As a professional artist for many years I have learned that pivotal points came from artist residencies.
My first was a fellowship to “Haystack Mountain School” on an island called Deer Isle off the coast of Maine. This happened the summer after I received my MFA at Michigan State University. Some years later I won another residency fellowship to the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, a retreat in the Virginia countryside. I completed work for my first exhibition in Washington DC.
In 2004 I became the Artist in Residence at St. Peter’s in Chelsea in New York City. One of my projects was “Stations of the Cross.” All of these residencies provided solitude in different environments, places where my normal routine was replaced with concentration on one thing, my art. These experiences gave me confidence and taught me how to create such circumstances when I returned to my studio.

My purpose in creating the “Pines of Arcadia” Artist Residencies is to offer such an experience for other Artists. Northwest Michigan is a special place. My husband and I discovered the area while he was writing his dissertation and working for the Michigan Department of State. Some years later we purchased 4 acres of land with deeded access to Lake Michigan. We had moved to Washington DC in 1979 where he worked for the Department of Interior and I taught at various area universities. We always took our summer vacation in MI, renting cabins near our land. We had a deck built so I could paint there. I also taught classes at Great Lakes Community College. We were so impressed by the interest and quality of the Artistic events we attended, especially Interlochen Center for the Arts.

We had planned to build a Cabin and spend our summers there when he retired. Sadly he passed away before we could do that, but I decided to do it myself. I moved back to the Midwest, built the cabin and last year built my dream studio. I decided to share the space and create that special space that I had experienced during my Artist Residencies.

“I want the Pines of Arcadia to be remembered by former fellows as a place where they were charged and changed by the experience.”

Judy Jashinsky 2017