Art doesn’t grow in isolation. It absorbs the places an artist visits, the people they meet, and the rhythms of everyday life that shift their perspective.

For contemporary figurative painter Leigh Witherell, now based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, international residencies have been more than a change of scenery. They have been turning points, moments that pushed her work beyond the boundaries of familiarity and into dialogue with the wider world. One of the most transformative was her residency at Buinho, in the small Portuguese town of Messajana.

Residencies are designed to give artists space, but what Witherell found in Portugal was something deeper: an entirely different pace of living. In contrast to the constant rush of the United States, Messajana moved slowly. Meals stretched longer, conversations unfolded without interruption, and there was no rush for anything. That shift, she recalls, did more than calm her; it made her rethink what it means to create.

As a painter whose work explores grief, intimacy, and fragile human connections, Leigh began to notice how this slower rhythm opened her process. She spent more time observing rather than rushing to produce. The surrounding culture, with its emphasis on presence rather than speed, gave her new ways of seeing. “If we only stay close to home,” she often reflects, “how can we expand our minds to include ideas we don’t see there?”



The impact of this experience reached far beyond technique. For Leigh, residencies became about immersion, not tourism. Living among locals, walking the same streets every day, and sharing meals allowed her to understand a culture from the inside. That immersion shaped her palette, her brushwork, and the way she thought about storytelling on canvas. Portugal’s earthy tones, its openness, and its unhurried spirit began to echo through her paintings, giving them a broader emotional range.

Her philosophy on residencies mirrors her larger view of art: growth depends on exposure to the unfamiliar. She believes that stepping into different cultures is essential for expanding what an artist thinks is possible. In her own practice, that expansion meant letting go of assumptions, questioning habits, and finding new ways to convey vulnerability and resilience.

But residencies also offered another lesson, cultural humility. In a place where she was the outsider, Leigh learned to listen more than she spoke. That awareness is crucial when working with subjects as delicate as grief. It reminds her that no single perspective holds all the answers, and that true storytelling requires openness to voices beyond her own.

The experience also reinforced her belief in art as a universal language. Even without a shared background or language, she saw how her figurative work resonated. A gesture, a posture, or a burst of color could bridge divides more powerfully than words. That realization strengthened her commitment to figurative painting, affirming its role as a connector across cultures.

For Leigh, the Buinho residency was not just a chapter in her career but a recalibration of her perspective. It showed her that creativity thrives on difference, that stepping outside the familiar is not optional but vital. The lessons of Messajana continue to inform her projects today, reminding her to keep her work open to new influences and conversations.

Leigh Witherell’s journey underscores a larger truth: art is not made only in studios but in the spaces between cultures, in the willingness to see differently, and in the courage to expand beyond borders. For her, that expansion is not just about artistic growth; it is the very foundation of keeping her work alive.