A Few Words From Returning Residents

"This September I marked twenty-five years since my first fellowship at the Work Center with a two-week Returning Residency. Back again in the rhythm of life at FAWC: write, sleep, write, walk, write, talk, write... Here we are again, recent Fellows and old-timers, still at work at 24 Pearl. And I remember why the Work Center changed my life, and will always be at the center of my best inspiration. The Fellowship program has never been about just seven months, but about writing and art as a life's work. These weeks are the best part of the year for me, every time." Cynthia Huntington Writing Fellow 1978–1979 & 1982–1983

"I'm really grateful to be able to return to FAWC every September, for what has become an essential time to refocus and get back to what's important in my life and work. Having the time, space and light of P-town is such a gift in my normally harried NYC existence, and the warm support of the Center and the other returning fellows has made FAWC feel like a second home. In my airy, light-filled studio, I feel free to play, take my time, and experiment. I begin to think clearly again, and my work leaps ahead, producing new ideas to chew on for the rest of the year. I'm restored back to sanity and creativity in just three or four weeks—a short time that generates so much growth and joy!" Karen Schifano Visual Arts Fellow 1979–1980

"For three of the last four years I have returned to FAWC to complete an ongoing project: a collection of drawings with a script that I present at museums and universities in order to share with audiences a look at beach biology as a design source. The work—called ‘The Logbook of the Artist/Submariner: Observations on Drawing and the Journey into Objects’—is based upon my original arrival in Provincetown, my exposure to the wealth of design at the ocean's edge, and the growth that has resulted from such an exposure. My periodic stays at the Work Center as a returning fellow, my visits to Paul Bowen's studio, and my time at the shore have given form to the project and added new material. Scientists say that in our human evolution up out of the sea, we pinched off a part of the ocean: the salty water in our cells, medium for thought and action. FAWC is perfectly positioned to promote meditation upon the human course." David Wheeler Visual Arts Fellow 1975–1976

"My returning residency was a signal that, after several years of focusing on making a living, I could again deepen my commitment to writing. This meant immersing myself in the novel I had begun during my first residency. Like someone who returns to an interrupted dream, I fell back into the rhythms of Provincetown life. I began to write, sporadically at first, then steadily. In two weeks, I did a chunk of work that at home would have taken me months. I finished one chapter and made headway on another I'd been avoiding. The gift of a return residency was an echo of my first fellowship: solitude, a communal vibe, an open sky, days given form only by my will and whims; this alchemy produced the same result—a deepening of thought and a more generous sense of what is creatively possible." Sari Wilson Writing Fellow 1999–2000

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