There’s something about a thread you’ve already pulled that you want to hold again. Last summer, I ran my first self-directed artist residency — a focused stretch of studio time I called Following the Thread — and it turned out to be one of the most clarifying creative experiences I’ve had in years. See the exhibition page here.
The Pinterest board for this project has been quietly popular ever since, which tells me other artists are curious about this kind of self-structured creative work. So I wanted to revisit it, not just as a lookback, but because I’m using the same container to develop my next series, The Good Folk. If you’re interested in what a self-directed residency actually looks like from the inside, this is for you.
What the project was
Following the Thread was a summer self directed artist residency I designed entirely for myself. No institution, no cohort, no application. Just a clear intention: use printmaking and layered drawing to explore memory, identity, and the quiet pull of early experiences.
The working method was deliberately simple: let marks and images evolve without a fixed outcome. Follow the thread. See where it goes.
What emerged was a visual language built from repeated symbols: stars, doors, windows, small houses. All of them rooted in the house where I spent my childhood. The brayer, foam stamps, and layered texture became the way I distilled the emotional weight of that place into something I could hold in my hands.
What a self directed artist residency can do for you
Structure, without prescription. That’s the short answer.
A residency container — even one you design yourself — creates a frame that makes the work feel intentional. You’re not just making things; you’re exploring something specific, over time, with accumulated focus. That changes what happens in the studio.
Working inside a container I chose and shaped myself, I had both clarity and freedom. And I learned something important: I didn’t know what I expected, but I learned so much about my own process. How I work, what I need, what I avoid. That self-knowledge is part of what I’m carrying into the next project.
The project folio
I gathered the finished work, process images, and my reflections into a free 25-page digital folio. If you want to see the full arc of the project, including the work that didn’t quite land and the pieces that surprised me – you can download it here.
Download the Digital Portfolio
Where this is going
I’m currently developing The Good Folk, a new series using this same residency framework: a defined creative container, a focused theme, and process that evolve without a fixed destination. I’ll be sharing that work as it develops.
If you want to follow along, join my studio newsletter. No algorithm, no noise, just what’s actually happening in the studio.
Shine your light!