The 10 items I took with me on my residency

Like one of those survival reality shows…

Greetings from the mesmerizing edges of Passamaquoddy lands otherwise known as northeast coastal Maine, where I’ve spent the last 9 days in solitude at the very threshold of the rocky ocean at my first solo remote art residency.

This experience has been nothing short of life-altering.

In this gentle softening of the container I’m not yet ready to express the details of the magic, peace, presence, and deep work I’ve cultivated in this space yet. I feel there are years of material that will arise from this time, so it will come (I hope you’re into hearing about it here) but as I pack up my material belongings to head home tomorrow I am reflecting on what I brought and how much one can conjure from very little.

When I started my designated journal for this time, I asked: what if I limited myself to packing only 10 art-making items?

(Yes, this feels exactly like one of those survival reality tv competition shows).

Limiting myself to 10 items was not only a curious creative challenge, and not only a good constraint for packing light for a flight, but it led me into inquiry about what is essential. This was easy for me, because I also work with living co-creators (my updated language for “natural materials”, much more on that soon). So, some of my “supplies” were to arise from relationships made on-site.

Nevertheless, I want to share my list of 10:

Might I say, surprisingly, the plastic bags were actually the item I was most grateful to bring for a remote artist residency. My thick and reusable freezer-size plastic zip-locs served as printing plates, watercolor palettes, foraging vessels, compost collection units, barriers for bundle dyeing and ecoprinting. My husband told me that every survival show contestant always includes “tarp” as one of their items. Freezer bag is the tarp of the residency. Low key (high key, even) life savers.

The other thing I want to express is that I saved a lot of time and space having pre-treated my cotton fabric. This eliminated the need for traveling with containers of mysterious granules and white powdered substances.

These 10 items were everything I needed. One does not need to bring a full art studio, sometimes the essentials are exactly what is needed, no more, no less.

I look forward to sharing more with you soon. Many of my photos are on the camera included in the list of 10.

◯ Happy summer,

-Kristen