My art residency at Wildacres Retreat

At the end of May 2024, I had an experience that I’m so grateful for: I was an artist-in-residence at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland. This is a competitive residency program that offers about 70 artists, writers, and composers their own private cabin on the beautiful mountaintop campus of Wildacres Retreat.

For this residency, I wanted to create large gelatin prints for use in my collage work. Before I left home, I created my own gel plate for the first time—and it is enormous!

I drove my giant plate and tons of supplies to North Carolina, stopping to visit family on the way. Once I got to Wildacres, I was amazed at the cabin that I had all to myself for the week. It was beautiful, spacious, and so quiet! I quickly covered the floor with plastic, making it look like the setup for a ghastly crime.

Every day, I printed like crazy and took several wonderful hikes on the many trails on Wildacres property. I enjoyed meals provided at the retreat’s meal hall with the other two artists that were in residence that week as well as some of the terrific staff members.

The week flew by! Part of the reason I applied for this residency was the shorter length, but wow, it goes fast. However, I returned home with a huge stack of prints that will last me for a long time and will become part of so many collages. I also returned refreshed and inspired, with a firm understanding of how to work with my new huge gel plate. I’m grateful to Wildacres for generously offering me this wonderful opportunity!