I am going to ACRE residency this summer + more!
Donation protected
Hi everyone, my name is Charmaine, I am an artist and make plant medicine like tinctures, teas and smoke blends and I co-lead workshops in support of people remembering their dreamworlds! Many of you reading this are my friends, family, close loved ones, friends of friends and people new to my life, hello :)
My work explores my being from the Sea Islands of South Carolina and some of the profitable items that were grown there and the ways those harvests were profitable for the south while subjugating the Black people who harvested those materials. Materials like rice, indigo and the seafood industry. I also make work about portals, the dream world, ritual, spirituality, plants, the depths of coded knowledge, organ transformation and health and what portals are created through living the Black American Southern experience.
I have recently had a few exciting opportunities open up which are nurturing me deeper into my practice as an artist and what I share with the world. I just completed a really exciting and challenging artist experiment and incubator called Landing 3.0 with Miguel Guiterrez. Over a six month period of time, this year’s cohort met and shared aspects of our practice together, moved our bodies, met with guest artists and had important discussions around how systems present in the world that we live in shape our lives and practice. I am still processing how deeply I was impacted, but I currently feel very awake and excited about the work to be made and the people around me.
On June 11 I plan to travel to Europe for two reasons. One is to visit Berlin, Germany and teach herbs for dream interpretation workshops in communities of color and to meet and connect with African Diaspora artists in Berlin. After Berlin I will go to a yoga retreat in Italy, the first retreat/ extended moment in nature since my completion of my graduate school experience in 2017.
I was recently accepted to ACRE residency in Steuben, Wisconsin this summer ! ACRE residency is a two week residency in nature, this time will be critical to connecting to the earth in a quiet space, where at night I can look up at the expanse of the sky and during the day I can be surrounded by trees- allowing those communication to be infused and show up within my work! I really want to go!
I have been working hard and keeping up with my daily life and bills and about two weeks ago I was let go from my job via email. I was let go because my employer spoke to me disrespectfully and I told them how it made me feel and that it wasn’t okay to speak to me in that way. Several days after I spoke about my feelings, I woke up on the day of my next shift, to an email alerting me that I had been let go.
Although there are many exciting things on the horizon, like new collaborations and conversations with new friends and collaborators I met at Landing, ACRE this summer, and a job at a retreat center in New Mexico this summer, losing my job feels completely scary and destabilizing. It comes at a time where I know that the changes that are afoot are positive and needed for my growth, yet I feel disappointed because I was relying on my work income to bring some of these dreams into fruition.
I need help!
I want to drive to ACRE and to my new job in New Mexico and I am attempting to raise 5000 dollars to contribute to the following:
-ACRE residency cost: 700
-Food on the drive to ACRE : 100
-Gas and Food on the way to New Mexico to start next and new job: 500
-Car Costs: 2999
-Food Costs in Europe:800
-Remaining yoga retreat costs: 800
If you know anyone who has ideas about resources towards the things I am attempting to pay for or who would like to contribute please pass this along to them! I appreciate your energetic and financial support and your love and kindness.
THANK YOU
Charmaine
My work explores my being from the Sea Islands of South Carolina and some of the profitable items that were grown there and the ways those harvests were profitable for the south while subjugating the Black people who harvested those materials. Materials like rice, indigo and the seafood industry. I also make work about portals, the dream world, ritual, spirituality, plants, the depths of coded knowledge, organ transformation and health and what portals are created through living the Black American Southern experience.
I have recently had a few exciting opportunities open up which are nurturing me deeper into my practice as an artist and what I share with the world. I just completed a really exciting and challenging artist experiment and incubator called Landing 3.0 with Miguel Guiterrez. Over a six month period of time, this year’s cohort met and shared aspects of our practice together, moved our bodies, met with guest artists and had important discussions around how systems present in the world that we live in shape our lives and practice. I am still processing how deeply I was impacted, but I currently feel very awake and excited about the work to be made and the people around me.
On June 11 I plan to travel to Europe for two reasons. One is to visit Berlin, Germany and teach herbs for dream interpretation workshops in communities of color and to meet and connect with African Diaspora artists in Berlin. After Berlin I will go to a yoga retreat in Italy, the first retreat/ extended moment in nature since my completion of my graduate school experience in 2017.
I was recently accepted to ACRE residency in Steuben, Wisconsin this summer ! ACRE residency is a two week residency in nature, this time will be critical to connecting to the earth in a quiet space, where at night I can look up at the expanse of the sky and during the day I can be surrounded by trees- allowing those communication to be infused and show up within my work! I really want to go!
I have been working hard and keeping up with my daily life and bills and about two weeks ago I was let go from my job via email. I was let go because my employer spoke to me disrespectfully and I told them how it made me feel and that it wasn’t okay to speak to me in that way. Several days after I spoke about my feelings, I woke up on the day of my next shift, to an email alerting me that I had been let go.
Although there are many exciting things on the horizon, like new collaborations and conversations with new friends and collaborators I met at Landing, ACRE this summer, and a job at a retreat center in New Mexico this summer, losing my job feels completely scary and destabilizing. It comes at a time where I know that the changes that are afoot are positive and needed for my growth, yet I feel disappointed because I was relying on my work income to bring some of these dreams into fruition.
I need help!
I want to drive to ACRE and to my new job in New Mexico and I am attempting to raise 5000 dollars to contribute to the following:
-ACRE residency cost: 700
-Food on the drive to ACRE : 100
-Gas and Food on the way to New Mexico to start next and new job: 500
-Car Costs: 2999
-Food Costs in Europe:800
-Remaining yoga retreat costs: 800
If you know anyone who has ideas about resources towards the things I am attempting to pay for or who would like to contribute please pass this along to them! I appreciate your energetic and financial support and your love and kindness.
THANK YOU
Charmaine
Organizer
Charmaine Bee
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY