Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Silence Awareness Existence program / FEBRUARY 2023
Julienne van Loon
Australia
www.juliennevanloon.com.au
About
My most recent book is The Thinking Woman. Published into
the US, UK, Australia/New Zealand and Korean markets, it
profiles the work of six leading women thinkers on topics
relevant to everyday life: work, play, love, fear, friendship,
and wonder. I'm also the author of three novels, including
Road Story, which won The Australian/Vogel’s Award for an
Australian writer under 35 years of age and was shortlisted
for the Commonwealth First Book Prize. A recipient of
fellowships and residencies with Asialink through the
Australia-China Council, Bundanon, Varuna, Redgate Gallery
(China), Banff Centre (Canada) and the International Writing
Program at the University of Iowa (US), I live and work in
Melbourne, also known as Naarm, Australia, where I teach
in the creative writing program at RMIT University. During
my residency at Arteles, I will be working on a developing
non-fiction project exploring feminist literary practice as
method, as well as the first draft of a new novel on the theme
of dwelling justice.
Silence. Practise. Comradery.
The combination of regular group meditation, the quiet of
deep winter in a beautiful landscape, and the goodwill and
generosity of the resident artist community at Arteles made
for a generative and productive month-long stay. My practise
really flourished. I came away nourished, better read and
with substantial progress made on key projects.
The little drawing model (pictured), purchased along with
some charcoal pencils in nearby Hämeenkyrö, took a new
form each week, according to how I was feeling in relation
to my practise. Here, the model walks a tightrope, balancing
disappointment and excitement, as I read, edit and notate a
long-form work-in-progress.
During my stay, I was inspired by Sophie Howarth's book The
Mindful Photographer (Thames & Hudson, 2022). Two quotes
stood out:
""Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity""
(Simone Weil). I wanted to pay attention to both artistic and
spiritual (Buddhist) practise while on retreat at Arteles. I
came to understand that the integrity of such attention can
be a form of generosity, both to oneself and to others.
I also contemplated confidence in one's practise. Howarth
quotes from John Daido Loori: ""When you learn to trust
yourself implicitly, you no longer need to prove something
through your art. You simply allow it to come out, to be as it
is. This is when creating art becomes effortless. It happens
just as you grow your hair. It grows."" I was privileged to
catch a rare glimpse of such trust, on occasion, during my
residency.