Nearly a dozen artists get involved in Social Distance Residency

In many ways, the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has been pretty typical for ceramic artist Andrew Long.

“It’s really easy to get stuck at home with my cat watching Netflix,” he admits.

But the State College of Florida Instructor and Ceramics Studio Manager was unsatisfied with spending lockdown without making art.

Taylor Robenalt, a sculptor and Ringling College of Art and Design Instructor, also struggled with canceled classes, workshops and art shows. The pair, who met through SCF teaching and local clay community events, decided to do something proactive with their creative energy.

In mid March, Long and Robenalt founded the Social Distance Residency and invited nine Florida ceramics artists to join: Seth Barendse, TJ Erdahl, Stephanie Stuefer, Tammy Marinuzzi, Morgan Janssen, Katie Fee, Matthew Schiemann, Christina Baril and Emmett Freeman. The group committed to weekly video chats in order to simulate the clay studio environment, fostering the opportunity for collaboration and soliciting feedback on works-in-progress. Robenalt and Long turned to their social and professional networks to assemble the group, which is roughly split between sculptural artists and potters who focus on functional ceramics.

“I don’t usually have a whole lot of time to do collaborative work because I’m constantly on deadline,” Robenalt said. “It’s really refreshing to have the opportunity to play and not be so committed to what I make.”

While Marinuzzi is based in Panama City, the rest of the artists are split between the Tampa Bay area and Sarasota, Venice and Bradenton. Although Sarasota is well-known for its arts community, it is not often recognized for ceramics talent, Long said.

He and Robenalt hope to shine a light on underrecognized local ceramic art by allowing members to personalize the stories behind their work through an Instagram page (@socialdistanceresidency). The residency artists do individual “takeovers” of the page, sharing personalized commentary about how they are making art and spending their time as the pandemic continues to impact daily life.

The weekly video calls also are structured by a “telephone”-style game of interactive art inspired by the surrealist technique known as “exquisite corpse.” Traditionally, this method involves artists taking turns drawing on designated folds of a single piece of paper without seeing the previous person’s creation.

For the Social Distance Residency, each member gets to see only one photo of what the artist before them created. They take turns reacting to each other’s pieces, which they then share with the broader group.

“It’s kind of like a crazy, mish-mash, funny, interactive piece,” Robenalt said.

For Long, this residency game illustrates the ceramics art and aesthetic philosophy theories he has been reading about during lockdown.

“Objects in a set can exist on their own for their intended purpose: a cup can be a cup whether it’s singular or with others, but sometimes a set finds its fullness in relation to others. I thought this was fascinating, the idea that things need to exist in a group to find completion,” he said.

As one of the functional artists, Long focuses on pottery that can be used in day to day life, such as coffee mugs. Both he and Robenalt spoke to the value of video calls as an intimate way of getting to know other artists during a difficult time, even as children, pets and significant others occasionally interrupt. Long appreciates the way this collaboration and the shared Instagram platform encourage a mode of authenticity among fellow artists.

“We wanted to be engaging and earnest with what we’re doing,” he said. “That’s part of the reason why we were so excited about this group and the people that we have. Their personalities and their work are very unique.”

Robenalt specializes in porcelain sculptures filled with symbolic figures of animals and faces that reference her personal life. Speaking about everything from her career goals to struggles with fertility, Robenalt was candid about the way her creativity offers her an outlet.

“When I was younger, I was terrified since, in the beginning, my work had a lot of me in it and I wasn’t capable of handling trying to describe it,” Robenalt said. “Over the years of listening to other artists bare all, it got much more comfortable for me because I saw the courage of other people.”

Robenalt and Long have grown accustomed to sharing their work and their techniques over years of instruction at SCF and Ringling, along with Suncoast Technical College and at various studio workshops.

Both anticipate an uncertain autumn with the possibilities of hybrid online and studio classes, socially-distanced smaller classrooms, and face covering requirements. Robenalt expressed some concerns about the safety challenges ahead but she misses the hands-on work of education.

“I still want to be out there doing stuff. That’s been the biggest bummer for me. I’m a really social creature, I like teaching and seeing my students,” she said.

After months of campus closure, Long finally returned in late May to SCF, which he said reminded him of a “zombie apocalypse” as he accounted for the half-finished works that were abandoned after lockdown.

In early July, the Social Distance Residency put their months-long goal of holding a fundraiser into effect when they held a raffle. The $435 they raised went to the Clay Siblings Project, a non-profit ceramics group committed to bringing clay opportunities to underserved communities and fostering inclusivity within and beyond the art world.

Just as the future of COVID-19 effects remain unclear, the future of the Social Distance Residency is not yet set in stone. While, at the very least, they expect to continue through August with their “exquisite corpse” game, the collective could evolve and continue for longer, Robenalt and Long said.

The group has already lined up future shows with SCF and Ringling. In the meantime, Long and Robenalt are reflecting on how this virtual community has nurtured their creativity during a challenging time.

“Art is about solutions, finding new ways of handling things, whether that be fear or negative emotions that are easy to get bogged down with. I try to be as positive as I can,” Long said.