Artist Story: Judy Natal
Artist Residencies: The Permeable Edges and Moveable Walls of Your Art Practice
© Judy Natal Future Perfect: 2040
Artist-in-Residence (AIR) programs provide unique opportunities for artists to expand their creative practice and broaden their professional networks in ways unimagined while sitting in a studio. And that’s the point: to shake up perspectives and disrupt work habits in pursuit of new inspirations and influences. I’ve found that the best way to move my practice forward is to systematically question everything, including where and how I make art, and whom I talk to and what I look at while making it. At the same time, AIRs provide long-term, affordable access and a base of operation in the extreme places I choose to work.
I have noticed that as art markets contract, granting agencies shrink, museums become more cautious, and collectors’ discretionary funds more limited, residency opportunities for artists continue to expand. Like galleries, each residency program has a specific identity that requires an artist to research where and what they want to do. Some residencies pay the artist a stipend; some charge fees to attend; some have a sliding scale or offer scholarships based upon need and income. It’s not unusual for an organization or institution to request a work of art, that results from your residency, for their collection. Some might have an educational component where you're asked to give a lecture on your work or conduct a workshop in which you share your expertise. What they all share is the requirement that you do your work and be a good global citizen, and they all provide the opportunity to make art 24/7.
Reasons to seek out AIR opportunities are as varied as the residencies themselves. I pursue AIRs to gain unlimited access to a specific site. I have a great studio space, and I'm particularly good at ignoring everyday life requirements when I'm in the midst of a project, but my work for the last 10 years has required extreme environments, which I can't find in Chicago—like the Mojave Desert or the geothermal features of Iceland. A good example is my artist residency at the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona, in the middle of the Sonoran desert, where I situated my current work Future Perfect. Another residency, in the Joshua Tree National Park in Twentynine Palms, California, produced the series EarthWords. Both these AIRs were a one-time residency that I was able to expand based upon the growth and development of my work. I reviewed my progress on a regular basis with the individuals who ran these programs. The relationships I established, cultivated, and nurtured in these communities allowed me great access to the places I wanted to photograph. I stay in close communication with the organizations I work with, keeping them informed of my progress, including my exhibition and publication activities.
Not all residencies are community-based. In fact, some programs are very solitary endeavors. For example, for the first residency that I did with the Icelandic Association of Visual Artists (SIM) in Reykjavik, Iceland, I paid a fee (approximately $500 in 2008) for a room and a shared studio in a building with a group of international artists. The living environment was quite communal and social, with lots of interaction between the residents (who were all chosen through an application process). My second residency in Iceland in 2009 was a totally solitary affair, for which I paid approximately the same fee. This time, though, it was one month’s rent for an apartment on the top floor of an art center in suburban Reykjavik. I had no interaction with anyone, but this suited my project because I would get out the door around 4 a.m. to photograph and would not return until around 10 p.m. (Iceland is a photographer's paradise, least of which is due to 24-hour light in summer.) It was a relief that I didn't have to tiptoe around at 4 a.m., trying not to disturb the other artists.
It is clear that the work I created could not happen as easily, if at all, without the AIR opportunities, so I feel that it's important that I give back to these organizations and pave the way for other artists. I always offer photographic prints for an AIR program's archive, even if this is not required. In the case of Joshua Tree National Park, which is a government agency, I did quite a bit of fundraising by doing slide presentations of my work whenever I was asked (which happened more frequently as my project expanded and lengthened). This was challenging, since these activities took me out of the field/studio and interrupted my work, but I reminded myself that I wouldn't be making this work at all if not for the AIRs.
As you begin to research AIRs, I think the first step is figuring out where you would like to go and why. For me, this is always determined by the requirements of my work. For others, this might include wanting to work within specific communities. Here are some websites to assist you in your research:
- And, of course, CAR. (Look for residency opportunities in the Calls for Artists section or go to the Sitemap, select a discipline, scroll down to "Opportunities">"Ongoing Opportunities," and click on "Residencies/Art Colonies."
Judy Natal is currently Associate Chair of the Photography Department at Columbia College Chicago, and is the author of EarthWords (2004) and Neon Boneyard Las Vegas A-Z (2006). Her photographs are in the permanent public collections of the California Museum of Photography, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, among other places. Her work has been exhibited at Projects International and Photograph Gallery in New York City, the Nelson Atkins Museum, Kathleen Ewing Gallery, Washington, D.C., and the Sao Paulo Biennal. She has received numerous grants and fellowships, including a Fulbright Travel Grant, Illinois Arts Council Photography Fellowships, and Polaroid grants, and participated in numerous artist residencies nationally and internationally, most recently in Iceland and the Biosphere 2 for her current work Future Perfect.