A glimpse into the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation Residency Program

Featured Project with Emma Golden

Emma Golden (Executive Director), Mark Golden (Founder and CEO of Golden Artist Colors and President of the Board, The Golden Foundation), Barbara Golden (Founder of Golden Artist Colors and Secretary/Treasurer of the Board, The Golden Foundation)

The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation Residency Program began as a dream of Sam Golden. Sam was a paint maker for most of his life at Bocour Artist Colors in New York City and in retirement, moved to upstate New York with his wife Adele.  Sam was an incredibly restless retiree.  Emma Golden, Sam’s granddaughter says that with the push of Adele, he called up his son, Mark Golden, and asked him to come help him make paint. That is how Golden Artist Colors started in 1980—in an old cow barn in rural New Berlin, New York. This fall I had the wonderful opportunity to be a resident at the Golden Foundation and after this deep experience I wanted to share with Art Spiel readers some insight into this unique residency by interviewing Emma Golden, who currently runs it. When he realized retirement wasn’t for him, he began making paint in a barn, delivering it to his artist-buddies’ studios in New York City.

Emma, tell me how the art residency evolved.

My grandfather Sam would dream that they could build small cabins on the property and invite artists to come upstate to paint and work with him in the labs, making paint. When both my grandparents passed, the Golden Family created the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts, as a way to honor my grandparent’s time in the arts as well as to thank all of the artists who helped Golden Artist Colors become a reality, giving grants to artists for several years. In 2008, the Foundation had to scale back, but was also able to focus on that dream of creating a residency program for artists working in paint. That’s when I got the call from MY dad: “Emma, we have this barn and artists ready to come to the residency, but we don’t have anyone to run the program”…“Dad, what’s the salary?… “You can live with us, and we’ll feed you.” It didn’t take long for me to decide to move home from the city as both my parents are great cooks. My mom and I ran the Foundation and Residency Program from 2012 to 2021 when my mom retired and this year we have been lucky to welcome Jessica Martin as Office Manager.

Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts

What is a typical year for you?

A typical year for us will be 6 sessions of 3 artists joining us at the residency barn for 4 weeks. Each artist gets their own private living space as well as a shared kitchen, dining and living room area housed in the barn. The studio spaces are on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building—open studio spaces with easels, tools, studio sinks. We try to have everything here for the artists. Many artists come from all over the world, so we don’t want them to have to worry about bringing their glass pallet or electric drill. All artists need to bring are their brushes, substrates, and a pair of clean underwear! The artists are also responsible for their travel expenses and food, but we share many homemade meals together as well. During the 4 weeks, the artists are given full access to all the materials manufactured by Golden Artist Colors as well as an educational component to the program, working with the Material and Application Specialists at Golden to dive deeper into understanding the materials.

Cristi Rinklin’s Studio at the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts

Can you share some of your most memorable experiences from the residency throughout the years?

From 2012, the start of the residency program until December of 2021, I had the pleasure of working side by side with my mom, Barb Golden. Learning from her, laughing with her and creating incredible memories with the artists that came through our program over those years, from dinners to camp fires to trips around upstate NY.

The greatest memories are the ones that made us all laugh, either during or after the fact. In our very first residency we had a door anecdote—the bathroom door wouldn’t open, and a resident was locked in. This was on a Sunday, so we didn’t know who to call. For several hours we were pushing food under the locked door and speaking with the artist and the other residents who teamed up in support. We finally found the number of a local locksmith who happened to be on vacation but after hearing our desperation, came out for the rescue. This is one of many stories that we can laugh about now as we learned a lot through our early years, but also the generosity and support from our local community that does not go without mentioning.

Another anecdote from earlier years relates to food: we were excited to welcome our next group of artists and my parents made an incredible spread of meats on the grill. Come to find out—all the artists were vegetarians. That’s how we started asking artists about their food preferences.

My greatest joy is that we could do this as a family. I always thought my parents didn’t have friends when I was growing up, because they were always working with artists. Our vacations were filled with visiting artists and art stores, and we would always have artists staying at our home to work with the lab at the factory. I came to realize it wasn’t just work; the artists were their friends. Looking back, my parents weren’t as boring as I thought.

Tell us a bit about the workshops in the residency and how this programming evolved since it started.

The technical sessions for the residency program have morphed over the years as we learn from the artists we work with. The first year, we had the sessions spread out across the 4 weeks, but the feedback from artists was that they were learning things in the 4th week that they wish they knew in week one, so we decided to jam as many sessions as we could in the first week, to hit the ground running. The first week, scheduled sessions—including grounds, gels and mediums, acrylic color, oils, and watercolor—felt like a good starting point for most artists while we have also increased the amount of one-on-one studio visits with the Material and Application Specialists. With a small group of 3 artists at a time, we are able to dive deep into each artist’s needs and exploration process of the materials. No session is the same for each group, there are curves and tangents we can go off on, depending on each group’s curiosities, which makes it so exciting for everyone involved.

Material Session with Mike Townsend (Golden Artist Colors). Resident artists Eleanor Conover, Jacin Giordano and Huang Hua-Chen, 2022

The art education component at large seems to be central in your overall vision at the Golden factory and the Golden Foundation alike – tours for students, ongoing relationships with art schools. Can you elaborate on that part of your practice?

Golden Artist Colors has always welcomed visitors, tour groups, students, and community members to visit the factory for a tour, workshops, gallery visits and more. We love having our doors open to the community to share our story and what we’ve learned about paint over the years. Golden Artist Colors is truly invested in art education which has been tricky over the years, as a manufacturer of a product. We truly believe that art can change the world and that if one isn’t exposed to the arts as a young person, they most likely won’t seek it out in their adult future, whether becoming an artist or supporting / enjoying the arts. I believe the success of the arts lies in the exposure as a child and providing artists with opportunities to continue making a career from their art.

Who should apply to the Golden residency and what can you share about the application process?
This past year, we transitioned into using SlideRoom for our application process. Our program is structured uniquely for artists using paint, but also artists who are willing to explore, experiment, learn from failures and play. It is not a residency to finish a body of work, but one to discover materials you’ve never had the chance to use, pick the brains of the folks making the paint and those who are researching and developing new materials. It really is for Material Geeks!

Can you share some of your plans for the Golden Foundation?

We have many dreams for the Golden Foundation. When we think about how we want to grow this program, we think about additional tools or equipment artists would need—a press would be nice, a walk-in spray booth, a wood shop. We dream about having the funds to pay for artists’ travel and their food, to take care of all the costs involved in leaving home for a month to just focus on the work. I hope that in the future, these dreams will become reality. What I know about the Golden Family is that if we can dream it, we can make it happen, but not without the continued support of Golden Artist Colors, friends and our community.

A group of people sitting at a table

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A crowded table of artists and folks from GOLDEN Artist Colors enjoying a meal

All Photo Courtesy of the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation