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On November 17, 2014, Rauschenberg Residency 9 begins. Ten artists, including musicians, visual artists, and writers from across the United States and Canada will arrive to work, share meals, play, commune, and collaborate at the residency that provides them with the time, space, and resources to explore new possibilities. 

 

“I may be asking volunteers to help me collect drift items from local beaches,” explained Douglas Coupland. A writer who has published fourteen novels and several nonfiction works, Doug is also a visual artist. It will be his visual practice that he intends to focus on during his five weeks in Captiva. Meanwhile, time away from routine will allow poet and playwright Brighde Mullins to complete unfinished writing projects and start new ones.

David Ornette Cherry, whose music mixes world and jazz idioms, plans to edit video and audio, create a book prototype, paint, and experiment with Pro Tools, the audio tools software programs. Joining him in the Pro Tools tutorial is songwriter Colin Gilmore, who “turns life experiences into poetry, and puts poetry to soundwaves and lighwaves that bring it to life.”

 

Experimentation with new methods continues to be the hallmark of the Rauschenberg Residency, since the pilot program began in 2012, with screenprinting among the most popular. Photographer Laurie Lambrecht and visual artist, educator, mediator, and community-builder Dorit Cypis both plan to investigate the form. While Laurie will also work with cyanotypes and photography, Dorit expects to write, work with small props, fabricate, print text photographs, and work with writer and collaborator David Francis.

 

The main studio, built for Rauschenberg in 1990, is a majestic 16,000-square-foot, two-story, white building that presents a blank canvas to each new group of residents. It will be filled with paintings by Keith Sklar and Gage Peer, while the 3-D studio will be used by Conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll to work in a variety of mediums, including printmaking, photography, video, and fabrication.