observer/ painter and the observed/ subject. Before coming to Starry Night I never would have chosen myself as a subject, but being in an environment that inspired so much self reflection brought my attention to myself as subject, both personally and artistically. The work that I completed at Starry Night really was about my process in the town and in myself. Snapshots of my days walking around and taking in the sights, as well as a chronicle of me interpreting myself through my painting practice.”
“I didn’t expect to photograph so much. I haven’t photographed in close to 3 years, so it was refreshing to start again.
Meeting so many amazing and interesting people was one of my favorite experiences. The experience of making these new relationships will stay with me for a long time.”
Experiences peel layers.
Sometimes they act as coins that scratch the surface of a lottery ticket, and sometimes they act as the shredded bits of skin a snake leaves behind.
Experiences are about moving forward; if it weren’t for them, the definition of “me” or “you” would be left as unfilled ______.
[If you’d like to know more about the residency, please visit our Residency page]
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