Location: Bloomville (Catskill Mountains), New York
Mission: Zelený Les Artist Residency offers site-responsive artists time and space to cultivate their creativity in a beautiful and secluded environment. Zelený Les (Czech for “Green Woods”) is a precious land legacy steeped in the history and lore of the scenic Catskill region. Offering solitude and supportive community in a retreat-like atmosphere since 2011, the residency is both incubator and land grant for artists to examine the historical, cultural, environmental and personal dimensions of a 19th century farming homestead. Zelený Les is the former home of Antonín Tutter (1920-2001) and his wife Adele (1932-2007) now stewarded by their descendants. Catherine Tutter, a Boston-based intermedia artist, serves as residency director and host.
Cost: Artist accommodations are offered at no charge. Outdoor camping on Zelený Les is an option for artists who can provide their own gear. A modest fee is charged per person to cover food and incidental costs for running the residency.
Application Fee: n/a
Number of Artists: Up to 6 artists at a time
Accommodations: Nearly one hundred acres of rural conservation land – forests, meadows, and wetlands – offer a contemplative setting with generous accommodations in a private home. Zelený Les Artist Residency affirms the value of an intimate setting where artists can interact with one another in a relaxed social atmosphere that offers both solitude and community. Residents at Zelený Les share a large, well-appointed house commanding panoramic views of the valley, original homestead site, and forest. Robert Gardinier, the architect, tailored his design to Adele Tutter’s ideas and specifications for the home where she and her husband Antonín would live in retirement year-round. Three comfortable, private bedrooms are available for resident artists in addition to ample communal living space. The host prepares vegetarian meals and bag lunches to free up time for artists to explore and create. Communal dinners are a time for artists to come together and engage in conversation. There are also opportunities for gathering on the outdoor decks that look towards the valley, in the living room warmed by the fire of a wood-burning stove, or upstairs in the open study.
Zelený Les is a protected conservation site. Artists must consider the impact of created forms on the environment and be sensitive to alterations of the landscape that may be irrevocable. The residency does not provide dedicated indoor studio space, on-site internet access, a wood/metal shop, or other specialized equipment to create work. Limited space is available for temporary storage of materials or equipment that artists bring with them. Material that artists find on, or about, the land may be utilized as well as items they choose to bring with them. All materials found at Zelený Les and used in the creation of work must remain on the land at the end of the project. All materials brought to the land by residents must leave the land at the end of the project. Proposed site-specific or responsive work may or may not be permanent or relocatable. Artists retain full ownership of any on-site image documentation they produce during their residency.
Zelený Les is located in Bloomville, New York, a tiny hamlet in Delaware County (pop. 926) and a 10-minute drive to the town of Delhi, the county seat, whose Main Street features a handful of eateries and long-established family businesses. The municipal offices of Delaware County are housed by the justly famous brick Victorian County Hall on the village green, near a post office and library. The State University of New York at Delhi is located on the outskirts of town, and its library and swimming pool are open to the public. The Cannon Free Library of Delhi has inter library-loan capabilities and free WiFi access. By car, Zelený Les is roughly 5 hours from Boston, MA, 4 hours from New York City, and 1 hour from Cooperstown.
Length of Stay: Project depending
Demographic/Medium: Emerging to Established artists (currently by invite only and possible requests)
Benefits: (see above), free accommodation, peace, relaxing, productive, internet-free, outdoor studio
Deadline: Zelený Les Artist Residency does not have a formal application at this time. We invite you to contact us with your comments or questions. Please include a statement of interest if you would like to be considered for a future residency.
Video by: Matthew G. Glover and Sarah B. Peck
Photo: Margaret Bellafiore
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