After a residency in Arles France, it might seem an odd choice to complete one in Roger’s Cove, New World Island, Newfoundland. They would appear on the surface to be at opposite ends of the spectrum: Arles is rich with a long history and representative cultural artifacts, Newfoundland has relatively few; Arles, and France in general, are relatively speaking heavily attended by tourists, while where we were, much less so; and certainly our accommodations in a 17th century mansion vs. an off-grid cabin in Roger’s Cove were in contrast.
As these residencies are my means of “data gathering” and learning, I could proceed by visiting locations and look for commonalities, or I could look for differences and learn from those. My thought was the latter approach was better suited to my needs and took into consideration my previous travel experience (meaning through my previous experience I already have a sense of the commonalities).
My first step, therefore, was to “gather the data” and now the next step is to make sense of it, in part through contrasting it with what I saw in Arles. Yet, I’m sure some commonalities will enter the fray.
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