Art Therapy Lab International Residency

Studija Space | Kuldīga, Latvia

Designed to to explore concepts of “nature” and how contemporary art positively impacts our mental and emotional well-being, the Art Therapy Lab International Residency residency invites participants to embark on a journey of self-exploration and community connection.

Led by a range of creative practitioners, our mission is to cultivate a supportive and inclusive environment where individuals can express themselves through art, interact with nature (in its broadest sense), and nurture their creativity for improved mental and emotional wellness.

Next Art Therapy Lab International Residency to be announced in 2025

Eligibility

This residency is for adults interested in contemporary art, mental health, and community engagement. Art students, artists, and professionals in the mental health sectors are encouraged to apply.

We believe art therapy is for everyone, so there are no prior art skills required to participant and no portfolio needed to apply. It is all about the process, not product.

Our only requirement is an openness to make art with your emotions, exercise creative self-growth, and connect with others.

Participant fees

Each year we apply for culture grants in order to keep fees lower than comparable programs. This means our  residency fees may fluctuate based on resources available vs. costs. All fees include participation in all residency activities, meals, and accommodation.

If you are interested in our next residency program, join the early apply waitlist here. 

Our Team (2024)

  • Independent Curator & Founder of Stūdija

    Maija Rudovska is an independent curator, art critic, cultural agent, art historian and educator. She holds an MA in art history from the Art Academy of Latvia, Riga (2009) and has completed postgraduate studies in curating from Curatorlab in the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm (2010). Currently she is a PhD student in the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn. This summer she will be opening an art space Studija (in Kuldīga), which will provide a residency/studio space for creatives to work with new and old ideas, developing them in close connection with the local community.

    Rudovska has gained expertise and visibility in both regional (Baltic/Nordic) and international realms of contemporary art, and has worked with institutions and art spaces such as: MO museum (LT), the Manifesta biennial (for the 13th edition in Marseille), the Foundation Ricard (both FR), Komplot, the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts (both BE), Futura (CZ), the Moderna Museet (SE), the Kim? Contemporary Art Centre (LV), Rupert, the Contemporary Art Centre Vilnius (both LT), the KUMU Art Museum (EE), the Living Art Museum (IS), HIAP (FI) and others.

  • Art Therapist & Founder of Art Therapy Lab

    Based in New York City, active worldwide, Julia Volonts is a Licensed Art Therapist and Founder of Art Therapy Lab, focused on creating art therapy experience that promote community engagement, make art therapy more accessible, and inspire new conversations around mental health.

    As a dual citizen of Latvia and a Fulbright Program alumna, Julia moved to Riga in 2019 to conduct art therapy research, returning to NYC in 2022. Her international work fostered collaborations with international organizations, allowing her to launch community-based projects that serve diverse populations. Julia has partnered with a range of collaborators, including Paris Collage Collective, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, MARTA Centre, LGBT House Riga, School of Visual Arts NYC, ISSP Latvia, and Kyiv Collage Collective.

    In addition to her community-based work, Julia has a clinical background in private practice, where she offers individual and group psychotherapy virtually to adults addressing anxiety, depression, and relationship challenges. Julia is actively involved in the European Federation of Art Therapy, contributing to their Professional Development Committee and Art Therapy in Museums group, emphasizing innovative art therapy approaches. She is passionate about the evolving role of art therapy in mental health care and is excited about the opportunities this residency will offer to advance arts in health programming.

  • Performance Artist

    Linda Boļšakova is based in Latvia and her interdisciplinary works focus mainly on installation and performance. Through these mediums, she explores the interconnectedness and fragility of the borders between humans, surrounding environments and plant life.

    Her practice is ecological in that it deals with the relations between beings and their physical surroundings. She has collaborated with composers, botanists, 3D artists, breakdancers, various orchid species, biotope experts, beatboxers and web developers.

    Boļšakova’s works are located at The National Botanic Garden of Latvia and Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanic Garden in Istanbul. Solo shows include “Intimacy of strangers” at ISSP Gallery and “Off spring” at Alma Gallery. She has participated in group shows at the Latvian National Museum of Art, a public performance program at Kunsthalle Bratislava and Sculpture Quadrennial Riga.

    She has taken part in residencies including the Nida Art Colony, Lithuania, the Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Zengården, the head temple of the Swedish Zen Buddhist Society, as well as the VV Foundation’s residency, Latvia, and Hybrida Sweden.

  • Arts in Health Researcher

    After growing up in very rural eastern Germany, a voluntary service in museum pedagogy sparked the idea to study cultural empowerment strategies within a Bachelors of ‘Intercultural Communication and American (Feminist) Studies’ at MLU Halle.

    Reichenbach pursues her own mixed-media visual art practice and incorporates her experience now in academia through artistic research. As she is a scholarship holder of Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, she frequently creates in interdisciplinary teams and co-founded the Mental Health Network within democracy educational contexts. During the pandemic, she further educated herself on art as therapy and gained more experience in creative mentorship within groups and for individuals. Her art practice is very much informed by having been a young carer, exploring intuitive artmaking, and seeking to de-stigmatize alternative concepts of time in shaping life and career paths as a response to chronic health challenges.

    In her Masters ‘Culture and Societal Transformation’ at TU Dresden, which she is soon to finish, she writes on creative micro-practices and their potential for cultural resistance, agency in complex transformation processes, as well as an awareness of healthy communal and environmental entanglements. Recently, she has been part of conceptualizing and presenting performance art on ecofeminist questions within educational contexts.

Residency Location

Stūdija

Studija is a new art space in Kuldīga city, located in Kaļķu Street quarter. By offering space and time it aims to support creativity, research and education in the field of contemporary art and culture. An essential focus of the new art space is a dialogue between the invited participants, local community and international networks.

Kuldīga

Kuldīga city in a Courland region is a small Hanseatic town with a rich culture background and beautiful nature. Known for its waterfall and wooden architecture it has become a popular destination for both locals and foreigners. Recently the city's old town has became part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Meet the Cohort (2024)

Our 2024 cohort included artists, art educators, art therapists, and other arts-in-health professionals from various countries, which include Belgium, Finland, United States, Latvia, Netherlands, Germany, and United Kingdom. We hope this program will inspire a broader conversation about the role of nature in healing and the transformative aspects of art.

  • Tell us a little about you...

    I'm Erica, an interdisciplinary artist exploring the intersection of relational aesthetics and therapy through a social practice based in Milwaukee, WI. Much of my work is about relationship and connection, either as an art therapist or in my role as a Director of an organization providing art therapy to communities. While I create with people daily, I also have a private studio practice to experiment with materials– often producing abstract sculptural and textile works that help process my lived experiences.  

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    I hope to explore and experiment in a new place with new people. I studied eco-psychology and land art early in my education and feel excited about this interest resurfacing during the residency. I’m eager to learn from others and gain creative inspiration for new artwork.  

    Instagram: @arttherapypractice

  • Tell us a little about you…

    I love the philosophy of "Ikigai" and I think the reason I get up in the morning is to create - not only the everyday but also my projects. To be honest, I sometimes think that life itself is a collage, the individual strands weave together at some point. I work with different materials and also intermedially - on the one hand as an artist and on the other as an art therapist in a clinic.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency? 

    During the residency, I hope to meet people with whom I can have enriching and inspiring conversations. I hope to make contacts that will last for a long time. To experiences that I can bring into my work, to fun and flow and unforgettable moments.

    Instagram: @alicjagoreck.art

  • Tell us a little about you...

    I have always been interested in creating. Whether fiber arts or mixed media or collage, I have always had something going. While I used to think of that as my "hobby," art has now become integral to who I am and how I've worked through major issues in my life. I also work at a museum and pet-sit when I'm not creating. 

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    I hope to use the time and natural environment to focus on how I can help others use collage to heal themselves and others. I'm particularly interested in being present in more of an analog way in a very digital age. The social isolationism brought on by COVID and the rise of digital (and now AI) has separated us as humans from each other and who we are. I'd love to think about how art can help us integrate back into ourselves and community.

    Instagram: @splendidliminality


  • Tell us a little about you…

    I'm Xavier, American student that is studying at Erasmus Mundus SDSI Programme and focusing on my passion to connect with people through art.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency? 

    I hope to be able to learn creative practices with groups and teams that can think of other ideas and feel comfortable to share their emotions through art.

    Instagram: @meltingaperature

  • Tell us a little about you...

    I am an artist, educator and researcher, Canadian-born of Latvian origin, London is home for 20 years. My creative practice as an artist is often collaborative – most recently I initiated a correspondence drawing project starting with the idea of the gift, both in giving and receiving. My practice-led pedagogy has brought me into contact with many diverse groups of students and for over a decade, I have facilitated workshops in sketching and idea generation, developing a functional method for creative practice. My research interests include sketching potential, possibility studies, and creative methodologies.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    This residency sounds perfect. I am interested in affective bloom spaces, allowing people to work through areas of uncertainty in an stress-free, fun and productive way. I am curious to learn more about art therapy and care. This last year, I brought students outdoors in ‘nature’ in London and eco-therapy resonates deeply. I would like to experience more.

    Instagram: @ilgaleimanis

  • Tell us a little about you...

    I'm Lauma, big nature and adventure lover. I enjoy running and swimming in my free time and i'm very passionate about sports and interested in the field of health. I love to learn and observe and artistic wise I like to experiment and try new things. Still finding myself in art. But if I need to describe my practice these words do it - graphic art and printmaking, story telling, use of text, writing, objects and installations, contemporary, making something usable again, sound.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    I hope to learn about art therapy, understand it and see if its for me since I have this thought of doing master studies after my time in Art Academy of Latvia. Also to have a great time, talk, enjoy this new experience, create with my emotions and understand myself better.

    Instagram: @lelaumlelaumlelaumlelaum


  • Tell us a little about you...

    I'm Kim, an ex General Medical Practitioner who retired early due to burn out and I provide free community art classes for people who need support in any way. I also run community workshops teaching drawing and painting to groups such as pensioners, refugees and head injury and stroke sufferers. I am also part of an co-creation art project called Re:imagine in the North East of England. This project involves reflecting on past traumas and using creativity to help work through them. I have self published a book of poems and painting about my own journey through domestic abuse.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency? 

    I'm hoping to increase my skill set for working with traumatized individuals in the community. I want to empower others in their own creative journeys to move forward through their grief, pain and trauma.cription

  • Tell us a little about you...

    I’m Leigh, a nature-loving city dweller from London. I am a psychotherapist interested in exploring my own creativity, with a special interest in photography.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    I hope to feel more confident to explore my own creativity, and how this might inform work with my clients using the medium of photography as an expressive therapeutic tool. 

    Instagram:
    @red_strawberries



  • Tell us a little about you…

    I am Inga, a visual artist who looks and explores painting in/as expanded field. Loves nature and people (who are part of it).

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    The more possibilities and ways how to help myself and those around me.

    Instagram: @ingameldere

  • Tell us a little about you...

    Hi, I'm Eva, an art psychotherapist who is not good at drawing! My calling is to facilitate creative spaces for people to feel seen and heard.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    I am interested in building connections in a multicultural environment. Growing up within Greek culture, studying and living in Wales, UK, and currently residing in the Netherlands, I navigate cultural challenges daily making this journey of exploring connection all the more meaningful for me.

    Instagram: @psy_and_art_therapy

  • Tell us a little about you...

    I am Konstantina, an architect, collage artist, and freelance art facilitator from Greece. I organize creative workshops for both the Greek and expat communities in Rotterdam. My workshops use collage, pastels, and watercolors as forms of expression, incorporating art therapy practices. Through my personal experimentation, I have refined my techniques, creating a supportive environment for everyone to express themselves freely.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    I would like to be inspired from this type of eco art therapy, check how this works for me and then implement some of the art practices in my workshops.

    Instagram(s): @konst_pats  @help_heart_creative _workshops

  • Tell us a little about you...

    My name is Joanna, I am  a visual artist, expressive arts therapist, and Yoga Nidra teacher currently discovering therapeutic aspects of Yin Yoga. I hold an MA degree in multimedia graphic design, a PhD degree in visual arts and an MA degree in Expressive Arts Therapy with a Minor in Psychology. In my therapeutic practice, I mainly work with people in movement, often influenced by crisis and war. I specialize in gentle trauma-informed and culturally sensitive therapeutic interventions focused on creation of restorative spaces offering respect, inclusion, and recovering dignity. I love the arts, cats, cooking and Japanese culture.

    What do you hope to get out of this residency?

    Contact with natural surroundings is one of my favorite restorative practices. I hope to integrate more eco therapy tools both into my artistic and therapeutic repertoire. I also imagine that eco therapy could help individuals, groups, and communities to build more connection and find a place of care and belonging in and through nature. It would be wonderful, if I could add my part to this process thanks to this residency.

    Instagram: @artstudiojw