Ebb & Flow: Dialogues between art and water

Four six-week residencies which include a stipend and supply budget are to be offered between September 2012 and April 2013. The deadline for submissions is May 18, 2012.

To download the application, please click HERE. With questions or for more information please email applications@astudiointhewoods.org

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Ebb & Flow is a 6-week residency based on the premise that Southern Louisiana can be seen as a microcosm of the global environment, manifesting both the challenges and possibilities inherent in human interaction with urban and natural ecosystems. We ask artists to describe in detail how the region will affect their work, to propose a public component to their residency and to suggest ways in which they will engage with the local community. A Studio in the Woods, located in the Louisiana wetlands, has observed firsthand the dynamic nature of this rapidly changing territory which in turn affects the entire northern hemisphere. We envision this as a powerful context for the exploration of critical thinking, the development of new ideas and strategies, and using the creative process as a catalyst for social change.

“Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one, but there is also a third thing that makes water and nobody knows what it is.”
D.H. Lawrence, Pansies, 1929

The water we experience is not just hydrogen and oxygen but is the intersection of water as a physical, economic, legal, spiritual, cultural and artistic thing.   Those factors, and perhaps others, make up the third component of water, a component which this Studio in the Woods residency seeks to explore and express.

Yesterday I was fortunate to visit Waggonner & Ball Architectural and Planning Firm and meet members of the team who are creating the Water Management Strategy for New Orleans. David Waggonner and I spoke of the bird’s eye view in mapping, and then he brought up the worm’s view. He wants the worm’s view! His team is contemplating what exists underground in our city. It’s not just what the worm can “see”; it’s the worm’s sense of moisture and water. The team was generous in showing me schematics of subsurface waterways and beautiful historic maps, which all stretched my imagination. They shared visionary plans for open waterways in the city (think Amsterdam) that I hope to travel one day here.

The Waggonner & Ball office is only a block away from where I experienced the May 3, 1978 flood as a kindergartener, and I had been there as a child visiting my godmother’s husband at work. At once I felt bombarded by some of my earliest memories along with my hopes for our future. Such are the stratas of life and time here. After the long visit, I returned to the woods and sat on the porch swing by the pond.

For the third year in a row, A Studio In The Woods, will host FORESTival showcasing former resident artists’ work as well as the history and happenings of this unique environment. FORESTival is open to the public and offers families a chance to experience Louisiana’s Wetlands set to live music, food, artistic demonstrations and more.

Saturday May 12^th
11:00 am – 5:00 pm 13401 Patterson Road
Parking is limited, save gas and carpool with a friend!

Artist presentations including:
Debut of Vanities of the Poor an operetta with puppets by Nina Nichols
Growing a Clay Forest with Jane Hill
Poetry reading by Mollie Day and Benjamin Morris
Interactive mapping experience with Rebecca Snedeker
Roy Staab’s Pondburst 

Music by:
Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns
Bamboula 2000
Mark Growden
Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestras with Dr. Jean Montès

Art activities in the Kids’ Creative Corner

Tours of the woods with botanist David Baker

Food and drink for purchase

Tours of the founders’ home with Joe & Lucianne Carmichael

Jewelry for sale by Georgette Fortino

SCHEDULE
11:00 – 12:00  Mark Growden
11:30 – 12:00 Tours of the founders’ home with Joe & Lucianne Carmichael
12:00 – 12:30 Interactive mapping experience with Rebecca Snedeker
12:30 – 1:15 Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns
12:30 – 1:15 Woods tour with Environmental Curator David Baker
1:15 – 2:00 Vanities of the Poor, an operetta with puppets by Nina Nichols
2:00 – 2:30 Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns
2:30 – 3:00 Poetry reading by Mollie Day and Benjamin Morris
3:00 – 4:00 Bamboula 2000
3:15 – 4:00 Woods tour with Environmental Curator David Baker
4:00 – 4:10  Raffle Drawing
4:10 – 4:30 Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestras with Dr. Jean Montès
4:30 Silent Auction  Closes
4:30 – 5:00 Vanities of the Poor, an operetta with puppets by Nina Nichols
4:30 – 5:00 – Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestras with Dr. Jean Montès

Click HERE to purchase raffle tickets online.

Silent auction and raffle from local artists and businesses: Ariodante Contemporary Craft Gallery, Audubon Institute, Penny Baker, Blue Cypress Book Store, Cafe Beignet, Cochon Restaurant, Brandi Couvillion, Derby Pottery, Dirty Coast, Jeff Duncan, Dynasty Watch & Jewelry, The Engraving Company, Gray Line Tours, Herbsaint Restaurant, Oliver Houck, House of Blues, Life Yoga + Boutique, Longue Vue House and Gardens, Louisiana Music Factory, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Magnolia Physical Therapy, Maple Street Book Shops, Matter | Products for Social Change – BirdProject Soap, Maypop Community Herb Shop, MeMe Children’s Wear, Mignon Faget Ltd., New Orleans Aikido, The New Orleans Cooking Experience, New Orleans Film Society, New Orleans Museum of Art, Octavia Books, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Plum, The Parenting Center of Children’s Hospital, The Sovereign Pub, Keith Spera, Steamboat Natchez, Sully Mansion Bed & Breakfast, Ted’s Frostop, WWOZ, Brandon M. Wool MD, New Orleans Zephyrs, and many more…

Many thanks to our major sponsor
Collins C. Diboll Foundation

Additional thanks to our generous donors
Dawn Barrios, Bayou Tree Service, Beaucoup Juice, Bill Fagaly, Susan & Bill Hess, Shawn Kennedy, Kiwanis Club of Algiers, MPress/Brennan’s Printing and Mailing, National Art and Hobby, New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation, NOLA Brewing Co., Cathy & Hunter Pierson, Terminix, Whole Foods Market, Ye Olde Kettle Cooker, Mary Zervigon

Event Committee
Luann Dozier, Benjamin Morris, Heidi Poche, Valerie Robinson, Holly Wallace, Nicola Wolf

Click HERE to visit ArthurRogerGallery.com

Springtime is in full force here at A Studio in the Woods, it seems like overnight the forest has become dense and green. With that in mind, we are pleased to offer the Kids in the Woods Summer Camp again this year. The camp for youth 6-11 years old will be held from June 4th to 29th from 9:30am-1:30pm and the cost is $600 per child.

Campers are immersed in the natural environment as they engage in a variety of hands-on art and nature activities such as:

* Bookbinding to make their own nature journals
* Making puppets of woodland creatures for a puppet show they write themselves
* Building instruments from natural materials to play in a ‘jam session’ with visiting professional musicians.
* Making peanut butter from scratch or ice cube tray popsicles using local produce during snack time
* Learning how to identify trees and other plants with our staff botanist
* Daily nature walks in the woods and on the levee
We have already had several parents express interest and space is limited on a first-come, first-served basis so please get your form in as soon as possible – your child’s place is not guaranteed until we receive your deposit. Please contact us at info@astudiointhewoods.org for a registration form or more information.

Kids in the Woods summer camp is sponsored, in part, by individual donors and Kids in the Woods summer camp is sponsored, in part, by individual donors, the Peyback Foundation and Harrah’s Foundation.

Photos from recent camps:
(Top) Campers with fish windsocks on the levee.
(Bottom, left to right) Launching boats made from recycled materials in our pond. Instructor and campers looking for bugs during a daily walk in the woods. Sketching a seedling in a hand-bound nature journal. Jam session on the porch.

Raffle tickets are $5 for 1 or $20 for 5.
Need not be present to win; Drawing at 4pm on May 12th.

See below to purchase tickets via Paypal or contact an A Studio in the Woods representative to pay cash or check.

Many thanks to all of the generous donors to the raffle!

A: A TASTE OF NEW ORLEANS
Gift certificate to The New Orleans Cooking Experience, gift certificate to Maypop Community Herb Shop, manicure/pedicure from Spa Aria, gift certificate to Swirl, gift certificate to Cochon Restaurant, gift certificate to Louisiana Music Factory, two tickets to a Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra concert, gift certificate to the Sovereign Pub, 2 tickets to a Jazz Cruise on the Steamboat Natchez, gift certificate to Cafe Beignet, Longue Vue House and Garden Family membership

B. GET YOUR GROOVE ON
2 tickets to a Gospel Brunch at House of Blues, one annual membership to WWOZ, a selection of CDs from Basin Street Records, a signed Keith Spera book, Groove Interuppted, a one year membership to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, a gift certificate for Juans Flying Burrito, a massage from Magnolia Physical Therapy, a gift certificate to The Engraving Company, BirdProject Soap, 4 tickets to a Zephyrs game, gift certificate to Life Yoga

C. TO BE YOUNG AGAIN
Tickets to the Audubon Zoo or Auquaruim or Insectarium, gift certificate for Dirty Coast, 8 tickets to a  Zephyrs game, gift certificate for the Parenting Center of Children’s Hospital, two books from Octavia Books, gift certificate for Ted’s Frostop, Pirate tour from Grayline Tours, one year membership to NOMA,  Cookbook from Maple St. Books, MeMe Childrens wear, monthly memberships to NOLA Aikido

D. THE ARTIST IN YOU
Watermeter clock from Derby Pottery, one year Collector’s Club membership from the CAC, one year membership to the New Orleans Film Society, gift certificate and frame from LeMieux Gallery, gift certificate from Blue Cypress Book Store, signed Jeff Duncan book, From Bags to Riches, a comprehensive Eye Exam from Brandon Wool, silver jewelry from Dynasty Watch & Jewelry, gift certificate to Plum

Visit our Paypal page to purchase raffle tickets and
FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW