Wednesday Cider
January 12, 2022
Welcome back to VCCA's monthly community newsletter focused on keeping Fellows, staff, and supporters connected.
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Dear friends,
We welcome this new year in a spirit of gratitude for the generous support so many of you provided to VCCA in 2021. We successfully reopened Mt. San Angelo last summer and continue to welcome writers, visual artists, and composers for in-person residencies in Virginia — always while closely monitoring the ongoing pandemic and updating our COVID-19 guidelines accordingly.
Following a brief pause over the holidays, we welcomed a new wave of talented and congenial Fellows to our Virginia residency program last week. Our staff's Wednesday tradition of gathering with current Fellows over warm cider resumes today on the porch.
Our first Wednesday Cider newsletter of the year relishes the liminal space between calendar years. Looking back on 2021, we have a new Annual Report and some recent marvels from our Meriwether Godsey-run kitchen to share. Looking ahead, we want to remind you all that applications for Fall 2022 residencies at Mt. San Angelo close this Saturday, January 15. A variety of fully-funded fellowships are available for that residency period, along with significant financial assistance.
We look forward to staying in touch this year, and we invite Fellows to keep us apprised of your news and projects along the way.
Thank you to our Fellows and contributors who made gifts at the end of 2021 or encouraged friends to do so! We received many generous donations, all of which are an integral part of VCCA's sustainability. Onward!
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Looking Back on a Year of Renovation and Renewal
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VCCA's latest annual report is available on our website for you to enjoy!
In addition to lists of Fellows and donors, you'll also see behind-the-scenes photos from Mt. San Angelo's many renovations, read the story of how a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe helped VCCA own its home, and look back on the ways art and community have helped VCCA through a challenging time.
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New Year Greetings
From Le Moulin à Nef
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We're pleased to pass along this message from France, where le Moulin Ă Nef Resident Director Cheryl Fortier tells us New Year greetings are very important and are offered all the month of January.
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Meilleurs vœux pour cette nouvelle année 2022! Que votre chemin vous mène un jour aux studios du Moulin à Nef.
De nous tous Ă Auvillar,
Cheryl, John, Sabine, Fatiha et Issam
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Best wishes for this New Year 2022! May your path lead you one day to le Moulin Ă Nef studios.
From all of us in Auvillar,
Cheryl, John, Sabine, Fatiha and Issam
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Pictured: View from the bridge over the Garonne River, heading into the port in Auvillar, with the Moulin Ă Nef buildings on the left.
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views from mt. san angelo
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It may be cold outside, but it's warm by the fireplace.
The first snow of the year came early to Mt. San Angelo. Thank you to Paige Critcher, our intrepid Resident Fellow, for venturing out to photograph the wintery landscape (and for keeping Fellows warm with well-made fires in the living room).
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Artist Dinners and Seasonal Treats
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In addition to the regular rotation of nutritious meals served three times a day, our Meriwether Godsey dining partners have been sprinkling in delightful food festivities as special treats for Fellows. Below are photos of some sweet creations from this holiday season!
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reynolds poetry fellow announcement
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Joanne Diaz is the author of two poetry collections, The Lessons (winner of the Gerald Cable Book Award in 2011) and My Favorite Tyrants (winner of the Brittingham Prize in Poetry in 2014). In residence at Mt. San Angelo, Diaz intends to focus on revising poems for a third book project.
“I cannot overstate how grateful I am to have this time at VCCA," says Diaz. "During my stay, I will have the opportunity to experiment with a poetry project that will require my full attention. I look forward to seeing what surprises this work will yield.”
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Fellows, please share your news. This is a way to tell the VCCA community about your work. We're always especially interested in stories about work created in connection to your VCCA residency.
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"I have been chosen as a shortlisted artist for the Sunny Art Prize in London. I owe a debt of gratitude to VCCA for believing in my art and offering me residencies in Virginia and France!"
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"'Marking Lives COVID-19' was born from a desire to acknowledge and commemorate lives lost in America to COVID-19. The project started in December 2020 on Instagram and Facebook and anyone could participate in the collective art project. Artists were asked to make at least 1,000 marks in the artist’s medium on any surface. Images were posted to the social channels under the hashtag #markinglivescovid19. The project grew to 193 artists, 309 works totaling 403,460 marks honoring lives lost. 'Remembering Together,' an exhibit of 131 works was held at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard September 27 - November 19, 2021."
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"My first book of poetry, Pieces, was published in the Fall of 2019 by PJPF Press (and I never announced it). The pandemic hit not long after that making it difficult to promote. It's an autobiographical collection of 37 poems in 6 sections, spanning different phases of my life, gathering the pieces to become whole."
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"I'm a twice-visitor to VCCA, and my fifth collection, Mud Ajar, was published in late 2021 by Atmosphere Press. New Mexico poet, Mary Morris describes it as 'breathtaking.' And excerpts from it have been highlighted in reading series near and far. In fact, here's an 11-minute clip from a recent reading hosted by the Art Bar in Toronto.
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🧡 Stay safe, and be well.
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