MacDowell: A Space That Allows
Fellows reflect on their experiences at MacDowell, where time, space, connection, nourishing meals, and a sense of legacy create a collective energy. They describe how this unique environment has shaped their work and practice long after a residency ends —a reminder that once a Fellow, always a Fellow.
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Transcript:
Alyson Shotz (AS) “Being at MacDowell did allow me to sort of see things in a new way.”
Mira Jacob (MJ) “There's something about it that feels very special and legitimizing in a way that I didn't expect.”
Isabel Sandoval (IS) “The silence was so enveloping that I could hear, you know, this scratch of my pen and the sound of my own breathing. And that silence is very crucial for the process of an artist.”
Rajesh Parameswaran (RP) “The whole thing had kind of like the aura of the of a dream or a fantasy, because I couldn't really believe that some place like this existed, and that I was really there.”
(AS) “As somebody who had my other studio for 22, 23 years, it was so encrusted. So having a new open space in which to think about new things made me think, oh, I really need this again.”
Andrew Ondrejcak (AO) “Having a physical space that's been taken care of - that if there's a problem, immediately it's fixed, and also someone preparing food for you… It seems like such a simple thing, but it's a huge gift. It really changes the energy and the momentum of the day.”
(MJ) “So I'm writing a mystery, right? When I was there, I actually outlined the whole thing across my studio wall, and I could just see every part of it at once. I've never had the space to do that. I live in a pretty small Brooklyn apartment. I write at a dining table. I've never had a whole wall to myself – [at MacDowell] I had three. It was wild.”
(RP) “You know, with the tombstones hanging in the studios you have a very palpable sense of everything that has happened in that studio and that you are, you know, one in a long line of people who have used it and who are going to use it.”
(AO) “So I met Isabel Sandoval. Even though we're working in different cabins and different parts of the property, there's still sort of like a collective creative energy that emerges from the place.”
(IS) “To find your fellow artist who is fascinated by the same themes and the same ideas that I was pursuing in my own work - it was a delight and a thrill.”
(AS) “Yeah. I think what one of the things that is really nice about MacDowell is the way in which you can have the community when you need it, and then you can retreat when you need.”
(MJ) “The door that it allowed is really an internal one when you're like, oh, this is just who I am, and there's a space that allows me to be that person. It's not always the one that I live in, but it's sort of like finding out that there's a planet for you… like there's a planet for me.”
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Producer Ali Reza Malik
Assistant Producers Cassandra Yerkes, Oriana Camara, Jericho Parms
Director Dan Kennedy
Cinematographer Dan Kennedy
Editor Matt Cooney
Music Marcus Fischer and Echo Finch