Imagine something you desire for yourself, something that you feel deep inside is just perfect for you and you would be perfect for, something possible, maybe hard to get, exotic or faraway, but possible..
I will describe mine. It starts with a forest that rolls over to the ocean.
It drips of rain, smells of salt, and resonates with all kinds of sounds and fragrances.
Sea, wind, roots,
red trees, wet earth,
footprints. Silence…
…wilderness.
I am walking around and feel like I could touch the sky, dive deep in the waves and taste the slow stretching life of trees, down to the last root and up to the last leaf.
In my luggage, I have Time. I imagine to be in such paradise, and to have time.
Next to me, there’s Tom, my cello.
And paper and pens. And my watercolors.
And finally, no pressure, and a community around me. Of other artists, and of local people, with whom to interact, to meet, to grow.
I cultivated my “possible” like a magic plant for almost one year, and now I finally see it coming true.
The Sitka Centre for Art and Ecology is in Oregon, US, in the Natural Reserve of Cascade Head on the Pacific Coast.
It hosts artists all-year-round, during summer as guests -offering art workshops to the community-, the rest of the year as artists in residence.
Well what is this residency thing? You’ll be asking now.
An artistic residency is an exchange, whose terms vary from situation to situation, where a place, cultural centre, association, institution, family, community.. hosts an artist who will then have the chance to dedicate his or her time to art. Yeah, a sort of artists’ Eden 🙂
An Eden I can’t wait to discover, that has kept me creazy busy and inevitably sleepless for excitement over the last months…
…because yes!! That’s my dream, and I AM GETTING THERE. The heron is on the road again!
It has been -and still is- a creazy two-days trip, Rome ITALY till Otis, Oregon US. As I am writing now, I am flying across North America from NY to Portland, Oregon.Â
Yesterday I flew over the Atlantic, first far-away trip with my cello -it was grand!
I don’t know when internet connection will allow me to post this piece, but whenever it will be I will share it with you, as it sparkles with expectation, excitement, and can’t-wait energy like air right before sunrise, when bids start tuning up for the day.
And the connection arrived here in Portland, where after a lovely flight across the continent I am waiting for the next step of my trip -a bus ride south to the Coast. Then the Sitka Centre will be just a short car ride away!
Stay tuned 🙂