This is not a Gofundme ask. Kista Cook started the relief effort when I was busy bailing water and loosing my mind. I have not looked at this video in 5 years. I didn’t want to look. It’s just to remind me of what can happen and the people I love in my life.
I have rebuilt. IAM Residency is still floating. Always grateful for those who stepped in to rescue me and those who still lift me up today. We have wonderful friends and a full plate.
Excerpt from an article by Patrick Fischer from Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville when I first began hosting artist workshops at IAM Residency in 2017, also the year of the flood.
“In 2014, production artist and designer Brett Waller bought a quaint mid century modern house on the banks of the Ribault River in Northwest Jacksonville. It was Waller’s vision to renovate the once foreclosed home and launch an interdisciplinary arts and music residency program along Florida’s First Coast. The intensive residency program would train students of all ages in traditional and manual art forms. The curriculum would be led by internationally recognized artists who would teach and expose the community to traditional methods and techniques in art and music. It was Waller’s mission to preserve and extend historic knowledge and social practice through tactile experience, outside of academia. The house, located at 2709 Ribault Scenic Drive, would include housing, studio, and workshop space for artists interested in pursuing an independent pedagogical study towards personal development. With his goal in mind, Waller spent three years working on the house, which was in terrible disrepair when he purchased it.” –Patrick Fisher, Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville
