Artist in Residence
This week I’m doing an Artist in Residence program. It started Monday, it’s now Wednesday afternoon. It’s already been amazing and I still have four days to go. The first day I experienced a great breakthrough in mindset that has set me up for the rest of the time period. The art that has been created has been so much fun for me to make. A great part about the program is that it’s at my house. All these things together have made it a powerful experience so far and I’m going to carry this energy through the rest of the week and then on into my daily life as an artist.
Going into it was an interesting experience. I have been looking forward to this week for a few months now. I’ve been envisioning and planning my attack. I want to make the most of my time and have this be my cocoon so that I can butterfly into my next stage of my work. That being said, I made myself a to-do list. I’ve got all these little art odds and ends, little projects and whatnot. I started Monday by organizing my studio and then I began working on the little tasks on my list. It was all these little ticky tacky things that were more busy work and cerebral parts of projects that really just weren’t exciting. I was getting frustrated, not enjoying myself one bit, and feeling like I was wasting my time. My fiancé and I went for a walk and discussed the nature of what I was doing and got to the fact that sometimes with projects I just don’t know what I’m doing or if I want to be doing that at all. After that talk I just said “forget my To-Do list,” and started doing what I was there to do. I started painting. Since that moment, it’s felt great. I’ve been crushing out artwork hours on end and the paintings are coming together beautifully.
The artwork is abstract. At times I want to say things with my art. I want to make statement pieces like Bansky or Shepard Fairey. But often times that work is so heavy. It needs to be so thought out, calculated, and so directed. I come back to abstraction time and again because it’s a place of complete freedom (Which is actually the title of the first abstract I made on Monday.). There are no rules or road map with abstract art. It’s an exploration of concepts like color, composition, shape and texture. I love playing with paint and observing it being itself – goopy or runny, thick or dripping, bright and vibrant or dark and deep. These elements speak to me in a completely different way than the Banksy or Fairy style I was referring to before. When direct messages come through, I bring them to life, but right now I’m just letting the artistic energy flow.
This program I’m doing is awesome. I live in a house in Fallbrook, California which is in North County San Diego. I live with my fiancé and our good friend who owns the house we live in. It’s a big space, he has his own wing and so do we. There’s also a small apartment space attached to the house, and we’ve decided to host artists there for a week at a time, once a month. We are inviting artists of different disciplines and backgrounds and they are encouraged to use the time and space to produce their work and push it forward with no distractions. I’m going through the program first as a test run and I’m happy to report, so far so good. The work space is amazing, the landscape is inspiring and the artistic conversations with the other two people here are thought provoking and uplifting. If artists are interested in the program they can email me at taylorgallegosfineart@gmail.com with their background credentials, their current artistic pursuits and what they intend to do for their week of residence.
All in all it’s been amazing so far. The little breakthrough that happened at the beginning was totally necessary and turning point for my growth for the week. The artwork is coming along really nicely and I’m excited to be able to see it all together when the week is up. This residency program is a great concept and I’m looking forward to seeing more artists flow through and have the chance to create their magic. My artistic work is advancing and I’m just planning on doubling down for the next four days.