Pat Zalisko's Pivotal Residency


This just in from Pat Zalisko (Pat has donated her Mapping San Angelo March 2015  (Pictured above) to VCCA.): 

Have you ever been in a place and time, and realized then that it was a pivotal moment? 

Mapping San Angelo March 2015 represents that instant for me. 

Between March and April of this year, I participated in a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, an international program with a breathtaking compound in Amherst, Virginia.

This fellowship and residency included an invitation to study for a month at VCCA's compound in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was given my own private, nicely outfitted studio—one filled with light, abundant space and lots of inviting blank walls.

On this idyllic old farm, all of our meals were catered, our rooms were perfectly equipped, and I was joined by supportive and creative visual artists, writers, poets and performing artists from around the globe. If we weren't creating new and exciting work and only if they chose to do so, the fellows inspired one another with our respective work product. There was no external pressure to produce, no intrusions from the outside world. We were in a sanctuary and had each been given the gift of time and space. 

I attended this residency with many fascinating and well-known people, at a time of year when I was able to witness this gorgeous, ancient compound transform with the seasons. With labor and deliberation, my own work took a shift. I slowed down, reflecting on our world, what we and nature had created and pondered why.

. 

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