My Residency Experience at Chateau Orquevaux - May 2024
To start if you’re landing here not knowing who I am, my name is Vinnie. I’m a poet and a writer who never before in my life attended a writing residency. Entering the start of May, I found myself onboard a 15 hour flight to France, to catch a train, to grab a van, to sit in the French countryside and write for two weeks, which is wild.
I’m going to do my best to take you on that journey but I’ll include a quick TLDR below anyone considering the residency and what to expect. If you are here because you are thinking of applying or have questions (I had A LOT going into this) there’s a contact form at the bottom of the page or reach out to me on instagram, I’d love to chat more.
TLDR: THE QUICK TIPS
Pre-residency:
The change from fitting a creative practice into my daily life to having my creative practice be my daily life was daunting. I was really worried about filling my time and should not have been. If you want to create you will keep creating if given the opportunity, which is what this is all about.
It’s a good idea to have a sense of what you want to work on but be flexible, the space and creativity at the Chateau is very open and you’ll want to embrace that feeling. Collaboration might surprise you.
At the Chateau:
Lean into Beulah and the staff, they’re there to help make you make, don’t hesitate to ask if you need something and treat the space like home, use everything you see.
Make time to enjoy the grounds and Orquevaux. While I there to work, as creative people we all need to recharge. Everything around you is beautiful and peaceful. Even just an afternoon walk really reset me and gave me space to keep working.
Get to know your fellow residents because creativity feeds off creativity. I crossed paths with people I’d unlikely have met otherwise and getting to work alongside them was quite fortunate.
Unplug from daily digital life, which is very very difficult. I cut the hardline to the world. My personal email had an auto reply for maybe the first time ever. I uninstalled Slack from my phone. I made it abundantly clear to my clients, coworkers, family, and friends that I was really busy with an incredible opportunity. All of them embraced that with me.
Post Residency:
Treat the residency as a jumping off point. I took away a lot of thoughts on collaboration and sharing work. I am astonished at what two weeks of space provided to my creative self. My life changed, which sounds dramatic but there’s no other way to put it.
Other General Tips:
Take advantage of the grocery store visit. If you plan to drink anything other than water or wine this is your chance to get it.
You’re in the countryside, two pairs of shoes is a good idea, especially one you don’t mind getting a little dusty or dirty while hiking around. A light raincoat isn’t the worst idea either to travel between the chateau and the stable studios.
Pack 1-2 nice outfits to dress for dinner. Being able to clean up and reset for dinner felt really nice.
I brought a few craft books with me which was a great choice. I was the only person focused first on poetry among four other writers so having somewhere to turn when I was getting stuck was helpful.
Say hi to the goats for me and take out the paddle boat.
photo by @jocelynelizabeth_studio
Applying: is this for me?
I applied for the residency August of 2022. Believe it or not, Poetry is not the money making engine that it used to be. Leading up to the residency I was working three jobs, upwards of 60 hours a week, traveling for work every 4-6 weeks, trying to maintain an old house, on top of the regular social relationships I had. Truthfully, I was drowning pretty hard but I know me and writing is how I come up for air. I knew I had to make space for that.
I was a little lost in where to take my writing. My daily practice was working, I was creating in the free moments I had for maybe 1-3 hours a day, participating in workshops either through local programs or with my community college, submitting to journals, filling this hodge-podge blog. What I couldn’t answer was, “What should I do next?”.
My life is as a poet and writer. I don’t think I could confidently type that before the residency. If you have that sense in you and if you want the confidence to answer my least favorite question “what do you do?” with "I am a writer / painter / choreographer / printer etc.”, then I think this residency will help you find your creativity and bring the best version of you forward.
The beauty of Orquevaux. My bedroom in the upper left 2nd floor.
Uh oh… I got accepted?
My acceptance email came in July of 2023, almost a full year later. I had an immediate polarizing feeling of over joy and overcommitment. What had I gotten myself into? The acceptance rate is less than 20% to get into the residency, which is a big deal! I had to give myself some grace to embrace the validation of being accepted.
There’s some mixed feelings out there in the writing world on residencies that require you to pay. The application fees were already being waved the year I applied. The intention behind who is in the residency felt curated such that I wasn’t writing alongside someone who enjoyed poetry as a hobby. Everyone was serious about their craft. While at the chateau, I spent time with both Beulah and Ziggy, the directors, talking about the program and both spoke to the dream of getting the residency into a place where artists weren’t required to pay and the opportunity to create was open to an even broader spectrum of artists.
The residency also provided an option to apply for an emerging artist grant, which I was fortunate enough to receive. This helped me cover close to 50% of the cost of attending, which was huge! You’re already shooting your shot at applying, so you should shoot your shot for the grant as well.
My desk on the 4th floor, studio spaces, book press printmaking, paddle boat writing, the Gallery Diderot, artists at work
Bon voyage!
Leading up the start of my journey to France everyone was introduced to each other via a group email. That email had some logistical details that the Orquevaux team needed to sort as well as instructions on how to buy our train tickets. Then about 3-4 weeks before our start date an Instagram chat was created with everyone attending. The chat is also where we would get updates, coordinate any activities, and just keep in touch with each other.
Like any new group of friends, being part of the conversation made a difference. People were coordinating travel plans, getting together in Paris beforehand, and giving each other the mutual follow on Instagram all of which immediately started to create a sense of bonding between us. This was also a great way for me to get a sense of what kinds of other artists were coming.
There was a slight hiccup in all of our travel plans when the day before arriving the train operators went on strike. Traveling is stressful enough but to now be about to board a flight across the world to meet a bunch of strangers and not know how we are getting from Paris to Orquevaux was a lot. Similar to creating art though, there has to be some trust in the process. Beulah was incredible in communicating the plans hour by hour to figure out a fix. Ultimately, we traveled to Troyes and piled into vans for a couple of hours, which was a nice rainy ride through the French countryside before arriving at the chateau.
The spread is amazing! Chef Marie & Chef Christine killed it every meal. You will be well fed.
It’s Been… One Week
None of us could have expected the wonder that the chateau brings. I’m hesitant to reveal everything because if you’re attending you deserve that wonderment yourself.
Arriving at the chateau, all your bags are handled and delivered to your room which should have been the first sign that we are here to create and create only. There is a champagne toast the first night and the residency kicks off!
Everyone dove into creating after meeting their studio spaces. As a writer I wasn’t limited to my studio desk which was wonderful. Here’s what my daily routine looked like:
Up early 6:30/6:45 (thank you, rooster), I tend to write better in the morning and the salon was always open to sit quietly in. Some mornings other artists joined me, we would discuss the work, any plans or struggles. Sometimes we would just sit with a coffee and try to solve the NYT Connections+ puzzle. There’s a magic in the quiet of the morning. Seeing the landscape around the chateau wake up and hearing the creaking floorboards of the other residents finding the morning was really beautiful.
Breakfast around 9.
I’d typically continue being generative until lunch.
Lunch at 12/12:30.
I’d spend the afternoon working through revisions. I write by hand first, so taking the work from the morning and getting it organized digitally helps me with revising.
I’d also pop-in and check out other people’s studios. I spent about half the days at my studio desk and half the days out on the grounds with my notebook or laptop.
Pre-dinner drinks and socializing started around 6/6:15 and dinner was at 7. Again the work was almost always the topic of conversation, how were we pushing an idea, what blocker couldn’t we overcome, where had someone had a breakthrough, etc.
Then typically after dinner some of us would take back to the studios to work, others would socialize. I think both had big advantages in uplifting our creative practices.
Being social with 15+ other strangers you just met isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Let me just pound out some quick notes on what we did after the first bottle wine at dinner:
Split that second bottle of wine (consider a third if the day ends in the letter y)
Someone brought, and possibly left at the chateau, some conversation cards (would you rather serve 1 week in prison or 2 years of community service?)
Bonfire night is a must
Ghost hunting - try the boat house, we think we spoke with an old man from the village who would pass through the grounds
Murder Mystery Night - if you are fortunate enough to have an event planner in your group this was an absolute blast, there’s pictures below
Star gazing / Astral photography - the sky is amazing for stargazing
Hiking / Birding - so many birds, if you like birds the birds alone are worth the residency
Swimming hole - very cold, the raft is covered in spiders but don’t let that deter you
Just Dusty the cat stuff
Week Two - Open Studio
After the fourth or fifth day working everyone relaxed a little. I think most painters were wrapping their first piece or had already started work on additional pieces, the writers were very in the groove of what we were writing, and our resident choreographer had a daily dance routine to the church bells at noon. Creativity was flowing.
Throughout the week there were additional creative outlets like life drawing, a writer’s circle, an open table presentation in the salon (which was amazing), and our resident collage artist organized a morning around World Collage Day! All of these were entirely optional and I found it pretty inspiring after writing for 8 to 10 hours a day to let out some creative energy in a different medium. We also had a talk on “the business of art” which was really insightful into the inner workings for the art world.
The weeks culminated in Open Studio: a day of presentation on what everyone was working on, their goals for their time, and what they felt they achieved. When everyone realized Open Studio was approaching the energy sort of kicked into overdrive to finish their work or get the pieces to a state they felt worthy of presentation.
The day of Open Studio was incredible. Two weeks ago I didn’t know these people. Now after breaking baguettes, countless bottles of wine, and laying in the gravel road watching the Northern Lights wave across the dark sky of Orquevaux I had the opportunity to see their work. The paintings, the fiction, the choreography, the portraits and photographs, everything everyone created inspired me. There was a lot to be proud of during Open Studio.
May 2024, first 2 week residency artists. I learned something from every person in these photos.
Some photos courtesy of Joe Merlot aka Andrew Putschoegl @ninjagoldfish
This Doesn’t End
In two weeks my life changed in a dramatic way. I’ve always had people around me who encourage me to be creative but never before had I had the privilege of writing in a space where I was provided for. Hank (@hanktheaquarian), an artist who I’m about to probably slightly misquote, in their Open Studio talk said “I truly believe that artists, when provided for with the essentials, with food and a roof over their head, when artists have their basic needs met they can focus and create really incredible art”. That’s what I saw unfold at Chateau Orquevaux, a diverse group of artists honing their crafts, unimpeded. I can take that feeling with me in my everyday life. My practice of being a writer won’t just be practice. Chateau Orquevaux reminded me of what got lost in the fog of dealing with reality, that I am a poet.