Art Residency travels is where Lily Bennett is spending her time right now. From childhood days spent building with sticks in rural landscapes to monumental textile sculptures exhibited across continents, Lily’s artistic path is a story of material curiosity, personal resilience, and quiet defiance. Once a ceramic sculptor, Lily now reshapes denim into metaphors for power and community, challenging viewers to reconsider the structures—literal and ideological—that shape our world.
After completing her MFA just a year ago, Lily dove headfirst into artist residency travels, using the time and space each provided to evolve her textile practice and deepen her understanding of place. “I really gave myself this year to go to these residencies and make work,” she says. “And now I’m in the process of figuring out what comes next.”
From Clay to Cloth
Lily’s transition from ceramics to textiles may seem like a medium shift, but it’s rooted in the same sculptural impulse. Her early love for hand building and welding, still forms the backbone of her large-scale textile installations. “I needed a surface,” she explains. “Textiles were a perfect way to bridge all those techniques.”
That combination of industrial structure and soft, intimate material gives her work its power. Her denim-covered columns—referencing those at the U.S. Supreme Court—draw on architecture as a metaphor for authority, while the denim, often bleached and recycled, invokes labor, community, and wear.
“I love to work with material as metaphor,” Lily says. “Denim is a symbol of American working class life, and when sewn onto forms that represent government structures, it makes us question what those symbols really stand for.”
The Power of Place: Art Residency Travels as Catalyst
This year alone, Lily has completed three residencies: Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland, and Viafarini in Milan, Italy. Each one shaped her process in a new way.
Anderson Ranch, nestled in the Colorado mountains, was especially formative. “The facilities were incredible, and I had access to the sculpture studio. Plus—they cook for you! So your only job is to make work,” she laughs. “And the community of artists I met there—that was one of the most enriching parts.”
In Ireland, Lily explored ruins and delved into site-specific making. In Milan, she’s currently researching modern Italian architecture to inspire a new series of massive embroidered textile hangings. Her workspace, with its soaring walls and archives, has become both muse and medium.
Advice for Artists: How to Pursue Art Residency Travels
For artists looking to follow a similar path, Lily has concrete advice:
1. Do Your Research
“There are so many types of residencies. Some pay you, some you pay to attend. TransArtists.org is a great international resource that lists what’s provided—studio, accommodation, stipend, etc.”
2. Apply Broadly
“I applied to way more than I got into. You need to cast a broad net and be okay with rejection. The right fit will come.”
3. Align Your Work With the Residency
“Think about the location—how it can inspire your work. I wanted to go to Italy because my work deals with architecture. That context really mattered.”
4. Consider the Logistics for your Art Residency Travels
“Some residencies require driving, some you have to fly to. That affects what materials you can bring. For Milan, I packed denim in my checked bag because I wasn’t sure I could source it here.”
5. Value the Community
“The friendships and artistic exchange that come from these residencies are just as important as the work itself.”
Craft, Concept, and the Long Game
Lily is deeply aware of the debates surrounding textiles and contemporary art. “Textile and ceramic artists, especially women, have had to fight to be taken seriously,” she says. “But I don’t think you have to alter a technique to make it contemporary. Skill and concept can coexist.”
Her own practice is proof. Whether blending denim into pulp or hand-stitching bleached fabric onto monumental forms, she challenges traditional categories while honoring the history of labor and craft.
“I think curiosity is the most important part of my practice,” Lily says. “Curiosity about material. Like questioning how much I can push one material, what ways can I manipulate it? To create a different surface or a different dimension.”
And perhaps most powerfully, about what’s possible when artists are given the space and support to explore.
Explore More:
Art Residency Programs Mentioned:
Art Residency Directories to Explore:
English 
Hello,
Thank you for this resource!
I recently returned from Europe and am so excited to push my ideas forward collaboratively with the people I met on this past journey.
This resource comes at the perfect time of my self imposed pivot. I have been a textile Artist for nearly 30 years and an independent parent the entire time – never giving up. Thank you so much for all of your hard work bringing this together for so many of us.
Sincerely,
Rhonda M. Fazio
P.S. I write for a food magazine as a little side gig. If there is an opportunity to submit anything here, I would love to have the chance. 😀