Meg Lipke fell in love with San Antonio during her residency at P&L…

My time at Parts and Labor was a gift to my practice, myself and my family.  I came from upstate NY with my 13 yr old daughter. She attended school online while I worked in the studio making drawings. We enjoyed biking ,  exploring and hanging out together. We went to museums and missions, out to dinner and on road trip adventures. 

I brought work on paper and sketchbooks and set up in the shed studio. I would say I worked half of the time in the shed and half of the time on the table in the living room, which was very cozy.  

One of the surprises of my stay was how much I fell in love with San Antonio and the people who are coming together around this residency and its programming.  I found that there was a laid-back curiosity and deep interest in listening to each other, and I felt revived by that mutual respect and attention.  It felt great for my daughter to experience that too.

Another surprise was how much the residency affected my work.  When you're an artist AND a parent, you fit your work in where you can, and grind hard when you're in the studio.  I found that when I was at P & L I spent more time thinking about my work and considering it, than I had in ages. This led to a kind of breakthrough for me in terms of a direction I am pursuing for my next show.