My husband and I moved from Chicago to a suburb of Detroit October 1, 2012. I immediately became pregnant and for almost two years bitched and moaned, got fat, gave birth and have since been raising an adorable baby with loads of hair. No I did not have heartburn. It's a myth. all this to say that as an artist, I started to go crazy since I hadn't been producing work. Finally once my son, husband and I got things (life) moving smoothly, I grew a severe itch to work. Through Artslant.com I noticed a call for submissions for their Georgia Fee artist residency, a two-month stay in Paris. So I applied.
Objectively, this was a crazy idea. To travel independently with a toddler to Europe with no help (outside of strangers) would have been a tall task for an easily depressed, semi-erratic and overwhelmingly emotional soul (me) to endure. But in the past I had backpacked through Europe by myself for four months, only staying at two hostels and sleeping every other night on someone's couch (through couchsurfing.com). I thought: so I'll have a toddler…no biggie. We wouldn't sleep on couches and we'd have one place to travel to and from: an apartment in Paris. Ok.
The Wheel of Fortune rejected me. I prayed for this rejection. My imagination couldn't get past the plane ride. Let alone to studying French. But I was working! I applied to something. I drew! I wrote! I began my productivity. And for this, I am beyond thankful. In the grand scheme of things: I had won. Won myself a ticket to sanity.
Below is my submission to the Georgia Fee Residency in Paris. Thanks for reading.
-F.R.G.
