This month’s residency was dedicated to multigenerational artists and therefore welcomed artists of an age not entirely typical at your average residency program. After weighing all the upsides and the inputs, you’d realize they all applied to Fountainhead because programs like this, tend to unlock important doors for their practices, creatively and spiritually. Because even though they all treasure moments alone wrestling in their studios with the sauce, they still need other people to give their work meaning and to bend it in those unexpected ways that keep the motor going. What you’d have to conclude is that these are artists who demand layers in all dimensions, who thrive in circumstances where dialogue  is encouraged. That is perhaps what made this group of individuals so appropriate for one another and for this session, which sought to focus on their multigenerational wisdom and how to amplify its occurrences and influence.

Mullen is the literalist of the group. She has spent her career hustling herself into circumstances that lend themselves to weekly studio visits with new audiences because this feedback is a key ingredient in her process. It is in fact so essential to her work, that friends often serve as scouts for new opportunities, sending applicable residencies as they arise. She ended up at Fountainhead because she heard good things. Herzog is more abstract in her approach. She likes to try on other people’s eyes but that happens largely through looking at the work of others, going to institutions as well as studios. 

During her time with Ewing and Mullen, Herzog enjoyed the camaraderie of looking and what that added to her usual routine. “What made it most interesting to me was having the other two artists to bounce off of. We, on the surface, were all experiencing the same thing. Yet, due to our difference in age and history, we dealt with it slightly differently,” Herzog says.