In September 2021, I was invited to Jentel Artist Residency in Banner, Wyoming. I spent a month creating artwork alongside artists Karen Marston, Amy Robson, Frank Sheehan, and writer David Naimon. Inspired by our time together, we proposed a group show for Sage Gallery in nearby Sheridan, WY. They offered us a show and we were generously invited back to Jentel for a residency at the same time. I returned to Jentel 3 years later with my dear friends in October 2024 for the opening of our show, Conversation in the 1000 Acres at Sage Gallery. Once again based in the wild foothills of the Bighorns, I spent my time hiking and responding to the landscape from my new perspective as a recent Studio Art MFA graduate.

I loved the space to think, absorb, and become inspired. I loved the landscape and how the light always changed over the hills and mountains. I loved listening to the sound of the water as I read by the creek and spending time with my friends talking about our art and writing over delicious homemade meals.

For the past two years, I have analyzed my work from every angle and evolved my process continuously. At Jentel, I had the time and space to pause and reflect on my MFA experience and make work purely for the joy of it. It gave me time to take stock of where I am at in my work and examine many of the avenues of expression I utilize: monotype, painting, oil pastel, and charcoal drawing. Seeing everything on the walls together, I realized I am at a point of expansion. I am excited to continue new processes this experimentation has opened up, such as creating a monotype with gold ink and then layering acrylic paint and oil pastel on top to create an image of fields of sage. My time there helped me set my own pace and to re-orient myself as I return to the world beyond grad school.

After our artist residency at Arte Studio Ginestrelle in Assisi, Italy, my monotypes and my partner Sam Teeter’s poems were included in the XV edition of Assisi International Contemporary Art Exhibition 2024 at Art Gallery Le Logge, Palazzo dei Priori, from August 29th to September 1st, 2024, curated by the artist residency director, Marina Merli.

In July 2024, my partner, Sam Teeter, and I traveled to Assisi, Italy as artist-and-writer in residence at Arte Studio Ginestrelle, founded by Marina Merli. We spent the week creating work and exploring this sacred village and its many winding cobblestone paths, forts, cathedrals, and the Roman and Etruscan archaeological sites below. As St. Francis is the patron saint of animals and nature, this hillside village was overflowing with greenery, with olive groves and grapevines abounding over stone walkways. There were many adorable cats to be found, taken care of by the lady next door to us. We hiked the Bosco di San Francesco, a forest path and nature preserve connected to St. Francis Basilica. It led to the adjoining grounds of the Benedictine chapel, Chiesa Santa Croce. Here the land was turned into olive groves and orchards as a sanctuary for travelers.

My monotypes were heavily influenced by these sights, especially the lushness of the olive trees and the everpresent layering of history found in the landscape. Our residency was even built with stone previously used for Roman buildings. In the work I made here, I responded to the local environment and drew on my collected research from my recent travels through Rome, Florence, and Siena. I studied the Tuscan landscape and the ways it was portrayed in Renaissance paintings to create a series of landscape-inspired gel-plate monotypes and drawings that capture the emotion and energy of my experiences within these places, particularly Assisi  In my work, I also used gold ink to evoke the ever-present gold-leaf found in the Byzantine and early Renaissance paintings found in the many cathedrals.

On our last night, Sam and I encountered a group of musical therapy students playing music in the square outside San Rufino Cathedral. Despite the language barrier, I communicated that he plays the fiddle, and immediately one of the musicians handed him her instrument. They delighted in his playing and many joined in while others invited me to dance. We ended the evening enjoying cookies brought out to us by nuns and sharing our stories in broken English and Italian. I cherish our adventures here and hope we shall return.