Daily Word Count: 1,662
Cumulative Words Written: 29,598
Total Words Discarded: 4,700
Total Chapters Drafted: 12
Time Spent Writing Today: 2 hours
Residencies are not vacations. They’re working respites to create, lucky breaks. Writing is solitary. I spend hours locked in my studio every day, avoiding everyone. These chunks of time away from MTM come with the pressure to get words done.
I often bemoan my lack of creative community. I don’t have a writing critique group leftover from an MFA program. In Charleston, I’m really not considered a writer. My friends quickly grow weary of hearing about my process. On residency, I’m surrounded by people who are living to create.
I relish time with fellow creators.
So today, I took a lucky break for a group outing. We drove to Beja, the seat of this Portuguese district, to visit the Centro UNESCO para a Salvaguarda do Patromonio Cultural Imaterial. Its purpose is to protect the culture surrounding traditional Portuguese singing. Like this:
But we visited to learn how to weave buinho, the region’s indigenous material for chair seats. Buinho is a river reed. An artisan creates patterns by bunching and twisting damp reeds around a frame.
Check out the buinho action shots!
We residents gave weaving buinho a try. Each resident made our own bracelet of braided reed. Janet and Jen even tried making a single-rope seat.
The UNESCO building is glorious. Look at the floor tiles!
After the weaving demonstration, we walked through city center for lunch al fresco. I got to see the Castelo de Beja those men are singing about. In the video, I think they’re standing atop that tower!
We ate traditional Portuguese food. Cod with potato straws and onions. Eggs and asparagus. Chunks of juicy pork and clams. In addition, we told jokes, shared stories, and discussed the exhibits.
Time with fellow creators: Even though they’re work, they’re such lucky breaks!
To follow my residency at Buinho Creative Hub from the beginning, CLICK HERE and read forward.
6 Comments
That’s beaks are so important for so many reasons
Humans need more of them and don’t always feel empowered to take them.
I love talking shop, but never really get a chance to. But it is kinda fun to watch people’s eyes glaze over when I do. I don’t get to hang much with writers. I have a couple painter friends and that’s as close as I get.
I get a lot of soul food from these residencies. Artists have many of the same struggles. They don’t ask me when I’m going to get a real job or question my path or tell me it’s silly to want my work to be seen or undermine my approach or whatever. We all have this need, insistent and raw and real, to create, and we understand it together. I’m determined to build that sort of community for myself, because it is a basic need.
Andra, what an amazing way to combine work and a little R&R. Looks like a beautiful place to be!
I’m really fortunate to have been selected. Hope to see you sometime soon. I was in IL briefly last month. I spoke at the library in Wauconda.
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