In the 10 years we have been running our Artist in Residence program here we have hosted 43 spectacular artists of all stripes from around the world. It has been the richest experience in our lives. Back in 2014 we celebrated the 5 year anniversary with a 4 day bacchanalia of activities that was one of the most fun weekends ever! For the 10th we raised the bar even higher! 20 artists returned for the September 12-16, 2019 celebration and it was an astounding homecoming. Because our artists are here one at a time most of the artists did not know one another and some great friendships and collaborations blossomed during the long weekend. We even had SWAG!
Joining us were Hannah Frieser, Charles Guice, Sean Kernan,, Michael Prince, Ann Ehringhaus, Aldwyth, Tamas Dezso, Eszter Szablyar, Dave Anderson, Doug Beube, Rachel Perry, Madeline Sales, Berto Sales, David Pace, Olivia Parker, Mark Sloan, Marie Navarre, Walter Angehrn, Eva Weber, and Naama Tsabar. We spent months planning a very rich schedule of activities and with spreadsheets in hand Ellen and I were cruise directors and van drivers. Our dear friend and amazing artist Lori Vrba helped out all week as chief cat herder.
We located enthusiastic host families (THANK YOU!) for everyone who didn't have local accommodations and invited this extended community to a few of our weekend events. The Thursday night arrival event was just for artists though and appropriately at Cassilhaus. Our then current AIR Naama Tsabar gave a talk about her work and upcoming performance of Composition 21 at the Nasher Museum of Art.
Our dear friend Giorgios Bakatsias and his team at Parizade prepared an outdoor feast fit for royalty and the evening had a magical coda with a performance by Madeline and Berto Sales AIR '15, aka Beleza.
Friday morning we headed off to 21c Museum Hotel, a 24/7 contemporary art museum/hotel and a Durham treasure.
After a yummy lunch enroute we had a private tour of Spoonflower, the world famous print on demand company, by its CEO Allison Polish.
Just after that our good friend Alice Whiteside who directs the UNC Sloane Art Library gave us a real treat by pulling literally hundreds of rare limited edition art and photo books from the reserve stacks and letting us do some serious geeking all afternoon. UNC has one of the top rare photobook collections in the country. It was one of the highlights of the weekend and we all made some amazing discoveries.
We gave everyone a little rest and time to reconnect with their host families before dinner at Grub, a Durham restaurant that Ellen and her team at Ellen Cassilly Architect designed. Ann Ehringhaus AIR '11 led the whole group (including host families) in a wonderful centering exercise before dinner.
In December of 2018 Ellen and I travelled on a 4 day racial equity bus tour to Montgomery Alabama and one of the leaders of the tour was playwright/actor/teacher Mike Wiley. Mile performed segments of his one-man plays ON THE BUS during our long drive and knocked us out. Mike agreed to do a performance of his Blood Done Sign My Name for just our group at the Full Frame Theater at Duke and it was a transformative evening.
Saturday morning we were off to Brunch at local favorite True Flavors Diner and then we split up into two groups for tours of the legendary Durham Scrap Exchange (sorry no pix) and the singular Tuba Museum
We had a wonderful outdoor lunch at another Ellen Cassilly designed project in Duke Gardens and then had an adventure in Pittsboro, NC at the stunning studio of NC potter Mark Hewitt. Mark is a legend in pottery circles and gave a wonderful talk about his work. Quite a few small pots made their way into new collections.
We had a wonderful sharing evening back at Cassilhaus with a pot luck dinner and informal Pecha Kucha with all of the artists and their host families. So wonderful to learn about everyone's current and upcoming projects. We had a special surprise visit from the Poetry Fox (Chris Vitiello) who dazzled everyone with custom poems on demand.
Sunday morning kicked off with Meditation, Movement, and Mojo with Ann Ehringhaus AIR '11, Sean Kernan AIR '17, and Marie Navarre AIR '10. It was a total gift and a wonderful calm in a pretty hectic schedule!
We were very lucky to time the reunion while curator Mark Sloan's (AIR '14) amazing Southbound exhibition was in town on its grand tour of the South. We visited the show at the Gregg Museum of Art and Design in Raleigh and Mark gave us a wonderful personal tour.
We headed east to Wilson NC (making the required stop at legendary Parkers BBQ) to visit the studio of photographer Burk Uzzle and tour the epic Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park.
PHEW! I'm tired just typing about it all. Monday morning we had a joyous sendoff brunch at Foster's Market and everyone said their goodbyes and the planning started for the 15th in 2024!
Fitting that Walter Angehrn AIR '09 gets the last word. Walter is one of our dearest friends and the very first Cassilhaus Artist in Residence. Hugs all around.
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