Thrilling Tales of Artist Residencies with Rosalie Haizlett
Self-appointed and otherwise!
I have a very inspiring conversation for you today!
I’ve been stalking Rosalie Haizlett for a while now: she’s right here on Substack at
and , and of course she’s on Instagram, and her new book, Tiny Worlds of the Appalachian Mountains: An Artist’s Journey, was just published.Then I heard this interview with her on Creative Pep Talk and realized that she has done many artist’s residencies, both official and unofficial, and I had to ask her all about it!
So we got on Zoom and I recorded it for you. She has some amazing things to say about:
Being the artist in residence at a national park
Applying for small, lesser-known residencies
Deciding what kind of project to do—or not deciding at all!
Spending time gathering ideas and just taking it in
Choosing whether or not to share what she’s doing as she goes
Turning self-appointed artist residencies into exhibits and books
And I just want to highlight a few of my favorite moments in this interview:
On letting an artist residency be about INPUT as well as OUTPUT:
I had this residency I was kind of dreading. I'd applied for it a year before, and then the time came and I was like, I do not want to make art. That’s the last thing I want to do. So I hardly brought any supplies. I think I brought some basic sketching things. And I spent that whole time just like walking slowly through the woods and doing whatever the heck I wanted, and it was one of my favorite artist residencies, because it showed me that you can use these place-based experiences just to let a place hold you and take care of you for a little while. It was just such a comforting place in the mountains of North Carolina, everything's cozy, and it was fall, the leaves were beautiful, and I just like let myself just be in that place.
On keeping a log during a residency:
I only had maybe 30% of the paintings done at the end of the trip. And then the whole next year I worked on the paintings. I kept a log of interesting things that I saw every day. It was just like a running Google Doc. So I had the location and the date and the time, and if I could identify a species, I’d do that. But often I couldn't. So I'd attach pictures from every angle, so that if I wanted to use it for the book I could ask an expert and show them all my pictures.
On being a walking writer (Walking writer! This blew my mind!)
I wrote most of the book just in the notes app on my phone while walking. Usually, I’d sit on a stump and write something, and then later, I’d edit it. I realized that when I stop moving my body, my brain stops writing. I really cannot just sit. I can sit down and paint for five hours. But I cannot do that with writing. That's been something that made me think that I couldn't ever actually write a book. But then I realized, Oh, I'm a walking writer, and I can edit later. I’m fine with editing later, but coming up with the fresh stuff I can't do on my own just sitting here.
Okay, so I think I’m about to become a walking writer.
Anyway, here’s our conversation, please enjoy:
I love hearing about your artist residencies!
So many of you have tagged me or emailed me or commented to let me know that you’ve appointed yourself the artist-in-residence of something wonderful. Please keep doing that! I’ll be sharing some of your projects soon.
Signed copies of some of my books are 40% off
My husband, Scott Brown of
, is clearing out space to make room for new arrivals. He’s having a 40% off sale through the end of today, Friday Nov 15. Signed copies of a few of my books are marked down, and if you just want to browse everything that’s on sale in search of a rare and unusual gift, take a look right here. There are lots of affordable oddities.Hey I did a fun interview about this very newsletter!
Because I write books for a living, I’m used to hearing from producers who want me to come on a radio show. It’s fun, but also just something I do from time to time.
And yet I was surprised and really ridiculously excited that the nice folks at The Show on KJZZ, an NPR station in Tempe AZ, wanted to talk to me about my recent post on talent and how I don’t believe in it. I just thought it was so cool that they were reading this newsletter and thinking about this thing that matters a lot to me.
Listen to the interview here, and thanks for reading, nice people at KJZZ!
Supporters are drawing their coziest fall clothes
I’m leaning into cozy right now in a big way: I’m taking a full-on vacation from the news, wearing lots of flannel, drinking lots of tea, and shuffling through piles of autumn leaves on the sidewalk. If that sounds like the kind of world you’d like to live in right now, join us!
For a few bucks a month, supporters get an art project in their in-box every week, plus the entire archive. If you can do it in a sketchbook, we’ll get to it eventually! And I always take requests.
Also—you can give a gift subscription!
So Many Announcements!
Portland! Tonight, Nov 15, I’ll be at OMSI in conversation with Christopher Marley.
Also Portland! Do you like whiskey? Do you like books? Then how about grabbing tickets to Multnomah Whiskey Library’s book fair on Dec 15?
Are you a florist, flower farmer, or flower lover? Maybe you’d like to join the virtual Slow Flowers Summit, where I’ll be teaching an art workshop called Draw Your Design, about drawing flower bouquets. Mine is only one of fifteen presentations about seasonal and local flowers, flower farming, and floral design. If you’re interested, use this promo code to get $50 off: $50OFFWORLDWIDE
Order signed copies of my new book, The Tree Collectors, from Broadway Books here in Portland.
Come find me on Instagram, or see paintings for sale- Right here
Order signed copies of some of my books from my husband’s bookstore, or order my books and many books I love at Bookshop.org
Take one of my online writing or art classes here
Leave a comment! I love to hear from you!
Love this interview--and perspective Amy! I've been following your artist residency posts, which actually made me think of Rosalie and her residencies too. I interviewed Rosalie for my substack last week, but I love how you dove into her process and to the residencies. Such a fun and cool concept. You've inspired me to try to hatch my own residency at some point...will keep you posted.
I’m going to try and find out something of the residency sort in India and try it