PURPOSE
This residency provides spaciousness to explore your creative practice, spend time in nature and rest well by the ocean. Grounded in the plant realm, you will receive one prompt a day that inspires a simple anchoring practice to help you build or expand upon the ways in which you balance work and restoration. This could be a time for you to work on projects that tend to be put on the back burner, a time to become a co-collaborator with Earth, a time to invite rituals of deep beauty into your life. We invite plant-people, artists, poets, researchers, makers, writers, witches and anyone in between to apply. There will be fog, there will be apples, there will be tea, there will be seaweed, there will be flowers.
Please note that this is a self-directed residency and not a mentorship or educational program.
This residency is named after Mary Chase, who came to this very shore for many years to weave at her loom.
LOCATION
This is a rural residency. The house is 3.5 hours (180 miles) north of Portland, in a small fishing village in Gouldsboro of downeast Maine (Passamaquoddy lands). The residency is on the ocean, right next to an active navy lighthouse. You are surrounded by trees, blueberry fields and open blue waters. This is a uniquely beautiful place that is a bit of a trek to get to, but it is absolutely worth it! The residency is a 15 minute drive from a market and 30 minutes to a bigger town with all amenities and resources. There are some nearby restaurants. The house is a 10 minute drive to the Schoodic Peninsula, which is a part of Acadia National Park but on the mainland and *much* less frequented by the public. A true secret gem in Maine. You can take a ferry over to Bar Harbor to visit Acadia National Park if you wish! Depending on the season, there are many medicinal plants all around. Liz has been lucky to spend deep time here every year for over 35 years -- you will also receive a list of great hikes, beaches, shops, resturants, land preserves, farms, bogs, wild apple trees, lakes, beloved spots, etc in the area.
You are expected to do your own food shopping and have your own car for getting around. Liz is unable to provide transportation. The closest airport is in Bangor, ME (1+ hour away).
FACILITY
You will be staying in a beautiful structure called The Motel, complete with your own equipped kitchen, bathroom and bedroom with a queen size bed. There is a living space with a worktable, loveseat and views to the active fishing harbor. There is wifi in The Motel, but please note that it is not always high-speed. We certainly encourage as much un-plugging as possible! The Motel has a small porch where you can enjoy morning coffee and meals. Or keep the doors open to let in the sea breeze. The Motel will have some basic pantry goods and a small selection of medicinal teas, tinctures and flower essences for your use. Laundry is available on site & bedding and towels will be provided.
This space is not wheelchair accessible. No pets, no smoking. This residency is for one artist at a time.
Please note that being next to the ocean often means unexpected fog, rain and wind. The nights can get chilly. We recommend bringing warm layers and a raincoat. It can’t hurt to have good hiking shoes.
The residency space is separate from where Liz will be staying, but the houses are close and connected by a short walkway. Liz will be in her own space (sometimes with visitors, sometimes alone) working on her own projects. Liz is here to be a support to you, but she will not always be available for socializing. Please remember that your time is yours and we will provide you with as much information as you need for you to navigate your days here on the Maine coast.
LOGISTICS
Length of stay: 10 days
Cost: $1,050
When you arrive you have the option of having a one-on-one flower essence consultation with Liz to set your intentions and will receive a custom formula to work with throughout your time at the residency. This consultation is included in the residency price.
2025 RESIDENCY DATES
1: June 23 - July 2
2: July 29 - August 7
3: September 3 - September 12
* one resident will be selected for each session
Applications are now closed!
YOUR HOST
Liz Migliorelli is an herbalist who has been spending time at her family home on one rocky cove in downeast Maine every summer since she was in the womb. It is where she fell in love with Birches and Roses. She will be quietly working on writing projects, medicine making and gazing at the ocean while she hosts the residency.
This place is her favorite place.
Special thanks to Cody Cook-Parrott who helped plant the seeds of the first residency Liz hosted in Mendocino, CA called You Yourself Know, which this residency is modeled after.
This place is her favorite place.
Special thanks to Cody Cook-Parrott who helped plant the seeds of the first residency Liz hosted in Mendocino, CA called You Yourself Know, which this residency is modeled after.
PREVIOUS RESIDENTS:
“My experience at the residency was incredible and restorative. It left me buzzing with inspiration and ideas. The opportunity to be alone and quiet with my thoughts was something I needed more than I knew. After arriving with a mixture of excitement and some nervousness, I was enamored by the raw beauty of Maine as soon as I left the airport. The location of the Mary Chase residency is like a seaside folk tale. The apples studding countless trees, waking up to the soft lull of the fog horn and the tinkling of fishermen’s boats early in the morning live on in my memory like a dream. I watched the leaves on the deciduous trees changed from deep gold to rich carmine by the end of my stay. Liz set the stage thoughtfully with a list of prompts and encouragement to ground down, get quiet, and sit with what was already there. Being surrounded in this magical and wild environment filled me with new imagery and enchantment that still inspires my artwork almost two years later. We shared laughs and we shared a lot of oysters. Thank you, Liz!” - Charlotte Beavers, September 2023
“My time in Maine offered much-needed, healing space away from my daily routines to reflect and reconnect with myself. Liz created a warm, welcoming, and supportive environment for me to explore and connect with the surrounding landscape and myself. I slept, devoured poetry and pots of tea, visited local farms and artists, cooked nutritious meals, wrote pages in my journal, walked in the forest and along the coast, detoxed from digital media, made art, researched Maine's history, and sat in conversation with the sea. I befriended white birch, woodpecker, seaweed, apple, aster, rugosa, rabbit, hurricane, and lighthouse. This time away helped me reveal the big questions swirling just below the surface and provided a much needed reset and recommitment to my creative practice. I will hold the inspiration from this experience in my heart forever and remember this line from Jane Hirshfield "only when I am quiet for a longtime and do not speak..." does everything feel possible again.” - Gretchen Hilyard Boyce, September 2023 - photos below provided by Gretchen
