DIY Artist Residency // Kevin Kwong

For the past month, our friend Kevin Kwong lived in our living room, made art, shared his art, and generally had a great time. We had a great time hosting him. New paintings appeared on the wall with incredible frequency. He even made incredibly affordable prints of his paintings ($20 each) which he debuted at the July 5th Tuesday Night Cafe. Here's one of my favorites:

Deeshaun’s Present

Now Kevin is gone, and our living room is no longer a bedroom, our dining area no longer a studio. My roommate Vicky and I are considering opening our living room once again this autumn for an artist-(friend)-in-residence.


There are various artist-in-residence programs out there, each with various application processes and fees, offering wonderful opportunities to focus on creating work and working in a creative community, but they're simply not accessible to every artist. So why not create your own? It reminds me of the concept of the DIY Grad School that A'Misa introduced me to last year:

DIY Grad School is a self-curated MFA graduate program that seeks to question our current higher educational system through the use of technology, multi-media interaction, peer groups of learning, community art and music events, and the praxis where theory and practice meet.

I love the concept-- self-motivated learning and exploration and development with a group of peers, challenging ourselves and each other, and also engaging in dialogue with experienced artists as well. Building community, building on each other's excitement, and building our work and our passion.

With Kevin, we had long talks about life, art, work, love, process; ate delicious meals together; indulged in each other's small insanities. The advantage of a DIY residency is that it can be wherever you want, with whomever you want (who's willing), and you can grow interpersonal relationships along with your creative work.

Vicky and I are already wondering who might be next. And, of course, I'm wondering where and when I might get on the move again myself. But I'm always wondering that.