The Winter 2006 Art Source contains Artist Trust's FY2006 Report to the Community, highlights of this year's Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship recipients, as well as the following feature article, and much more!

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Feature Article:

Artistic Soul-Feeding in Ireland
by Lynn Shelton, 2005 Paul Goode Ireland Residency Recipient

For the past three years, Artist Trust Board Member Paul Goode’s generosity has bestowed the gift of time and a home away from home in Ireland to a lucky Artist Trust Fellowship applicant. Working with Artist Trust staff in a process that dovetailed with the selection of the 2005 Fellowship recipients, Paul chose the recipient of the 2005 Paul Goode Ireland Residency from semi-finalists who had not been awarded a Fellowship. As a result, filmmaker Lynn Shelton received $5,000 and a month’s stay at Paul’s residence in Westport, Ireland. Lynn’s recently released feature-length film, We Go Way Back, has received widespread accolades, including the Grand Jury Prize and Vision Award for Best Cinematography at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival.

Huge thanks to Paul for his unique and generous support. And congratulations to the 2006 Ireland Residency recipient, Emerging & Cross-Disciplinary Artist Anna Callahan!

A week after Artist Trust’s 2005 Fellowships were announced, Fionn Meade (former Director of Grant Programs) called me to ask if I’d like to go to Ireland for a month. There’s a house to stay in. Oh, and a travel stipend. Dumbfounded, grateful, I say yes.

Come Spring 2006, I begin experiencing mild panic attacks about the solitude of the upcoming residency. What if I don’t enjoy my own company? And (most embarrassingly) how, exactly, will I cope without a phone or access to the Internet?

The day of my arrival into Dublin in June, high winds and horizontal sheets of rain mercilessly lash our rented Fiesta as we wend our way westward, heading for County Mayo. I laugh at myself, thinking of all the summery clothes that I’ve packed.

For the first week, my husband (Kevin), seven-year-old son (Milo), and I have our first family vacation in years. We bomb about the countryside, searching out undiscovered castles and hard-to-find cairns. We thoroughly enjoy getting to know the beautiful Carrowholly Point hideaway. Set on a hillside overlooking a lovely cove—which wind-feathered water fills up half the day and empties out for the other half, revealing sea-weed strewn rocks as far as the eye can see—the view spectacularly includes the famous peak of Croagh Patrick, as well as the distinctive and stately silhouette of Clare Island. Milo and I spend his last day there catching small crabs at the water’s edge with Irish bacon, a piece of string, and a bucket (a technique taught to us by our kindly neighbor).

Once the boys have left and I’m on my own, I await the boredom, depression and loneliness that I know are bound to come. They never arrive.

My solo time in Ireland was spent walking, shooting footage, thinking, editing, photographing, writing, reading... oh, and long stretches of drinking tea and staring out the window. It was the most contemplative, artistically soul-feeding experience of my life. Just thinking of the place makes my stomach hurt now, I miss it so much.