Monte Azul
Center for the Arts
Architectural photography Roberto D’Ambrosio Suárez
Return to the root of your work
An artists' residency in the Costa Rican highlands—conceived, built, and run by artists, for artists, writers, and thinkers. Monte Azul is not a retreat from the world. It is a place to meet it fully.
Our Mission
To give artists, writers, and thinkers the space, support, community, and unhurried time that meaningful creative exploration requires.
About Monte Azul
Our philosophy
At Monte Azul we think of the humanities and arts as more than disciplines—they are the soul of human expression, bringing form to how we understand ourselves and the world around us.
Artists, writers, and thinkers dedicate their lives to exploring the depths of human experience, and their work deserves profound respect. That is why we provide space, support, community, and time.
Monte Azul collaborative installation, San Francisco CA
Post graduate ornithology researchers, Cornell University
With purpose
In a culture that measures art by fairs, followers, and output, Monte Azul offers something increasingly rare: time and space without constraint. We are a working residency, not a destination. Artists come here to follow a question to its end—without the pressure of an immediate, marketable, or predetermined result.
Founded in 2008 and deliberately small, we host roughly 40 to 60 artists, writers, and thinkers a year: few enough that no one is anonymous.
The Chirripó Valley
High in Costa Rica's Talamanca range — one of the most species-dense forests on Earth — the reserve holds primary rainforest, more than 1,200 mts (three-quarter mile) of riverfront on the Río Chirripó Pacífico, waterfalls, and trails through an astonishing range of microclimates.
The landscape is not backdrop but interlocutor: a living system that provokes, unsettles, and reframes. Residents who arrive with a fixed plan often leave with a different one.
The provisions
A private, twenty-four-hour studio. A 1978 Griffin press, a kiln and wheel, a paper and pulp studio, and facilities for painting, sculpture, and writing. Meals delivered daily. Silence when you want it; company when you need it. Nothing decorative—everything in service of the work.
Functional space
Monte Azul is owned and operated by artists, which shapes everything: the pace, the privacy, the absence of performance.
Artist and Architect Andrés Cañas graciously donated the functional design—a work in art in itself—specifically for artists, writers, and thinkers. Every square centimeter is intended for this purpose.
Our commitments are the dignity of the artist, the freedom to explore, and the conviction that the process, with all its uncertainty, revision, risk, discovery, matters as much as the finished artifact.
Recent Posts
Directors & Founders
Carlos Rojas Jara
Director & Co-Founder
Carlos brings his passion for art to life as co-founder of Monte Azul Center for the Arts. A curator and former San Francisco and New York gallery owner, Carlos now devotes his counsel and experience to encourage artists to succeed in the creative process. He understands how difficult making work is – as well as the pressures that come from living the life of an artist. As one former resident shared, “Carlos gets it.” Carlos feels happiest when he is building and nurturing the core of what is central to an artist, and helping artists to realize their dreams.
Henry Jackson
Director for Artistic Advancement
Henry’s role oversees our visual arts programming and development. With over 35 years of experience as a successful exhibiting contemporary artist and over a decade of business leadership—including founding a San Francisco-based graphic design company—Henry brings a critical understanding of the arts ecosystem. Henry’s long-standing dedication to MACA began with his 2007 Full Fellowship, and he has since been a steadfast advocate, building a community of art supporters that has created transformative opportunities for our artists. His partnership and executive leadership is invaluable as we continue to provide unparalleled experiences for each artist we serve.
Randall Langendorfer
Co-Founder
Before co-founding Monte Azul Center for the Arts, Randall left professional careers as a botanist and international marketer, including the dream job of Director of Product Development for Star Wars toys worldwide. You can depend on Randall for his generosity of spirit and for telling it like it is. In his element equally in a lab or studio, he inspires creativity through tactile arts such as ecological soap-making, textile arts and more. A true renaissance man, Randall is the Master Cheesemaker at Monte Azul Artisanal Cheese Company.