Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Artist Residency: GUM SNEAKER COBWEB MOUTH May 2025

an accessible art residency on May 26-30

Mar 25, 2025

The last session of GUM SNEAKER COBWEB MOUTH was so dreamy & spacious! I am running it again and you are invited! Below is more info for how it is structured and how you can do this at home.

Please note that exact dates are May 26 - 30, with a celebratory video call to follow. Sign Up Here.

Residency Intentions:

to be a low-cost*, accessible, and generative art space
to take care of ourselves as we tend to our art practice
to be in community with other artists
to answer the question: who is in our respective artistic constellations?

*sliding scale: $25 $50 $75

2 graphics with a background image of a concrete slab. In the bottom corner is a little grey teardrop which reads “frequent crier club" and the rest of the text has a is white and says the following:Reviews: It was really gentle. Felt like a consensual hug or something. I have done residencies before, mostly higher-pressure, product based and paid, so just a lot more stressful. This felt more like it was for me and like, actually accessible?!! Wild. A capacious structure that allowed for challenge still, but in a welcoming way. Reviews: this was a very nice residency! i have never done one before, digitally or otherwise. i had fun with the prompts and it helped me create at least something small every day. — a couple of reviews from last sessions' artists!

I created a general structure for each day that considers one’s health needs, rest needs, and other obligations, alongside the need for community engagement. I decided not to make this a solo retreat and to invite pals to join me because isolating away from others in this time would be counter-productive for what I need right now.

If you decide to try this residency but think running off into the woods is what you need, you’re welcome to do so. This residency is designed to be dynamic with suggestions for low, medium, and high energy, so hopefully each person can mold it into whatever shape they need it to be. If the suggested options don’t appeal to you, feel so welcome to create your own in whatever mediums are most available to you!

General Structure:

morning

wake up slowly (try not to look at your phone right away)
acquire breakfast
read something (anything) while eating food
do writing / art for 20 minutes
1. Low Energy: voice note or notes app / unobserved contour drawing of hand
2. Medium Energy: journal / gesture drawing based on reference photo
3. High Energy: typewriter or document / realistic observational drawing
carry on or attend to other things as needed/desired

afternoon

acquire lunch and drink water
go on an outing to engage with nature or craft
1. Low Energy: online event/artist interview/recorded workshop etc… in the form of a *virtual field trip* provided by Sarena
2. Medium Energy: visit a neighborhood spot you can get to easily
3. High Energy: visit an inspiring place outside of your neighborhood
carry on or attend to other things as needed/desire

evening

acquire food and water
log how the day went, specifically noting what you did and how it felt

*The intention is for this to last 5 days and after the final day we’d have a lil live meet up to share how this experience went and maybe do a show n tell with something we made!

As you can see, there is lots of rest time baked into this residency. The most important part of art-making, I think, happens when we aren’t actively working on things. It happens in the quiet moments when we are digesting ideas and making connections across form, and taking care of ourselves. Art at the expense of our well-being isn’t worth it, to me at least, which is why I structured this residency in this way.

Reviews: The residency felt good and easy to interact with due to its low to little pressure to be present during the entire residency… I found renewed energy to get through the day or continue working on the art work I wanted to finish. AND — another review

Artists are invited to join a GSCM discord to share progress and community space through the week and beyond. You all can join for spontaneous body doubling sessions, share thoughts with text or voice notes in the various channels, or you can opt to not participate in the discord at all if that works best for you.

a grid of 9 sharks which embody the following moods: 1, The littlest baby; 2, Unsure; 3, Very confident; 4, Mr. Popular (has fans); 5, Playful silly goofy; 6, Tongue out blep; 7, Stinky overstimulated face; 8, head empty; & 9, in love/supported. Shark 4, 5, and 9 have a faint heart over their faces. Beneath that graphic is the following text: Most artists report feeling like Shark 4, 5, or 9 after this residency! The results speak for itself! — where do u fall on the shark scale?

This is truly a choose-your-own-adventure kind of thing, and I hope some of you might join me as I journey into my art practice in this way.

If you’ve stayed this long, tysm! And let me know if you have any questions :)

XOXO,

Sarena

Access Notes: Due to the asynchronous nature of this offering, you're able to take breaks as needed and to engage at your own speed. You are given written materials ahead of time, to read at on own time. There may be an optional live video call following the completion of this residency. At that call, you're welcome to keep your camera on or off and use the chat in addition to/in lieu of verbal communication. You may turn on automated captions as well. This video call will likely be recorded for our own use. If you have any access needs not being addressed my this model, feel free to email me at frequentcrierclub@gmail.com and I can see if I can offer support!

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Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Artist Residency: GUM SNEAKER COBWEB MOUTH May 2025

an accessible art residency on May 26-30

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