Summer Portal
The 2026 Summer Portal is a self-led artist residency on returning, integration, and relationship. Beginning June 15th and concluding September 6th — 84 days.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
I am interested in what becomes possible when I stay in relationship with myself as a creative witnessing practice.
What emerges when I show up consistently to the creative process, when it is not tied to an outcome, not confined to the studio, the page, or the canvas, but woven through the entirety of a life being lived? What would it mean to honor every thread, each moment, as an integral part of the whole? Nothing is wasted. Nothing exists outside the work. Everything is the work.
Through this practice of returning again and again, I hope to cultivate a deeper sense of trust within myself and my creative practice. I want to know what becomes possible through the simple devotion to returning. This residency will live in these questions as they unfold, deepen, and carry me through this season into the next.
Self Portrait — My face on
Tuesday, June 9th, 2026, at 3:54pm
Sharing the Work
Here you will find the shared pieces from my Summer Portal. The creative experiments, the questions, the research, the inspiration, the reflections, the threads. The act of sharing is a vital part of the practice of staying in relationship and expanding capacity to be witnessed, seen, and perceived.
These are the bones, the container, holding this summer-long experiment together:
MAKING THE WORK — In practice, making the work will look like creating regular opportunities to return to curiosity, creativity, experimentation, and presence. Some days that may take the form of:
writing poetry
weaving on my new frame loom
painting
photography
collage
and other creative experimentation
Other days, it may be as simple as:
bringing awareness to ten breaths
sitting quietly in the studio
laying on the floor
going for a walk
reading
researching
gathering inspiration
following a thread of curiosity
wandering down a rabbit hole
or spending time with the questions
The specific form matters less than the act of showing up. The intention is not to produce something every day, but to create consistent points of contact with myself, my creative practice, and whatever feels most alive in the moment.
-
This residency is centered around a practice rather than a project.
The work is in the returning: returning to myself, to presence, to curiosity, and to the creative process again and again. Rather than striving toward a particular outcome, I am interested in what emerges when I stay in relationship with the work.
In essence, the work is about showing up, paying attention, following what feels alive, and seeing what emerges from the kind of relational trust that is built through consistent devotion.
-
In practice, making the work will look like creating regular opportunities to return to curiosity, creativity, experimentation, and presence. Some days that may take the form of:
writing poetry
weaving on my new frame loom
painting
photography
collage
and other creative experimentation
Other days, it may be as simple as:
bringing awareness to ten breaths
sitting quietly in the studio
laying on the floor
going for a walk
reading
researching
gathering inspiration
following a thread of curiosity
wandering down a rabbit hole
or spending time with the questions
The specific form matters less than the act of showing up. The intention is not to produce something every day, but to create consistent points of contact with myself, my creative practice, and whatever feels most alive in the moment.
-
Sharing the work will be an essential part of this experiment.
Not because every piece of work needs an audience, but because I want to explore what happens when I allow myself to be seen, witnessed, and perceived consistently by both myself and others.
Throughout the residency, I will share something each day via my Spiral Library. This could be, but is not limited to: a poem, a photograph, a creative experiment, a piece of writing, a question arising, a note from my journal, a piece of inspiration, or simply an acknowledgement of where I am in the process.
The act of sharing is a vital part of the practice of staying in relationship and expanding capacity to be witnessed, seen, and perceived.
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Sarah Fontaine’s The Summer of Bogs and Chop
A summer sabbatical spent with her children.
In Sarah’s words: “No camps, some trips — trusting togetherness to take us to new places, physically and spiritually.”Timeframe: June-August 2026
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Estee Zales’s Summer Artist Residency 2026
In Estee’s words: “This is a research residency. There is no single project, no deliverable promised to anyone. There is only the commitment to show up on working days, to follow curiosity with discipline, and to document honestly.”
Timeframe: June 8-August 28, 2026
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Lenka Clayton’s Artist Residency in Motherhood
In Lenka’s words: “(It) came out of the feeling of trying to do two things at the same time that didn’t feel like they could fit... A self-directed, open-source artist residency to empower and inspire artists who are also mothers.”
Timeframe: 2012-2015
DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM:
—
Sarah Fontaine’s The Summer of Bogs and Chop
A summer sabbatical spent with her children.
In Sarah’s words: “No camps, some trips — trusting togetherness to take us to new places, physically and spiritually.”
Timeframe: June-August 2026
—
Estee Zales’s Summer Artist Residency 2026
In Estee’s words: “This is a research residency. There is no single project, no deliverable promised to anyone. There is only the commitment to show up on working days, to follow curiosity with discipline, and to document honestly.”
Timeframe: June 8-August 28, 2026
—
Lenka Clayton’s Artist Residency in Motherhood
In Lenka’s words: “(It) came out of the feeling of trying to do two things at the same time that didn’t feel like they could fit... A self-directed, open-source artist residency to empower and inspire artists who are also mothers.”
Timeframe: 2012-2015
SHARING THE WORK — Sharing the work will be an essential part of this residency.
Not because every piece of work needs an audience, but because I want to explore what happens when I allow myself to be seen, witnessed, and perceived consistently by both myself and others.
Throughout the residency, I will share something each day via my Spiral Library. This could be, but is not limited to: a poem, a photograph, a creative experiment, a piece of writing, a question arising, a note from my journal, a piece of inspiration, or simply an acknowledgement of where I am in the process.
The act of sharing is a vital part of the practice of staying in relationship and expanding capacity to be witnessed, seen, and perceived.
THE WORK — This residency is centered around a practice rather than a project.
The work is in the returning: returning to myself, to presence, to curiosity, and to the creative process again and again. Rather than striving toward a particular outcome, I am interested in what emerges when I stay in relationship with the work.
In essence, the work is about showing up, paying attention, following what feels alive, and seeing what emerges from the kind of relational trust that is built through consistent devotion.
Little Me — 7ish-years-old — I do this for you. I speak now for all the versions of us that held so much inside, who were so afraid to be seen.
