Olivia Joy St. Claire

Recently, I interviewed Olivia Joy St. Claire, artist in residence for April 2020, while we are all under the circumstances of our shelter-in-place response to COVID-19.

Joy will be offering a Zoom workshop on April 25 – Mobile Photography, during which she will teach us all how to take stunning photographs with our iPhones.    Click to learn more and to register, space is limited. 

I have admired Joy’s deep knowledge and involvement with nature for a long time, and I wanted to talk with her about that, as well as ask her about her stay here as artist-in residence at 26 Split Rock Cove.  Here are Joy’s words:

I think I go through forests and fields not seeing, but being part of. I don’t feel as if I’m an observer as much as a participant, that I am part of it.  And that came from my Grandpa.

When I was little, he would have me sit on a log, and I would say, ‘Where are all the animals?’ and he would say, ‘You have to just be.’  So he taught me.

I don’t photograph a tree, I feel like I am that tree.  I don’t photograph that beach, I am that beach, with the sound of the waves, and just all the nuances of light, and not an observer.  I feel that I’m part of it all.  I’m completely immersed and enmeshed in it. It’s my way of prayer, I think.  When I walk in this world it’s just such a deep connection with it and a reverence for it.

I feel an amazing energy here at 26 Split Rock Cove, not just outdoors, but within this space, and I feel very inspired here.  I love the light in the apartment, which is why I put my chair by the window to absorb the light and the scenery.  I like the artist interaction just for the inspiration, and seeing what other artists do, which is very different.

Having a space to explore new things, and just do the things I have been doing but to have an actual space to do it, which for me I’ve not had, is a gift that I’m so thankful for.  To have an actual space to spread out and drip paint, and mix up new things, and to leave it lying out and come back to the next morning and to get inspired all over again, that many other people might take for granted – to have that space since I haven’t, I feel like I’ve won the lottery. I’m so thankful.

Going down to the beach in the morning or the evening and just reflecting on my day or reflecting on the beauty of nature being very mindful of the beginning of the day and the end of the day and what a gift that is, that is part of this experience that I treasure and love.

I would say (to other artists) give this to yourself as an opportunity for a full retreat and haven, from the rest of the world, from fast paced things and come and sit with yourself in the world and find your voice, find the artistic curiosity, and find this as a place to explore it.