top of page
CAROL RASHAWNNA WILLIAMS
RESIDENCIES
The Segura River
Blanca Spain, 2019 AADK Artist in Residency
In 2019 Carol was accepted to artist residency in Blanca Spain, to create a large scale community engagement installation, focus on the effects of climate change on the Segura river.
Over a 3 month period Carol interviewed families, university professors, youth & young adults, elders and invidividuals with english as a second language, to gain perspectives on thier viewpoints of climate change over vast distances of time, based on personal stories, environmental reearch in the area, and land development.
This 3 month journey took Carol to 3 seperate villiages seperated by 30 min each. The first villiage closet to the mouth of the dam with the last villiage closest to sea. Carol walked villiages, gathering personal stories of the river being contained over time, by one elder who grew up playing in clean untamed river waters, that ran through his town to being currently 80 years old, and watching over the decades the river be slowly redirected, contained by cement with no outlets to clean itself, leaving a stench in the air and accents of green color. Carol learned about the vast amounts of invasive reeds, so large that they appeared to be massive islands chocking up the center of portions of the river. With minimal resources, these islands were so large that there was no way to get to the center of them to cut them down. The effect of these invasive reed forests, made imapcts on the bird populations. Changing the air quality and with global warming the two have forced populations of sparrows to stop migrating south, engourging themselves on the bug populations causing shifts in physical structural ground foundations.
Through this residency Carol witnessed the impacts of pollution on the Segura river due to non education of waste management, even though each villaige contained large recipticals for recycling and garbage. Carol witnessed 5 gallon plastice bottles floating in the river as a normal event.
Over 3 months she prepped pieces of watercolor paper, that would be attached to appear to feel and look like a river, as people walked through it. Carol conducted 3 workshops and mentored 3 teens as her artist assistants to prep and design the large scale installations. These 3 youth were intrical to the process of gathering stories, as they spoke the local language. Carol assigned these young people to take these prepped papers, and go interview family members, neighbors and friends, to get thier personal stories regarding what they had witnessed in regards to climate change and the Segura river over thier lifetimes. These stories were captured on papers connected to each other and hung from the cieling. In the workshops participants were taught the art of mono-print as they used these papers to draw, write and express their stories of drastic climate change in thier neighborhoods.
The culmination of these stories were displayed in an exhibition and all who participated were invited to bring thier friends and families. The room buzzed with stories as people showed thier artwork to their friend and explained why they wanted to capture that story within Carol's large scale installation.
Please, find above the video of this event.
The Jefferson Transfer Station
Port Townsend, Washington 2022 Artist in Residency
In 2022, Carol was accepted as the first artist in residence at the Jefferson Transfer Station, where the community of Port Townsend would dump thier trash, recylce cardbord, plastics and electronics.
It was a fascinating experience as Carol was told she could take anything from the dump to create a an outdoor public art sculpture, made of all upcycled materials.
Carol spent 3 months gathering and building. After interviewing all the staff, they were assigned to also, save things from the dump, that appealed to them and that whatever they saved Carol would incorporate into the design.
Carol completed research on the surrounding land and indigenous population and found the story of the draggon who saved humans from climate devastation. Carol incorportated this story into her design and decided to build a climate steward occampanied by the dragon. The sculpture was built out of cement, foam, and wire.
Vashon Island Artist in Residence
Vashon Island, Washington 2022 Artist in Residency
In 2022, Carol was accepted to the Vashon Artist in Residence where she spent 1 month studing the tides, exploring the region and participating in critiques sessions with 3 other residents. Carol explored new techniques completed numorous paintings, but the best part of the residency was experiencing the house. On the water Carol could walk out onto porch and literally sit on the water. The other amazing portion was all of the artwork. Everywhere in the house there hung paintings of regional artists Carol has exhibitied, been metored by, and just plane admires all over the estate. The Vashon Artist Residency space offers an amzaing visual history of regional artists that and artist can deeply appreciate. The staff were so kind and thoughtful and would most for sure apply again.
Centrum Artist in Residence
Port Townsend, Washington 2022 Artist in Residency
In 2022, Carol spent 1 month in art residency at Centrum Arts. This was such an amazing experience as it is sometimes difficult to find residences where the work space is large, and when you are an artist that paints large, this is most definetly a perk you can appreciate. Bright airy and contemporary, Carol started 5 large scale mono-prints ranging in size from 5'x5' to 20'x9'. Being able to leave your work in the space was awesome and I especially enjoyed having a single apartment for my stay as the time I went there weren't many artists staying in resident there. Highly recommend Centrum if you paint large or space is apart of your practice.
Dr James & Jannie Washington Residency
Seattle, Washington 2020 Artist in Residency
In 2020, Carol spent 3 months in art residency at the main art studio of Dr James Washington, the African American Sculptor. This was an amazing experience as I got to be engulfed in artist history from the perspective of black art. The staff were amazing, and participating with other artists via online format due to the pandemic was a new experience for me in creating artwork virtually or designing in a virtual space. The best part of this residency was being able to touch, read, sit in, and be with all the tools, items, and spaces that Dr James Washington used. I felt very honored as an African American artist to be accepted to this residency.
bottom of page