Working From Home in a Home Being Renovated During the Covid-19 Quarantine – 1814 Residency Part II

Another image from the 1814 Residency! Click here to see the first, where I talk about what this residency is. Here’s a hint – it involves a quarantine.  I’d highly recommend it.

The short version, for those that have baking bread to get back to – my girlfriend and I bought a house four weeks before the world ended and toilet paper became currency.  It’s a fixer-upper, which is what we wanted.  However, we didn’t adjust our renovation schedule at all, so it’s also a rather uncomfortable construction zone. I certainly didn’t anticipate having to immediately shelter in place here for a weeks long quarantine.

I am managing both my commercial photography studio and my fine arts practice from here. While my commercial studio is definitely getting it’s fair share of attention right now, I’ve also decided to devote real time to my artwork as well.  I’m calling it the 1814 Residency (our street address).  It’s very prestigious.  There has only ever been one awardee.

Some of this will involve revisiting and sitting with prior work. Some involves starting new alternative process projects that I have wanted to do for a very long time. And some, like this photo, involve working with certain lighting techniques that I haven’t worked with in a while. I used light painting here, which is something I have used quite a bit in the past.

What has happened in the last week – I recently received some darkroom equipment I ordered through PhotoThrift, a photographic thrift store run by the Vermont Center for Photography.  The VCP is an arts non-profit in Brattleboro, Vermont. I have a project I’ve wanted to start for years, and this equipment will help me start it.

Stay tuned for more work from the residency!  And if you’re interested in watching two people learn-by-doing through a renovation of a small South Philadelphia row home (mixed in with real work, iPhone shots, and the occasional #windowcat), please follow me on Instagram!

-Matt