Ben Cowan: “P&L is such a special and unique place precisely because family is welcome.”
My first day at Parts and Labor was actually my 40th birthday. It felt like a perfect milestone. I had just come from a show opening at Main Projects in Richmond VA the day before and I was about to spend a few weeks with my family and paint. I was joined at the residency by my wife and son, and staying nearby, extended family that live in the Texas and Louisiana area came as well. My idea of a good time is getting to travel, do some exploring, and having time to paint during the downtimes.
I’m relatively new to doing residencies. Our son was born in my second year of grad school—14ish years ago—and we moved to NYC when he was two. The idea of spending weeks away from my family and work seemed impossible. Now that our son is older and life and finances are a bit more stable, I’ve started to dip my toes into the residency experience. While a separation of space and time from the family can be special, I loved the idea of having them join me. Parts and Labor is such a special and unique place precisely because family is welcome. I only wish it had existed earlier in my career!
I had planned a few projects to work on during my time that were all fairly portable since I wanted it to transport in a suitcase. At a previous residency I really structured my time and tried to be as productive as possible. At Parts and Labor, I was coming off an intense push to finish work for a show, and I wanted to use the time to do low pressure paintings and explore some ideas.
One of the highlights of my time with Parts and Labor, besides sitting on the porch watching birds, was plein air painting at all five of the missions. I only learned about this network of old Spanish churches while researching places before my arrival. I was pleasantly surprised by the eclectic architecture of San Antonio and found the Spanish and American history to be so engaging. I think this is also the first time I’ve ever painted palm trees!
Meaghan, Liz, and Matt, were all so welcoming and generously introduced me to many of their friends during the various events and dinner parties. It was cathartic and encouraging to chat with so many people with similar interests, backgrounds, and families, sort of living in a parallel universe (Texas) from my own in NYC. Not only did I make some new work while spending quality time with my family away from the daily life hustle, but I think I made some long distance lifelong friends as well.
