Residency at Alva

One thing which when knocks against my mind makes music to my senses is the feel of a kinship between Art and me. It is tough to have an objective understanding of your own work without getting your feet tangled in value judgements; nevertheless, it is pretty interesting to pause for a while and look back at snippets of your journey and mull over what else you could do to develop your Art.

An Art residency is always such a place. It is like a low tide in your creative cruise; you think, but are stopped before your thinking can step into worry; you work but you don't drive yourself nuts, and you are made to feel safe and secure enough to have all those ideas until now hibernating in your head to be finally born, however deformed or premature it might later seem. Some residencies are more like personal spaces to be cut away from everything else and work; some residencies are pretty intense if there are specific programs or shows to be put up by the end, and you have daily exciting sessions with tutors. Some are in the university setting, and for me, coming to the Northwestern Oklahoma State University as artist in residence was the first experience of being in the academic atmosphere.

It was early October and a semblance of summer still lingered on blissfully here in the mid West. It was a break from my beloved icy pallor of London, and before I could get a chance to miss it terribly, I arrived into this sunny realm of places and people. I was picked up at Kansas by an artist friend Kathy Liao, and thanks to her, I got a chance to briefly check out the art scene there. No matter where you go, there is always something being done in the arts which makes you feel so much at home. Luckily, it being the weekend, I was able to see the First Friday Art Walk, where all the galleries (which are mainly in the downtown area and closely huddled) open with new artists and art works on the first Friday of every month. It reminded me of my own Bangalore's Chitra Santhe, only much more intimate in terms of both space and the number of artists showing.

A day later we arrived at Alva, the town of my residency just in time to meet the previous resident Kyle Larson. This studio artist residency is initiated and directed by artist/professor Jave Yoshimoto, who is single-handedly doing the brilliant work of bringing in different artists every month and enriching not just the artist and students' experience but also contributing to the art community of Alva as a whole.

I was invited as a Classical Dancer and Visual artist. Having just gotten out of university as a student myself, it was pretty exciting (and unnerving) to be on the other side in the classroom, so to say. I was happy there was not going to be a rest in my process after MA, though the intensity scared me a bit.
I had my own studio with 24 hour access and lots of art supplies, and of course use of the library.

We began with a general critique session with the students and then started with the dance presentations.

I got an opportunity to perform for the Art faculty headed by Dr. Irene Messoloras, for the Art and life class of Dr. Ken Kelsey, for the choir and musical theater students, for the participants of the High School pageant, and for a private gathering and dinner of senior citizens.
The most unique one was the performance in a Church. It was the First Presbyterian Church with an amazing female pastor Judye Pastole. It was a wonderful experience; I finally also got to attend the Sunday mass which, it being All Saints' day, was more special, and bringing in the devotional songs of our own Dasas and poets into the church on this occasion felt beyond perfect. It was a blend of two ideas of God, and lead to what religion at its core really seeks - a sense of happiness and of sharing that happiness.

Prof. Ed Felts later shared how amazing it is that both the paths of Hindus and Christians celebrate the presence of God in Dancing.; and of course, religion is nothing but an idea of who we are and want to be, a celebration of love and positivity; which is why religions and cultures all over the world shared such amazing similarities at the base of them all. So beautifully articulated sir!

Speaking of Life, residencies give you such different flavors of living and the ideas of living. Alva is a small town, pretty and intimate. Cottages line the wide streets, it has its own little market, it is never too rushed or noisy anywhere, and is absolutely safe for taking long walks at any time you want.

Jave and his wife Emily were perfect hosts and the coolest people to live with. They took great care of my comforts, and I got treated to a lot of fun times - drives to the nearby towns of Wichita and Kiowa, a visit to the salt plains, and movie nights when it was not on-loop episodes of Big bang Theory or Family Guy.
It being the fall season, I even got to see the rodeo which was fun in the beginning but got a bit too violent later (There is no end to humans' attempt at amusement, is there?).

When not performing, I'd work with drawings and small scale paintings at the studio trying to sort out everything that I had learnt so far and strengthening my visual language.

To come a full circle and finish the journey, the residency culminated in an exhibition where I got to show a few of my Art works at the Graceful Art Centre along with a few other artists for the First Friday Art walk of November. I did my last short performance for the opening, and as always, the sense of something ending had already started creeping in.

New shores awaited, and soon this was not just a beautiful but an absorbing and refreshing memory that I will remember always.
A few memories from there :