We are pleased to announce our tenth Artist in Residence Program:
The Hermit: Panpsychic Poet
September 15th – 22nd, 2019
29 Palms, CA
APPLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE HERE, DUE BY MAY 15th
“And the sea of sand? It’s water you can walk on, it’s time.” – Paul Thek
“However beautiful a song may be,
it is just a tune to those
who do not understand its meaning.” ― Milarepa
The worldview that everything is alive, everything interrelates, and everything communicates is essential to The Hermit. The Hermit retreats not be alone, but to be connected to everything, not to be silent, but to learn to communicate. In the Hermit’s cave the song of the rocks, the sand, the rotation of the planets, the animals, the plants – the myriad songs of the world become clear. The Hermit is able to discover true words that speak directly to the nature of things, rather than approximate words that represent ideas with symbols. With this awareness, the Hermit realizes that words have a vibrational power that creates great change. At The Hermit intensive, we will be learning to hear and to speak. This is fundamental to the practice of magic and the creation of art.
We will be occupying a comfortable house in 29 Palms, California on ten acres of land close to the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. Each day, The Hermits will go on a personal quest to learn the songs of the world. We will also be studying planetary magic, divination, and the “Panpsychic Poetry Method” with Eliza Swann, Lily Benson will instruct us in the basics of hypnosis and video making, and Saewon Oh will demonstrate the divine art of plant communication. Through combined practices of poetry, video making, ritual, trance, and plant communication, we will attempt to learn the world song and how to sing along with it. Please see the syllabus here, and please read the FAQ thoroughly before applying here.
FAQ:
Who is eligible for this residency? This residency differs greatly from previous residencies – it is a “deepening session” designed to accelerate the studies of those who have already attended a seven day residency with us – folks who have attended the “Shape Changing, World Changing” intensive are also welcome to apply. If you are new to the Golden Dome School, you are welcome to submit an application – but first priority will go to folks who have already attended a session. Pending funding, we will have another session that is open to all in November of this year.
Is the structure of this residency different? Yes! We will not have “visiting artists” – everyone who participates is expected to stay for the duration of the seven days so that we can go deep. This residency group will be smaller than previous groups. Each Hermit will be given a robe to wear during ceremonies. There are assignments, texts, and a communal art project built into the syllabus. We will be showing the communal art project this year.
Are there scholarships available? At present, we do not have scholarship funds available for “The Hermit.”
The Hermit is facilitated by:
Lily Benson is a filmmaker, visual artist, and hypnotist. Her work examines feminist history and reconstructs it into new narrative forms. She is a creative advisor to The New York Times, the director of Cinema COBRA (a curatorial platform for expanded cinema), and the co-founder of The Divine Feminine School of Hypnosis. Her work has appeared at places like CPH:DOX, Rotterdam International Film Festival, The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, The Hand Gallery, The Brooklyn Museum, and Nicolai Wallner Gallery. Lily is on a mission to make our world a more experimental place.
Saewon Oh is an herbalist, medicine maker, artist, teacher and founder of Sun Song, a line of handmade herbal remedies designed for meditative and earth-based healing practices. She teaches workshops, guides tea ceremonies and offers herbal consultations in Los Angeles. She’s also a member of Nine Herbs Charm, a multi-disciplinary artist collective engaged in an on-going, process based collaboration with nine specific plants.
Eliza Swann is an interdisciplinary artist, intuitive, writer, educator, and community organizer based in Los Angeles and New York. Eliza is the founder of The Golden Dome School, a curatorial and educational platform that studies intersections of art, metaphysics and ecology.