Andrae Green on The Artist's Residency

Altered-States (Conversation with Colonel Percy Wyndam). One of the smaller paintings Green produced while in residency

The artists residency is a part of the artists career which we never really learned about in art school, yet facilities and organizations worldwide providing residency programmes have been growing steadily. It is often a good way to boost an artists confidence and exposure* and can sometimes help artists push further in their career. By the provision of a working space and support, it at least gives the artist time to create a small body of work depending on the duration. The hoped result is that it will benefit the maturity of the artists work and networking opportunities as well as contribute to the life and economy of the facilitating communities. 


Emerging Jamaican Painter, Andrae Green, has kindly shared his experience and thoughts about the artists residency. We asked questions about Green's recent residency experience and he tells us about the process and the role it plays for him. *It should be noted that the artist was featured in a local newspaper while on residency.

You recently came back from a residency in New York, introduce us to the residency programme you went on. 

The residency that I was invited to be apart of is called the CAC (Contemporary Artists Centre) Woodside, located in Troy New York. The residency is multidisciplinary, and it's open to artist from all nationalities. The CAC was founded in Berkshires Massachusetts but was recently moved to renovated chapel at Woodside Troy, New York. Troy is a small town in upstate New York located 10 minutes outside Albany, which is the capital of New York state. The CAC residency is year round and artists are invited to stay from as little as 2 weeks to as long as 3 months. The application is done online through the CAC's website. My stay at the residency was from July 17th to August 26th. Its a great program and I recommend it to anyone. I will say that if your coming from the Caribbean you should plan your residency for the summer months.

Why did you feel the need at this point in your career to go on a residency? 

As I see it, an international residency is one of the best ways for any artist to gain experience and exposure outside your country and make, if possible, crucial connections that might bode well for your career. These were the same reasons that I had when I applied to the CAC. 

Green and other artists in the programme in front of his paintings.

What activities did you get involved in and tell us about the kinds of networking that happened for you?

 At the residency we had weekly critiques, where we would present our works to the newly arrivals, and also update the group on any progress that we had made during the week. Also we went on outings to the town of Troy, like the farmers market on Saturdays, and to other historic sites close enough to drive to. As I think that I have said before I met alot of people while at the CAC, and hopefully I made some lasting friendships. 

You had an exhibition as well, was this related to the residency and did the results of the residency meet your expectations?

Yes the exhibition was put on by the director of the residency, Mrs. Hezzie Johanson. It was a group show and every artist at the residency or affiliated with the CAC was invited to participate. The show was held as a part of "Troy Night Out". Troy Night Out is held every end of the month in summer, between June and September, as a celebration of the arts in the town. The whole town comes alive with artist of every kind exhibiting their wares of every kind. It's really exciting, there is music and dancing in the streets and art everywhere almost like the old time Jamaican grand market. 

Being as it was my first residency I came into the experience with and open mind, with no expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised. The facilities were great, the staff was very helpful, and the whole experience was thrilling to say the least.

Woman 1. Another small painting created by Green
during his residency

For what purposes would you recommend a residency to an artist, Can you share some tips on practical information about finding, applying and funding a residency experience? 

As stated before I wanted to expand my career possibilities and get exposure for my work. There are a lot of opportunities open to anyone seeking to expand there career horizons. Some residencies that you find there will be application fees to pay, while others are free application. There are a lot of different types of residencies and they offer different things, for different kinds of artist. Some are only for emerging artist, while others cater to both. You have to know what position you are career-wise so that you will be able to take advantage of whatever you may find. Also keep in mind that you can't apply to everything , and you need to keep a check on how your spending your money as, application fees do add up. A websites that I have found very helpful to me is transartists.org, I am sure that there are others, but this is the one that I know of.

Have you done a residency yourself? What was that experience like?

Do you think doing residencies  are important for all artists to do?

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Alphonso Dunn Emerges

Some time ago, I heard from Alphonso Dunn. He had recently left the New York Academy of Art and just beginning to build his body of work. He had left Jamaica while still a teenager and was interested in his connection to Jamaica, which was evident through his work. I began plans to feature this artist next on this blogspot. Suddenly, Alphonso disappeared from our radar and time passed. Alphonso has recently resurfaced with exciting news of new directions, group shows in New York and studio life. Now is the time for ART:Jamaica to introduce you to Alphonso Dunn.

So I would like to just hear about the experience of leaving Jamaica for the U.S.,.
AD: I moved to the states with my mother and sisters when I was 17. I had almost finished high school in Jamaica.

Were you interested in art before that?
AD: Although throughout my earlier school years I concentrated most of efforts in the sciences—aspiring to be a doctor—I was always active in art, whether doodling or copying tirelessly from art instruction books , comics and cartoons. My earliest memories in art are from second grade, drawing comic book characters and creating superheroes. But it was while attending St. Jago High School that I started to really hone my drawing skills, and took art much more seriously. I entered several art and poster competitions and often placed very well. It was there too that I had my first apprenticeship-like experience, via my two art teachers; Mr. Barrett and Mr. Collins. Mr. Barrett was more the abtract expressionist and Mr. Collins the realist, but both more or less figurative artists. I copied inexhaustibly from Mr. Collins' drawings and spent countless hours discussing art theory and ideas with Mr. Barrett. They were very nurturing and complemented each other very well, as opposite in temperament as they were. Looking back, that was an integral component of my artistic development. Even now, more than 13 years later I still make it a priority to visit them whenever I'm in Jamaica.

What was the experience of attending New York Academy of Art?
AD: After moving to the states, I did a year of high school before going to study Chemistry at William Paterson University, in NJ. I was still bent on going to medical school but was able to squeeze in one figure drawing course. While in school I amassed an impressive collection of figure drawing instruction books, which I practiced from voraciously. I was virtually self-taught between high school and grad school, which inadvertently provided me with a portfolio of work to submit for grad school admission.
Upon graduating college I decided to pursue a formal art education. It took much courage to do this because I had to accept I would disappoint the expectations of people that were very important to me. But in some weird way I knew they understood.
My two years at the New York Academy of Art were two of the most wonderful years of my life. It was my first time indulging in such a rich and nurturing space of people, whose sole aspiration was set on making figurative fine art. The Academy, as a graduate school, is unique for placing the study and representation of the figure and its conceptual and metaphorical aspects at the center of its curriculum. I was in heaven.

How did you relate to studying the European-derived academic approach to art.
AD: Interestingly, I was already familiar with much of the European masters and the academic approach to representation through my many books on art. It was exciting to be around people who felt just as passionate about the representation of the figure, both instructors and students alike. Regrettably, however, I had to seek outside the academy for any information or instruction on the art of people who were non-Caucasian. This was not a new experience, and was not unexpected. My priority was to develop my skills at representing the figure as best as I could.


How does your Caribbean orientation affect the way you make work (subject matter, concepts, process etc.)?
AD: I'm not sure there how easy it is to articulate the nature and degree of influence of my Caribbean heritage on the ideas behind my work, no more than I can acknowledge the plight of the African Diaspora virtually everywhere...
I think of all the aspects of my work, my Caribbean background speaks most strongly through my passion for draftsmanship and the figure. Growing up in Jamaica, I had virtually no access to any other medium but pencil and ink, and occasionally poster paint. I only read of oil and acrylic, and sculpture was as remote as an art supply store. I focused my energies on what tools I had: cheap HB and colored pencils, and extra-fine point writing pens. Thus, started my life-long love affair with line.
Even today I doubt most children in Jamaica have access to any more medium than I did back then. But with learning several years later the importance and centrality of drawing to other arts, I have no regret that drawing was my involuntary choice.

Tell me about a recent body of work and your future plans for your artistic growth and your search to link with the Jamaican arts community.
AD: My recent work comes from years of trying to find an effective way to translate my ideas though a visual language that best complements and challenges my way of creating. I love realism and I love abstraction, but I resent realism and abstraction for their own sake. My work, ultimately, is driven from a place unique to me as a child of the African Diaspora and as a member of a very troubled and complex human race.
I want to make art that provoke questions and addresses concerns about perception and truth, the human imagination and power, and their effect on how we construct meaning and drive our relations with the world, others and ourselves.
In my drawings there is an unsettling tension created by the juxtapositions between text and image, childlike drawing and naturalistic representation, that challenges the viewer to intermittently suspend and reframe “adult” perceptions and judgments and become engrossed in a dynamic cross-referencing in order to construct a comprehensive meaning of the work. Neither language nor image is all-inclusive of meaning or truth, but through the seductive engagement of the imagination, perception is framed and realities made of figments. This visual experience calls attention to a reevaluation of our own habitual ways of seeing, deferring our seemingly automatic inner-processes of constructing meaning and directing action; the experience of finding what I refer to as our perception’s locus of control.

I hope to interact with other artists of the Jamaica and Caribbean and engage in meaningful exchange on art, ideas, and finding and defining our space and clarifying questions. I believe all true artists are intellectuals, yearning for discussion.

You may contact the featured artist and see more of his work at www.alphonsodunn.com

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