Steelville Arts Council, Steelville, MO, July-Aug. 2021
Thanks so much to the Steelville Arts Council for letting me stay in the Cottage! I appreciated having the time to write in such a cozy environment.
The town of Steelville has a very cute downtown.
Furthermore, I appreciated the opportunity to visit a variety of state parks and historical sites while I was in the area including: Dillard Mill Historic Site, Elephant Rocks State Park, Johnson’s Shut-in’s State Park, Meramec State Park, Meramec Springs State Park, and Onondaga Cave State Park.
Bethany Arts Center, Ossining, NY, Sept. 2019
I had a wonderful time at Bethany Arts Center in Ossining, NY.
I took daily ambles around the woods surrounding the property, watching the leaves turn more golden each day.
I appreciated having a studio space, as well as, ample space in the community parlor to read, research, reflect, sketch, and sculpt.
I facilitated a mask making workshop, open to the community and other residents. I also attended workshops led by other residents and was inspired by their creative practices.
I was a big fan of Lucy, the residency’s very friendly and chill puppy.
Salina Art Center, Salina, KS, June 2019
I had a wonderful week as a teaching artist-in-residence at the Salina Art Center.
I had a productive time in the hip apartment space for visiting creatives located inside the Warehouse.
I had an amazing time engaging with the local community at an open studios in the Warehouse. I met some wonderful local artists and enjoyed the opportunity to share my creative practice.
I taught three sections of Story Time! Puppet Time! while there. We had a lot of fun, reading folk tales from around the world, doing theatre games, and creating and performing with our puppets!
Onelove
Onelove, New Orleans, LA, May 2019
Thank you very much to Onelove for letting me spend a month in the Crescent City.
New Orleans is such a vibrant and diverse city. I really appreciated the food, music, plants, creative communities, museums, and architecture in New Orleans.
I enjoyed letting my thoughts wander while strolling in City Park, Audubon Park, The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and The New Orleans Botanical Garden.
I visited numerous museums, such as the The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, The Cabildo, The Presbytère, The National World War II Museum, and others. I also visited historical homes and two plantations. I appreciated this opportunity to really immerse myself in the city’s history.
I developed a deeper love of the wetlands. Besides improving water quality, protecting the mainland from storms and flooding, and storing vast quantities of carbon in the form of peat soils, wetlands are rich in natural beauty and diverse plant and animal life.
Here are some collages I made while at NOLA. I also had time to dedicate to my writing practice and wrote 5 short plays while I was in residence.
Newnan ArtRez, Newnan, GA, March 2019
I had a really productive and restorative residency at Newnan ArtRez. Thank you to Newnan ArtRez and the Newnan community for an amazing two weeks!
The local newspaper, The Newnan Times-Herald did a wonderful interview of me.
Here are images of the lovely and cozy Gray Cottage, where I stayed as an artist-in-residence at Newnan ArtRez.
I had a great day at the University of West Georgia visiting Dr. Amy Cuomo’s class. I appreciated the opportunity to share my creative practice. Much thanks to Amy for inviting me and to her students for reading and discussing part of my play [Un]Earthed.
I also had an amazing time facilitating a “Puppetry Palooza” at The Newnan Carnegie Library.
I additionally facilitated a collage workshop at Backstreet Arts , a wonderful and welcoming community art center.
Here are some of the collage samples I created for the workshop.
Escape to Create, Seaside, FL, Feb. 2019
I am so appreciative to have had the opportunity to have been an Escape to Create artist in Seaside, Florida. I had a productive and inspiring month meeting other creatives and engaging with the Seaside community. While in Seaside, I wrote three one-acts and did a reading from my one woman show “Raise Less Corn and More Hell! Annie Diggs: A Prairie Populist,” as part of the artist salon, at the end of the residency. I also visited a local high school theatre classroom where local students did a reading of my play, “Founding Kids.”
Special thanks to Sue and Bert Truckess for donating their beautiful rental property, Duet, for me to stay in.
Here are some photos of the ocean and white sand dunes that I had contemplative walks along each day, rain or shine.
There was a beautiful pond that I walked around daily, as well.
Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY, Dec. 2018
Here is Maxon Mills, where all the studio spaces are located and where all kinds of awesome art installations happen!
Here are images of my studio space.
Here is the very sweet and snug school house, were I stayed.
Here are images from my favorite places to walk around the artist residency.
Paul Artspace, St. Louis, MO, Nov. 2018
I spent a restful and productive month at Paul Artspace, as a writer-in-residence with local visual artists Alexis Riviera and Steven Coplin.
The one woman show I worked on, Raise Less Corn and More Hell: Annie Diggs, A Prairie Populist, will be included in the Paul Artspace: 2018 Year In Review Exhibition starting December 1st at Bermuda Projects in Ferguson, MO.
I enjoyed the open studios and the opportunity to engage with local creatives and the Paul Artspace community at the bonfire on Nov 4.
Here are images of the inside of the house.
Here was my studio space.
Here are some of the photos of the Paul Artspace grounds. When I arrived, the fall foliage was fantastic.
Also, towards the end of my stay, I got to experience Paul Artspace in the snow.
Charlotte Street, Kansas City, Oct. Sept. 2018-Sept. 2019
I am a writer-in-residence at Charlotte Street for the year. I appreciated having this wonderful space to nurture my creative practice and the opportunity to engage with creatives based in the Kansas City area. Here are images of my studio space, during open studios.
Surel’s Place, Garden City, ID, Feb. 2018
I spent a creatively nurturing and productive month as a writer-in-residence at Surel’s Place.
While I was there, I taught a workshop titled, Tackling the Ten-Minute Play.
Synopsis of Workshop:
Ten-minute play festivals, produced by many theatre companies, provide an opportunity
for playwrights in all stages of their career to share their work with an audience and create community with other theatre artists. In Tackling the Ten-Minute Play we explored the various components of a strong ten-minute play including: play structure, creating conflict, crafting characters, and developing dialogue. This workshop will also explore tips for editing and refining your final manuscript and navigating the submission process when you are ready to submit your work.
There also was a reading of my dark comedy, The Black Triangle on Feb 22nd at the Visual Arts Collective. The staged reading was a collaboration between Surel’s Place and Alley Repertory Theater, for their series “The Age of Women.” We received a great write-up in Boise Weekly.
There additionally, was a reading at Surel’s Place with Treasure Valley Children’s Theatre of two of my new plays for young audiences.
The Bead Project
Urban Glass, Brooklyn, NY, Fall 2015
The Bead Project is a glass beadmaking and jewelry design and construction course and scholarship program for women.
A cohort of nine women create and learn the business and craft of glass beadmaking culminating in an exhibition of their work at UrbanGlass.
Letter Press Publishing Seminar for Emerging Writers
The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, Nov. 2014
I was 1 of 8 participants selected for the Letterpress Publishing Seminar for Emerging Writers at The Center for Book Arts in New York City, November 4-9th.
Participants heard lectures from various professionals in the field – printers, fine press publishers, book artists, and dealers, to get a practical overview of letterpress printing and small press publishing. We learned the basics of letterpress printing, both traditional typesetting and options with new technology, by collaboratively printing a small edition of broadsides or other projects.
Daruma Eco-Farm
Bang Phra, Thailand, May 2014
I spent a month on a permaculture farm working at the local school. I created puppets and devised a production with the elementary students.
Photographs Copyright Lavinia Roberts 2014
Enigmata Treehouse and Ecolodge
Camiguin, Philippines, April 2014
I created puppets and props at a local arts camp with young artists and learned from other amazing local artists. I also led a writing workshop with young artists.
My deep, heartfelt gratitude to healer, activist, visual artist, dancer, and force for good, Rosalie, for sharing her community with me. I learned so much!
Photographs Copyright Lavinia Roberts 2014
The League Residency at Vyt
Sparkill, NY, March 2014
Sponsored under the auspices of the Ruth Katzman Scholarship (Thank you!).
Many cultures, past and present, had spirits and deities as part of the natural world. They saw the world as sacred, worthy of stewardship, full of stories and that affected their relationship or understanding of natural places.
“Personifications,” explores how our relationship with an environment changes when the space is personified.
Costumes: Christine Samar
Photography: Nina Berlingeri and Lavinia Roberts
Photographs Copyright Lavinia Roberts 2014
lavinia roberts 