Book celebrates 20th year of Montalvo’s artist residency

Saratoga’s Montalvo Arts Center published a book this summer celebrating the Lucas Artists Residency Program’s 20th anniversary.

Titled “Hello, Goodbye, Hello,” the book explores the role that the program has played in the “work and thinking” of the artists who have resided here. The program, named for philanthropists Sally and Don Lucas, provides a supportive space for artists to do their work and engage in the creative process, according to its website.

The book “represents an important contribution to emerging discourse about the role of artist residency programs in our cultural life and examines how residency spaces can be catalysts for change now and into the future,” Montalvo’s website reads.

More than 80 artists each year are invited to be part of the residency program through a competitive nomination process, and these artists come from around the world to participate.

Montalvo held an event in May to unveil the book and celebrate the program’s 20th anniversary, complete with art, performances, readings and more.

Executive director Angela McConnell said the book includes reflections from more than 30 individuals on how the residency program has supported their work and creative process.

“Through this book, we explore the unique relationships that residency spaces generate between artists and place, as well as the challenges of creating a hospitable place for artists,” McConnell said in an email. “We consider where the next 20 years and beyond will take the program, and how residencies can be a catalyst for change.”