Since 2021, Aster(ix) has invited featured artists and writers to “play” with us. To share projects, experiments, works-in-process as part of our in-residency program. We are proud to be a laboratory/studio space for those of us that want to try at something new. In-residence allows for mentorship, collaboration, support and interlocutors invested in curiosity, dreaming and actualization.
The following are In-Residence projects to-date:
Fall 2020: “Chancletazo for Your Soul” with Marlène Ramírez-Cancio
During tarot card readings, Marlène Ramírez-Cancio found herself frequently referencing Latinx cultural icons and concepts when sharing the Major Arcana. So, for fun, she experimented with collage building on the widely used 1909 Smith-Rider-Waite deck. What began as an art project became an in-depth writing and soul-searching project, ultimately going from In-Residence on Instagram to a full-print issue and Arcana Card Deck.
Winter 2020-2021: “Everything is Temporary” with Nicole Callihan
On September 29, 2020, Nicole Callihan was diagnosed with breast cancer. A double mastectomy, a lymph node dissection, radiation, and hormone therapy followed. All the while, she committed to her everyday practice of writing poems. “Everything is Temporary” are poems, notes, and photos she took in the months that followed her diagnosis.
Fall2021: “Blooming Fiascoes: Poetry Postcards” with Ellen Hagan
Ellen Hagan celebrated her third collection of poetry, Blooming Fiascoesby by asking writers to mail her postcards responding to the question: “What is blooming? What is coming apart? What do we hold onto and what can be let go of?” She selected six poems which we featured in our In-Residence. Ellen writes, “Hungry for connection, these poems speak to one another. They work in tandem – one engaging the next. All of them a kind of thread linking us together.”
Winter 2021-2022: “The Amaranta Project” curated by Angie Cruz
Cecilia Vicuña’s painting 1972 “Amaranta” was “lost and reborn” when found in 2021. The Chilean artist-poet-activist writes simply as an introduction to her work, “My work dwells in the not yet, the future potential of the unformed, where sound, weaving, and language interact to create new meanings.”
Angie invited writers to create flash responses to the painting, generating six micro-fictions (all translated into Spanish by Kianny N. Antigua), four poems, and one nonfiction.
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