Support Anji's Arquetopia Pottery Residency

Dear friends, family, and kind strangers.

I have recently been granted an amazing opportunity to join the Arquetopia Artist Residency in Puebla, Mexico for pottery.

About Arquetopia:

“Arquetopia Foundation is an internationally established, nonprofit arts and cultural foundation with a social scope that emphasizes critical thinking through artistic practices. Our Artist-in-Residence Programs are the largest and most reputable in Mexico and Latin America, with an array of contents anchored in a solid structure of collaborations with prominent cultural institutions, renowned experts, and notable artists.”

Arquetopia Website

I believe the mission of Arquetopia is to promote sustainable development through various programs, including artistic and cultural ones. Furthermore, promoting a sense of community and collaboration between like-minded individuals who care about social and ecological awareness is an important principle of the organization. Through such work, more individuals can see the importance of sustainable development hand-in-hand with cultural preservation.

Only 23% of applicants are accepted on an annual basis and I am beyond honored to have been accepted for the 6-week residency in October 2022. This is a very unique opportunity for me and since I was accepted, I was committed to raising the necessary funds to make it happen.

What I will receive during the residency:

Accommodation, meals, research assistance, guidance, and critique from professionals, and all the materials needed for creating my pottery project. Most importantly I will have a supportive, fully-immersive space to create, explore, and connect with other artists from across the world working in various fields.

My proposed project:

I wish to explore local pottery materials and techniques. I am deeply inspired by nature, so I plan to incorporate local plants, in their various forms, into my work.

When I first came to Mexico and started exploring pottery in Quintana Roo I realized that the techniques are quite different from the pottery I was used to elsewhere in the world. Local potters prioritized using all-natural tools and ingredients, whether from necessity or ecological awareness. While the creation processes multiplied in time, the work was so much more rewarding. This greatly inspired me and I intend to continue using sustainable practices in my pottery, as much as I can.

While at Arquetopia, I wish to create pottery work that captures the essence of being in the moment. I realize that this is something we all think about to a certain extent, daily. However, how can we merge being in the moment with our roots? Furthermore, with care towards the future and the health of the Earth and all its inhabitants. Ultimately, it is all in this moment and this is what I wish to capture through pottery, which is something so ancient and at the same time so fragile.

As a theme, it’s very important for me to gain inspiration from the environment that I’m in, the local culture, the animals, the plants, the architecture. I would love to incorporate bits and pieces of it into my work. Being trained primarily in Japanese ceramics, I hold these beginnings with me everywhere I go and would like that to also reflect in my final outcome. Finally, I hope that people who look at my work will gain a sense of ease, peace, safety, and grounding — feeling the moment throughout, like in meditation.

I have not yet taken part in any artist residencies and I realize that being in the moment in a totally new experience might mean that I will follow certain impulses and the flow of my project will change. Yet, I wish to always keep the above-listed principles with me.

More about me:

Why hello there! I go by Angie, Angelina, Alya. A world citizen from Ukraine. I started my journey as a potter in 2013 while studying in Osaka, Japan. I have always been into various forms of art, but pottery was a first for me and from then on I knew this is what I should continue to explore more deeply. It has been my form of expression and meditation simultaneously. I have continued to explore it while living in USA, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Mexico.

However, as some may know my journey as a potter hasn’t always been so straightforward. Starting from the prices of pottery materials and continuing with the time it takes to create a finished piece, plus finding a space to do it…It is not only challenging but often too limiting. I have been on and off with it throughout the years.

I believe that this residency will provide me with the perfect environment to cultivate my creativity in a supportive space, making beautiful connections, and being able to continue my practice after the residency.

Asking for funding comes at a difficult time for me, considering the ongoing war in Ukraine. I am constantly questioning all I choose to invest time, money, and intentions into. However, perhaps now more than ever I am finding and feeling the need to keep creating and living true to my path. Hopefully, this war will end before we know it and I can set up a studio space in Ukraine, which has always been a little dream of mine, introducing more people to this mediative practice.

The fee:

My goal is to raise $2677 USD by Tuesday, July 26th, 2022. This amount is the remainder of the residency fee which is due by that date. I have already paid my initial deposit of $893. I have set the goal a little higher to account for the fees charged by the platform. If I am able to surpass my goal, all the extra funds will go towards travel expenses to the residency, fees for purchasing extra needed materials, and some daily living fees as I will not be working during the time of the residency.

Some final words:

I greatly appreciate each and every one of you and even the smallest sums contribute to the greater whole which will surely help me out in the long run. To continue my creative practice which I can see positively influences even people around me, which keeps me in tune with my path.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you feel like contributing in other ways, or if you have any questions, and please feel free to share this campaign.

Peace and Love

Angie

My work