The ARTIST IN RESIDENCE sign is lit whenever I actively engage in my research practice.
In this ongoing practice, I open up my domestic life and personal space as a site of experiential research, experimentation and engagement. Whenever I am at work on this research I illuminate the sign. The residency exists wherever I am working and the duration of the residency, as currently structured, is "lifelong."
The project began with me considering my role as an artist in relationship: wife, collaborator, neighbor, co-worker, etc. To really to be skilled at forming and maintaining these they must be examined, cared for, continuously challenged, and approached with radical levels of honesty. Research tactics are widely varied and responsive and have included reading, writing, documentary photographs, formal interviews, informal conversation, movement practice, and conceptual acts: For example, my marriage, a collaborative project listed as such on my CV.
The residency is a space where I or other artists can focus on their work without any requirement to produce something tangible. There is no tangible outcome to this work, only thinking, conversation, and relationship are formed.
For more information, or to inquire about visiting the residency please email ericamerylthomas [at] gmail [dot] com
The sign comes along with me when I am the artist in residence someplace else. This is at Weird Shift Storefront in North Portland, July 2014.
Weird Shift Storefront, North Portland, July 2014