BALI RESIDENCY

I’m traveling this summer as part of a longer arc of work that has been quietly lining itself up for a while. Not for vacation. Not for content. Not to reinvent myself.

I’m going because I need to put my hands back into a process that slows me down and makes me pay attention.

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Long before acrylic, resin, encaustic, or mixed media, photography came first for me. Darkrooms. Film. Chemicals. Light. Time. Waiting. Watching an image slowly come into being instead of snapping into existence.

That way of working teaches patience. It teaches humility. You don’t rush it. You don’t force it. You cooperate with it.

Over the last few years, I’ve felt a pull back toward that mindset. Not nostalgia, something deeper. A need to work slower, with intention, with risk. A need to engage a process that refuses to be efficient.

One important part of that journey is pulling me to Bali.

I’ve been accepted into a printmaking residency in Ubud where I’ll be working with non-silver photographic processes, with a primary focus on gumoil printing. Gumoil is a contemporary process developed in the late twentieth century, but it’s deeply rooted in older traditions like gum bichromate, platinum, and early photomechanical printing. It sits at the intersection of photography, painting, and printmaking in a way that feels both modern and ancestral.

The process is slow, physical, and imperfect. Every print is touched. Every decision matters. No two are the same, even when the source image is.

The body of work I’ll be developing there is part of a longer project I’ve been calling Common Ground.

The premise is simple.

I’m working with iconic American photographs that live in our shared cultural memory. Images that predate our current divisions. Images that once belonged to all of us. These photographs are in the public domain. I’m not interested in originality in the modern sense. I’m interested in translation.

What changes when an image is remade by hand instead of reproduced mechanically?

What is lost? What is gained? What remains?

In a moment where everything feels fractured politically, socially, culturally, I’m less interested in arguing positions and more interested in asking quieter questions. What do we still share?

What stories still hold us together? What does it mean to inherit a visual history and carry it forward honestly?

Gumoil is the right process for this work precisely because it resists perfection. It has a long tonal range but never feels slick. It allows for nuance, accident, and presence. It reminds the viewer that a human being stood here and made this.

If you’d like to follow the residency and receive occasional studio notes while the work is unfolding, you’re welcome to do that here. No sales shows up in your inbox, just images, process, and reflection from the studio.

The residency itself is remarkably affordable. The travel is not.

I’m going regardless. This isn’t an “if funded, then” situation. But like most artists, I don’t have the luxury of pretending money doesn’t matter. Pre-funding the work simply makes the process steadier and less anxious. It lets me focus on the work instead of counting days.

Rather than using a traditional crowdfunding platform, I’m doing this the way artists have always done it.

By offering the work itself.

What I’m inviting you into is a short, time-bound opportunity to support the creation of this body of work by collecting from it early. During this window, prints are offered at a base-level price that reflects belief and trust, not finished gallery pricing. Once the residency is complete and the work moves into exhibition and broader release, prices will rise accordingly.

This isn’t scarcity for the sake of pressure. It’s simply how time works.

The people who step forward at the beginning help make the work possible. They carry it with them first.

Ways to support the work

There is one underwriting opportunity available. For those who wish to participate at a smaller scale, a limited number of prints are also available and listed after the Founding Patron explanation.

Founding Patron of Common Ground

$5000

This is for someone who wants to support the work at a deeper level. What this includes:

Three original gumoil prints
These are original, hand-printed works created during the Bali residency. The underwriter receives first selection from the body of work. Each print is signed, titled, and dated. No two prints are identical, even when drawn from the same source image. Includes Certificate if Authenticity.

Two additional pieces connected to the process. One of these will be a signed study or test print created in Bali. One additional finished piece or premium print produced after returning from the residency. These are chosen by the artist and reflect the broader arc of the work rather than a single image.

Project attribution
The underwriter will be acknowledged as the Founding Project Underwriter for Common Ground. This acknowledgment will appear quietly and respectfully on the project website, in exhibition materials where appropriate, and in any printed checklist or catalog associated with the body of work. No logos, no promotional language.

Relationship to the work
The underwriter receives a standing invitation to visit the studio or spend time in conversation about the work when paths align. This is not framed as a scheduled service or performance. It is an open door.

One unrepeatable artifact
A small physical object from the making of the work. This may be a process fragment, test strip, marked proof, or studio remnant. It has no market value and cannot be reproduced. It exists only as evidence of the work being made.

Studio Patron

Original 30x40 gumoil print
$750

These are original, hand-printed, gumoil works produced during the residency. Each one is signed, titled, dated, and accompanied by a short provenance note describing the process, paper, and place with a Certificate of Authenticity.

They will be shipped unframed and rolled for safety. No two are identical. Even when the source image is the same, the process refuses repetition. Variations are not flaws. They are the point.

This tier is for collectors who value process as much as image and understand that translation always leaves fingerprints.

Common Ground Supporter

11×14 signed limited edition giclée print
$150

One selected image from the Bali residency will be reproduced as an 11 × 14 archival giclée. Signed and numbered. The image will be chosen during or immediately after the residency, once the work has had time to reveal itself.

This print isn’t meant to compete with the originals. It’s meant to stand as a marker. A way of saying, “I was here for this moment of making.”

Edition size is limited to 20.

You don’t need to buy anything to be part of this. Paying attention matters too.

But if this work resonates, if the idea of reclaiming shared ground through slow, deliberate making feels important right now, I’d be honored to have you walk alongside me at this stage.