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Title of Grant <br />Request <br />LEVEL retreat v isiting artist Caroline Kern <br />Grant Amount <br />Requested <br />$2000 <br />Project Start Date <br />(no earlier than July <br />1, 2022) <br />March 1, 2023 <br />Project End Date (no <br />later than June 30, <br />2023) <br />June 21, 2023 (a three week, v isiting artist residency within this <br />window) <br />Project/Program <br />Summary <br />LEVEL retreat would like to inv ite Brooklyn-based artist, Caroline <br />Kern, to Orange County for three weeks in the spring of 2023 to work <br />on her mixed genre book about liv ing with mild traumatic brain injury, <br />post concussion syndrome, and her experiences with Long COVID. <br />Drawing from her extensiv e career in printed ephemera, Caroline is <br />working to combine narrativ e writing, illustration, and comic art to <br />document her health journey and help v iewers become better allies <br />to those afflicted with health setbacks. During her v isit, she and <br />LEVEL will host sev eral free ev ents: an artist’s talk and three <br />collaborativ e art-making workshops. <br />Caroline is a prolific multi-disciplinary artist and the creator of <br />Pegacorn Press, a feminist, queer, “total-art-freaker” publishing <br />company. Her CV reflects an exhaustiv e body of work spanning ov er <br />two decades and an impressiv ely wide array of mediums. She has <br />expressed a strong desire to leav e the intensity of New York City to <br />focus on her work and her health. W e feel that Orange County is <br />uniquely suited to prov iding a culturally safe env ironment for <br />Caroline’s work, a peaceful surrounding landscape, and the urban <br />amenities required for a productiv e extended stay. <br />Caroline’s work draws from a manic array of contemporary influences <br />– from feminist and queer theory to scrappy comic zines, and from <br />the spiritualism of New Age practitioners like Ram Das to the anarchic <br />digital ephemera of the TikTok generation. A satirical, but rarely <br />cynical, humor bleeds through her custom-printed handkerchiefs, <br />Florida “Scene Report” v ideos, and confessional illustrations. <br />Floating abov e the cultural commentary, Caroline’s work conv eys <br />awe and gratitude for the creativ e process itself, such as in the <br />heady chaos of her “Enter the Riso Matrix” v ideo, a celebration of <br />Risograph printing. Her art hits the v iewer square in their DIY third <br />eye, inspiring collaboration and prov ing, through psychedelic <br />musings and fearless road warriorings, that anything creativ e is <br />possible. <br />During her stay, Caroline will be presenting some of her work on the <br />rooftop at Attic 506 and giv ing an artist’s talk on the first Friday of <br />her residency. Her v ast experience in teaching, performing, and <br />v isual arts, ensures that the ev ening will be engaging and <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: AA8A1AA6-4BBD-4E2D-9F60-F722FBC79268