ROAMING RESIDENCY

ADIRONDACKS, NY

roam /rōm/

(verb) move about or travel aimlessly or unsystematically, especially over a wide area.

In early July I packed my camera and basic art supplies into my car, leaving my Boston home and studio for the beginning of a self-appointed artist’s roaming residency. Seeking the unfamiliar, I organized a nomadic studio experience for myself.

Southern Maine

STOWE, VERMONT

Mindful of traveling amidst a global pandemic, I chose to stay close to home. I initially began my journey as guest in friends’ summer homes (thank you friends!) in and around New England. I was so surprised how distance did not need to be great to have a new experience. 

MARION, MA

I am now settled into a 3-month stay in the Berkshires, in western Massachusetts, just 2 hours from my home, though millions of miles from routine. I make time for reflection, discovery, growth and have the mental space to create and explore. Roaming is helping me uncover who I really am.

BERKSHIRES, MA

regeneration

It took 2 months for this little camomile plant to sprout…

…meanwhile, the little potted plant’s ‘sisters’ were flourishing in their environment.

The experiment brought to mind how environment plays a large role in our ability to thrive, and how we can regenerate forgotten spaces with attention and intention.

This spring I collaborated once again with my dear friend and colleague, Italian artist Federica Pamio, on a body of work titled ruins reborn, our response to a student project studying urban areas of Rome that have been forgotten, abandoned, or neglected.

student photo of neglected building in Rome waiting to be reborn

Utilizing student photos of abandoned buildings, we created corresponding architectural drawings, identifying the bones of the building.

our architectural drawing, Lin.Fe, 2020

Once the noise of the environment was removed, we superimposed our imagery, resulting in a collage of nature, human form and the artificial structure. Possibility unfolded, ruins were reborn!

ruins reborn 1, Lin.Fe, 2020

…and that little planted pot of chamomile was eventually transferred to the flourishing garden and helps me thrive daily!

MY STUDIO IS MY SANCTUARY

“Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself”

— Herman Hesse

I am most myself in my studio. It’s on the 2nd floor of our home, nestled in the treetops. It’s filled with light and I can feel time standing still in here. I write, I cut, I fold and crumple, edit, test, experiment, ruminate and meditate. I enter this space both physically and spiritually.

prepped for a studio visit

My photo work between 2010-13 was a study of stillness through the play of light with the architectural elements throughout my home. I look at these images now and I can clearly see them as frozen stills of my moving life that seemed so static at the time of raising young children while a student in art school.

composition for a reflection, 2012

As we continue to shelter-in-place, I wonder how we can all create some space for a sanctuary that is beyond the physical. I am still adjusting to this new norm and am thinking a lot about mental health. I just registered for Yale’s online course, The Science of Well-Being, their most popular class in their 300-year history, with over 600,000 people who registered for it in March 2020 alone. Join me? Runs for the next 10 weeks, self-paced, 20 hours total, and it’s free! Starts this week.

MY MEDITATION TOOLS

I use this Zafu meditation cushion and thick yoga mat in my studio when I need to reflect.

DIY prune job + the artist’s toolbox

Two months sheltered-in-place. It’s spring, everything is in bloom. Everyone needs a haircut.

In early April, the Japanese maple tree played nest to Isabella as she inserted herself into its still bare branches, captured in an image which would become the start of a new collaborative project with my Italian counterpart, Federica Pamio. We fused our images of solitude and isolation during the pandemic to create a body of work titled n’est nest. Read about our project in the Boston Globe by Cate McQuaid!

untitled (n’est nest, test 2), 2020, Lin.Fe

Today I pruned that tree. Yesterday I cut Isabella’s hair. I think about the artist’s toolbox……mine includes my fierce pair of scissors, Allex, stainless steel, made in Japan. I use them for paper, fabric, and that haircut.

On scissors… last year, Natalie interviewed me for one of her Parson’s classes. She wanted to know about my favorite tool as an artist, my scissors. We traced back a connection to my mom, who had worked as a seamstress her entire life. Natalie wove my story into a handmade pair of paper and metal scissors. Meg always reminds me that the most personal is the most creative.

Very pleased with the prune job and Isabella’s haircut - sort of poetic, their relationship to one another. We are celebrating with her homemade bubble tea. The new DIY everything is not so bad…

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MY TOOLS

The scissors that have seen me through haircuts, handmade facemask making, paper cutting and so much more.

My garden tool bag, provides me immense joy. It serves as my portable art studio that I use to shape nature, even the scary work of pruning a 35 year old Japanese maple in the middle of Spring (evidently best done earlier, when it’s dormant, like in the photo of Isabella wrapped up inside its EMPTY branches!).