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time - it slips.
looking back - what to keep. what to clear.
should anything be held onto?
& if so, what?
the letting go - this the task for when we feel ourselves grasping - when we cannot remember what happened yesterday, last week or months ago - releasing an imperative in the digestion. & when we are able - keeping some space/time in between for introspection and reflection. & so, this list - some of what has happened here in the new year - even if it (the archive) only happens in the newsletter… c’est la vie.
the january 2025 residency was the first time whp hosted 5 artists instead of 4 - this experiment had a brilliant outcome - “anything can be basked in” became the refrain. they came, they shared, they communed and grew together. the open house was enjoyed by all that were present - in multidimensional form and fashion.
hosting a chef in residence was also a new piece of january - cathy kossack rebuilt the outdoor fire pit area into a full fledged outdoor kitchen. for the open house, she hung three chickens for roasting above the fire from a 6 foot wooden triangular statue made from long & sturdy branches found on site - by the end of the night guests were enjoying roast chicken with fire baked breads and roast vegetables cooked in the drippings. cathy invited all guests to engage the kitchen themselves with stations for bread making using her outdoor oven and sharing chicken and vegetables from the fire. everyone got their hands dirty and their mouths well fed.
luca mcgrath inflated his outdoor black plastic movie theater (seen above) & attached it to the house - a design inspired by the ant farm - he redesigned the opening so guests might enter through the winslow kitchen door - it became an extension of the architecture. in the living room he installed a droning sculpture - an electric guitar feedback loop - attached to the ceiling with a log found onsite. during the residency it was imagined and then brought to a physical reality which has since interacted with several different musicians for a future whp compilation record. & some icing on the cake - were his many drawings of the whp hound basking.
alex mejía shot, developed and edited his film - settler trips home (2025) - 16mm moving images which he hand processed using caffenol and eucalyptus home-brew, plus some archival still images, & then scanned and edited it all together digitally. the premier screening of this film was the inspiration for luca to pull his theater out of storage. we all vacillated wildly between the barn and the blow up theater for the venue - right up until the last minute! these two worked diligently together to make the seemingly impossible happen - finding the perfect rate of the fan input/output in the tent to keep the inflation at the perfect tension - a major feat in itself.
amy rathbone invited suki o’kane and wayne grim to offer sound for her meditative movement painting i walk with you which she performed with marintha tewksbury.
last - and in only one way least - as kevin lo had put himself to the task to achieve “the most least” while in residence - that said, kevin being kevin, there is no such thing. for one thing he made the longest stick ever - which wrapped around and onto the house. in addition, he and luca collaborated on an actual soundbath in the downstairs bathroom - they hooked up a vibrational element with sound vibrating into the clawfoot tub so that when you submerged yourself you could hear whatever was being fed into the system. for the open house it became a visual sound sculpture with water vibrating in patterns. kevin also had an installation in his bedroom which was a projected homage to the most least.
& since whp is all about process - there is so much to the story which is not told neither at the open house nor in the newsletter. it is all the human interstitial interactions that glues it all together. it is what makes the experience of a month of living and working together so different than the culmination of a gallery show. it always comes back to the PJ all day days. the coffee in the morning, the fireside chats at night. always riffing off each other and dreaming together. these are the things to hold onto - that which cannot be told - you have to have lived it. (wood you?)
in february the team for ALICE came and stayed to lay plans for the film they will shoot here at the end of may about a barabary coast sex worker. the two folks who wrote the original book (ivy anderson and devon angus) are also the co-directors and screenplay writers of the film. we were amazed at watching their process unfold. there wasn’t a day that went by that good fortune did not rain on this crew. they found a northern california town - a perfect location for exterior shots - with residents willing to help them in any way they can. they found professionals in the film industry willing to offer their expertise out of love for the project. new exciting layers to weave into the original intent kept coming at them - it was magic. so looking forward to their return & seeing it all come to fruition.
also at the start of february, dancer eva priečková from bratislava, slovakia came for two weeks to be present with her grief surrounding the loss of someone she loved dearly. & to perform at the ROT (fresh) festival at the lab in san francisco. she did the work that the project aims to hold space for - resting and digesting. she grappled with her loss and found joy and beauty where she could. her friend and collaborator zuzana žabková came in at the end of her two weeks to perform with her at the lab. she too found rest here.
in the middle of february we hosted another heart warming collaboration between personal space and winslow house project - this time a film screening in conjunction with the current show at personal space titled folds which was curated by emmy scharlatt and lisa rybovich crallé. the films screened at winslow were: indira allegra, after my death / a mutable decision (2021), irma yuliana barbosa + celeste barbosa, eclipse (2023), xandra ibarra, fuck my life (2012) and la corrida (2018), nasim moghadam, interwoven II (2022) and a little bit of rest (2017), hannah wilke, hello boys (1975), laura aguilar: no trespassing. pbs artbound season 9, episode 6 (2018).
the awe inducing food artistry was offered by the ever talented whitney vangrin !!
peter whitehead also returned in february as a fellow of whp to lend his expertise once again with the execution of another tile back splash in the kitchen. always a joy to have peter afoot…. tiling, napping under the sky, talking about the london of his youth and strumming the guitar with a spontaneous song here and there. peter also has a new book of images out - so beautiful. and if you want to hold onto what treasure island looked like until very recently you should order a copy from him. reach out and i can connect you…
winslow was extremely happy to host once again whp fellow & composer nathan wheeler and poet erika hodges. nate worked on finishing their piece titled winslow house suite which they began working on here during their initial residency in january of 2023. we will have the premier of the piece here in the living room in february or march of 2026 - stay tuned. erika worked on tethering points between their poet self and their law school life which culminated in an installation in the trees. they too will be back for more tethering(un)tethering next year. looking forward….
recording sessions with the feedback sculpture got underway with some past whp fellows and some future residents - it was amazing how different everyone bringing their unique selves into the room changed the guitar’s resound. stay tuned for the recordings release which will no doubt end up on the whp internet radio.
towards the end of february, luca mcgrath and walker doven turned the living room into an actual recording studio where they wrote, played and recorded new work. here they are departing….
they also helped charlie macquarie pour concrete into his 4x4x4 hole that he dug by hand for his radio tower out behind the barn. you will only believe it when you see it. clarkia is a california wildflower - the tower is about 40 feet in the sky. it was retrieved by charlie and brian bartz in january from an oil field in bakersfield. it was erected last week by charlie and his father chaz. the whole endeavor was nuts - extremely inspiring to watch it all happen. charlie was in residence here for the first week in march after the concrete pour in february - planning, painting and erecting our (low power) QRP. come see. come saw. your mind too will be blown.
we are also laying plans for another small structure onsite to help us turn the barn into an A/V lab with a dark room, plus film screening and sound recording capabilities. very freaking exciting and terrifying. so we just move slowly with it all - the win slow way. one step at a time while breathing and helping one another take steps to achieve our dreams. cuz all this is impossible to hold onto.
So many good things!