Tucked away in Chapala a fiber artist, a novelist, composer, writer and visual artist are experiencing a dream. Each was selected from the field of applicants anxious to take part in a month-long arts residency in Mexico.
“For artists, having a month, in a private living space, and with access to a studio space equipped so they can make their own art truly is a dream,” said 306 Xochil Quetzal Residency founder and Chapala resident Deborah Kruger. “Most artists, even the experts who have participated in our program, don’t have the luxury to just concentrate on their work for a whole month. There are always distractions involved in the minutia of life. Even the people and places they love including their own homes and families can be a form a distraction that eats up time away from the easel, loom, music, or computer.”
Kruger, a renowned fiber artist, understands. She knew from age five that she was to be an artist. But after graduating from the textile design program of New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology and working in the trades as a wallpaper designer for eight years, she realized that being creative on demand meant that she had no creative energy left for her own art. She solved the problem by turning to a career in the financial world and creating her own art after work and on weekends.
“When I was a single mom and at a pivotal moment in my life and art, I unexpectedly received the gift of support and encouragement. Once I was here, retired in Chapala and working in my own studio, I found that I was in the perfect position to provide that help for other artists – all kinds of artists in the form of a free month-long residency in Mexico.
360 Xochiil Quetzal Residencies (named for the Aztec goddess of flowers and creative arts) is a remarkably simple system, on the surface. Artists around the world apply and are selected by expert jurors in their field to come and stay in one of Kruger’s apartments and use one of the studios for a month. The residents pay their own airfare. The residency includes a private living space with a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bath, wi-fi, maid service once a week and all utilities plus 1,000 pesos toward food for artist’s stay.
When the three casitas and two houses are not filled with residents, Kruger rents them, usually to outstanding artists who applied for a residency but didn’t make the cut. “While they don’t have all the benefits of being a resident, they have found a supportive home where they can work and grow.”
The outline of the residency program is ever growing and shifting to fit the people who want and deserve to attend. Kruger, who originally had planned to retire in San Miguel Allende but found that Chapala “just felt like home,” is still crafting a spectrum for the program. She’s clear that just because she works in fiber, she doesn’t want others to think that this is just for others in the textile and fiber fields.
“I’m forever architecting media. I also want to balance the geography of each group. Still, the way it works out sometimes trumps that desire. The five artists in this winter group, for example, are all from the United States. At other times, we’ve had residents from all over the world. I look as I sort applications where the artists are in their development. Some of our residents are already deemed world-class artists; others are emerging and have that potential, but haven’t reached the heights. We have selected residents of all ages – from 23 to well beyond 60. The projects of some of our residents is edgy, cutting edge, discordant while others are working along more traditional paths in their fields.”
This month, the five artists working in Chapala include:
Novelist Gwen Florio, a veteran journalist from Missoula, Montana who covered stories including the Columbine shootings and the Oklahoma City bombers trial. With two Lola Wicks mystery novels under her belt, “South Dakota,” and “Montana,” she is now at work on a third novel.
Musician John Hughes is from Brattleboro, Vermont, and includes musical composition, performance, vocalist, sculptor, and luthier to his fields of art. He drove to Mexico with a 22-string Kora. He crafted the ungainly beautiful West African instrument and now plays and composes for it.
Writer Luke Dani Blue also is an astrologer, creative writing teacher, advice columnist and tweeter from the Bay area. She won the 2014 Wilner Short Story Award. The 360 Xochil Quetzal juror called her application submission: “mind-altering allegory–but more than an allegory–reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s dystopias.”
Visual Artist Holly Thompson traveled from Brooklyn to spend a month as an art resident in Chapala. While here she continues to create anatomically correct renderings of bugs, very much in the style of Audubon.
Fiber Artist Jeanine Shereos is creating sculptured leaf forms from strands of human hair. From Jamaica Plains near Boston, Sheroes is still in her 30s, yet her bio is filled with exhibits of her work in a dozen European countries and numerous publications in which her work has been published.
With artists of this caliber applying for each of the three annual residencies, Kruger reports that making the final determination for the five spots is the biggest challenge. Because the competition is so fierce, she makes a practice of writing a personal letter to several of the applicants who barely missed the mark. To her surprise, she most often receives a personal and grateful reply.
“I get so much from this program,” Kruger said. “Not only is it a way for me to be able to give back, living here I am sometimes starved for conversations based on creativity with people who are passionate about what it means to be an ambitious artist. Through the applicants and residents, I’m able to have those evenings and to make lasting connections with artists around the world.”
Kruger writes posts and interviews about some of the artists who participate in the residency program. Read more about them, and about Kruger’s fabric and encaustic art at DeborahKruger.com.
To apply for a month-long 360 Xochi Quetzal Art Residency in Chapala, visit www.deborahkruger.com/1/art-residency.html. January 18 is the deadline for the May 1-31 session.