<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all about the process, not the product, at Willowtail Springs.<\/p>\n
A panel of artists who have taken part in the Willowtail art residency spoke about their experiences at the Mancos Public Library Thursday night. They touched on the value of a residency to the artistic process \u2013 and on the interrelation of art and space.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo practice process over final product, that is not a thing that is honored much in our world right now,\u201d said Peggy Cloy, who directs the residencies program. \u201cIt is something I have always believed in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willowtail Springs is a nonprofit, located along County Road 39, that has hosted residencies in the arts and ecology since 2012.<\/p>\n
An important component of the residency is removing life from the equation, which can be difficult practically to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always something that comes up when you\u2019re in your own life that disrupts your art in some way,\u201d said panelist Lorena Williams. \u201cThe beauty of a residency for me has always been that you\u2019re escaping that.\u201d<\/p>\n
A wildland firefighter and a writer, Williams initially took part in the residency when she moved to Southwest Colorado. The first year she participated, she didn\u2019t come up with a solid final product, but the experience allowed her to \u201ccenter\u201d herself in her new home, and establish an artists\u2019 community \u2013 something that can be difficult as a writer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou write alone,\u201d Williams said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s nothing to put on the wall at the end of it. And so people may know your name, but there\u2019s nothing to show physically for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The following year, Williams ended up writing a few essays that were published in High Country News<\/em>, along with collaborating with artist-scientist Suze Woolf, on a project on burnt trees.<\/p>\n They spoke too about the practical dimension of art. Making a living as an artist can be an all-encompassing endeavor, involving self-promotion and distribution, collaboration \u2013 and oftentimes multiple jobs.<\/p>\n Visual artist Ann Salviazul spoke about the constant tension between art and holding a job. She worked as a kitchen designer for Home Depot for many years, before jumping into art full-time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all familiar with that fight, about how the job takes so much of your energy, that then you don\u2019t have it to put into your work,\u201d Salviazul said.<\/p>\n The residency gave her the time and space to structure her day, and to work on an art project on homelessness \u2013 inspired by a family member and her own time both volunteering and being served at Manna Soup Kitchen in Durango.<\/p>\n And as the name might suggest, a key component of Willowtail is the landscape, a nature preserve with swaths of meadows, pi\u00f1on-juniper forests, a lake, and gardens. Environment affects art, Cloy said, regardless of whether it is in the center of a city, a war zone, or a serene property like Willowtail.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the important elements when you\u2019re exploring the impact of a residency, is the artist and nature, and how do those two play off each other?\u201d Cloy said. \u201cBecause they always do.\u201d<\/p>\n She hopes that Willowtail Springs can be \u201cquietly inspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information on the Willowtail Springs Nature Preserve and Education Center, visit the organization\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n