Willowtail Springs Nature Preserve and Education Center

Spring Break Special!Book with us anytime in the month of March at 33% off! Promo Code: SPRING

Integrating the Arts and Natural Sciences

Author: Peggy Cloy

Willowtail to participate in SWCO Gives Day

• By • Posted in Uncategorized • Comments Off on Willowtail to participate in SWCO Gives Day

Southwest Colorado Gives is a collaborative effort spearheaded by the Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado to inspire generosity in our five county community and increase online giving for local participating nonprofits.

Willowtail Springs Nature Preserve and Education Center offers time and space for practitioners in the arts and ecology. Residents contemplate and develop their projects influenced by the preserve’s essence. Deeper works are aided by unexpected directions of thought and process. The community benefits from the Residents sharing their work and process through performances, workshops, exhibits, presentations and lectures. We are pleased to have recently launched a program for students from local area schools to experience an artist residency.

Complete the checkout process now to have your one time OR recurring donation applied on
December 7, 2021 (Colorado Gives Day).

Thank you for being part of the Colorado Gives Day movement and your ongoing support of Willowtail programs!

Desiree Henderson

• By • Posted in Residents • Comments Off on Desiree Henderson

Theatre Director, Actor, Writer, and Photographer
2021 Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation Scholarship

Desiree Henderson began performing as a dancer at age 3.  She studied ballet and lyric dance for 12 years and then shifted focus to directing and writing and performing for the theatre. She has focused on creating work in many different processes, whether it be script-based or starting from a movement or choreography idea, or a visual image.  She often incorporates photography, illustration, or video in her performances.  She has written and directed productions, as well as designed set and video projections for numerous projects, primarily in Santa Fe and southwest Colorado.  

She is currently creating a musical performance with jazz musician and composer Delbert Anderson and continuing studies in filmmaking and directing.

From the photographic series “Window Story”
Back to Artist Residency

Barbara Grist

• By • Posted in Residents • Comments Off on Barbara Grist

Barbara Grist
Photographer
Self Funded Residencies

“The experience of being at Willowtail  is not easy to put into words, it is something you need to feel. My month-long artist residency at Willowtail is just what I needed to feed my artistic soul. Time to be awakened each morning by the light coming into my bedroom window and then have the time to watch it’s rays fall on objects in it’s path until dark. My senses had time to open up and soak in all the variety of things that create an experience. Willowtail Springs is a perfect place to let the muse back into an artist’s life in a peaceful, beautiful and comfortable setting.”

Barbara Grist Contact Info

https://www.barbaragristphotography.com

Back to Artist Residency

Margy Dudley

• By • Posted in Residents • Comments Off on Margy Dudley

Margy Dudley
Photographer
2012, 2016 Self Funded Residencies

“This is a place that is timeless. The only voice you hear is the stillness and quiet, the present. Inspired by the wilderness and the creatures that inhabit it, the sounds of the breeze and the view of the setting sun. In nature we gain deeper understanding of ourselves and our place on this earth. This knowing comes from the land, is apparent to almost anyone who arrives. It’s immediate and almost magical. Only poetry can best describe what is felt in this place. To some it may feel sacred, to others it’s a connection lost. There is a growing list of retreats and residencies available in this graceful setting”

During her time at Willowtail Margy wrote, photographed and later produced a hard copy book, “A Willowtail Year” with her gorgeous photos of Willowtail and some of Peggy’s poems which reflect the land and place of Willowtail.

Margy Dudley Contact Info

http://www.margydudleyphotos.com

Back to Artist Residency

Eirene Hamilton

• By • Posted in Residents • Comments Off on Eirene Hamilton

Eirene Hamilton

Writer/Ethnobotanist/Educator
2021 Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation Scholarship

Eirene Hamilton from Bluff, Utah had a one-week long residency at Willowtail.  She is a writer, ethnobotanist, environmental activist and language educator. During her stay, she read several poems for the staff and visiting guests. Her performance was very moving, thought provoking and beautiful. Some of the gathering felt it a powerful call to action coming from a very deep and legitimate place of anguish for her people.

Back to Artist Residency

Maureen May

• By • Posted in Residents • Comments Off on Maureen May

Visual and Performance Artist Maureen May

Durango visual and performance artist Maureen May completed her extremely productive one-week residency.  Her printing focused on 2020 issues from “2020 Vision” to “Murder Hornet a.k.a. Super Spreader”, animations, and more.

My Willowtail experience was exceptional. I was in charge of how I use my time in any way, whether it was actually creating, ruminating on ideas or hanging out in nature.
Willowtail allowed me to focus on my work with very little distraction or restriction.

It was wonderful to concentrate on one aspect of my work, which is political. Although I do not solely create political pieces, it is currently a very important part of my internal and external life and place in these most odd and challenging times.

Willowtail holds the space for its residents with its peacefulness and inspiration. It also offers the immense gift of time to devote to creative work more fully.
I would love to have another longer residency of at least two weeks to develop and advance another exploration at Willowtail.

Maureen May Contact Info

http://www.maureenmayart.com/

Back to Artist Residency

Sonja Horoshko & Renee Podunovich

• By • Posted in Residents • Comments Off on Sonja Horoshko & Renee Podunovich

Visual Artist Sonja Horoshko & Poet Renee Podunovich Collaborative Residencies

“Unlike other residencies, Willowtail is not about a place-name recognition, or personal Cloy résumé. It is about sharing the aesthetically abundant and rich life of Peggy and Lee.They generously hold the deep, vast, warm and wide open space and time for those most fortunate to work within their land and life-setting. Thank you so very much for this gift.

My own work needed a private boost of professionalism in a trusted space where I didn’t have to explain and justify, over and over again, the worth of my work.

Willowtail Springs, the place, was patient with us. Its beauty and strength lingered beside us, just beyond our peripheral vision, just beyond our tasks-at-hand.  The studio environment swelled the impact of the generosity we received.  We were struck by the gentility of the internal heart-value which was organized around our work for us. Thank you for that, as well.”

Visual Artist Sonja Horoshko

Poet Renee Podunovich

Kira Taylor

• By • Posted in Uncategorized • Comments Off on Kira Taylor

Kira Taylor
Poet
2019 Willowtail Scholarship

She wrote a piece which was inspired by the Lee’s nature walk while her residency. She writes ecology nature inspired poem.

 

Back to Art Residency

Lisa C Taylor

• By • Posted in Residents • Comments Off on Lisa C Taylor

Lisa C Taylor
Short Story Writer
2019 Willowtail Scholarship

“I was lucky enough to be offered an artist residency at Willowtail Springs Bungalow for this gorgeous week in June. I’m currently working on a proposal for a novel and short stories. My daughter (a poet) shared the space with me.
Willowtail Springs is in a unique setting. There are views of the mountains and a pond where you can see (and hear) coots, and a variety of birds. I’ve been to other residencies but never one in the mountains. The cool mountain air and the abundance of wildlife was unique. I really appreciated the nature walk we did with Lee, availing ourselves of his vast knowledge of the flora and fauna in Willowtail.”

Back to Artist Residency

Leslie Lloyd

• By • Posted in Residents • Comments Off on Leslie Lloyd

Leslie Lloyd
Painter
2019 Residency

“Willowtail is a special and important place for many reasons. Not only does the environment sustain the artist’s soul, the physical place is conducive to deep relaxation and the feeling of being able to “spread out” psychologically. There is a sense of privacy and respect at Willowtail, which is so important in nurturing the creative process of an artist”

 

Leslie Lloyd Contact Info

https://www.leslielloydart.com/

Back to Artist Residency