The start of an art residency at Bethany Arts Community

 

(Above:  The main entrance to the Bethany Arts Community just outside Ossining, New York.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Bright and early on Sunday morning, Steve and I started out on this adventure!  We drove the cargo van to Allentown, PA that night and were up early again on Monday.  Because check-in at the Bethany Arts Community was scheduled for 2 - 4:30 PM, we had time to spend in Sleepy Hollow.  The tour of the cemetery was great!  By 1:30, I dropped Steve off at the Ossining train station.  He went into NYC, saw Six on Broadway and flew home the next day.  

Meanwhile, I arrived for my two-week art residency! Above is a photo of the main entrance. Originally owned by the Maryknoll Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic, this place was once a convent.  It was expanded in 1951 and now has an interior space of 44,000 square feet! The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers took over the property in 1958. By 1979, the building was used for the missionary program.  Finally, Bethany Arts Community purchased the place September 2015 as an art residency.  There's now two, large dance/performance spaces, permanent studios for local artists, an independent pre-school, a cafeteria, offices, art galleries, and lots of small rooms that serve as art studios and bedrooms.  Plus ... twenty-five acres that are mostly woodlands!

Upon arrival, I was greeted by the friendly staff and shown both my bedroom and studio.  A proper orientation for all arriving artists-in-residence was later that evening, followed by a wine-and-cheese reception and welcoming dinner.  After nightfall, two of the artists that arrived a week earlier conducted a public engagement program of song and poetry around a nice bonfire.  (The residency program staggers arrivals and departures so that everyone gets to meet more people!  There are dancers, writers, composers, poets, an opera singer, a flutist, and a couple other visual artists here with me!)

I was eager to bring in my stash of "white things".  For years I've amassed a collection of vintage lace, crocheted doilies, damask tablecloths, and ... well ... you name it ... I probably have it.  Believe it or not, I didn't even bring all of it ... just "more than enough".

I also brought my Grandma Lenz's sewing box in which I've kept balls of #5 white and off-white DMC embroidery floss.  I didn't buy any of this "new".  Almost everything I brought came from auctions, yard sales, thrift shops, and as donations from generous people.  The only "new" item was the one-inch upholstery cord that I got wholesale from UPHSUP Upholstery Supplies. 

Soon, I was at work.  Now, the photo above might not look like anything recognizable ... but let me explain!  I've been thinking/wishing/dreaming/planning/hoping to build this new installation for years!  It all started back in August 2012 when I built The Canopy at an art residency in Galesburg, Illinois.  CLICK HERE to see the reception for The Canopy that concluded this opportunity. 

The next year (2013), The Canopy was part of the inaugural ArtFields competition in Lake City, South Carolina.  The photo above shows me stitching in the Jones Carter building in front of my Canopy.   Though The Canopy was hung in several other venues during the next few years, it really was more recently "in storage" for quite a while ... until ...

.... 2022 when it was erected at Good Shepherd Church in Sumter, South Carolina.  Seeing it again made me remember my earlier hair-brained idea for a new installation.  I wrote a proposal and submitted for this art residency ... and now I'm getting to make this new installation! The idea came from The Canopy's "bedposts".  I couldn't help but to wonder how it would feel to walk through dozens of these long, skinny creations ... all suspended from the ceiling.  Would it feel as if swimming in the ocean waters off Southern California ... through a kelp forest?  (Yes ... I've been to the Monterey Aquarium and was mesmerized by these giant plants!) Yet, I've never had the time to act on this idea, and it took about decade to amass enough lacy and crochet to attempt pulling it off.

So ... once I arrived here at the Bethany Arts Community, I pulled up my earlier blog post to relearn how I stitched these "bedposts".  The photo above is one taken back in 2012, in Illinois, at the start of that art residency.  (CLICK HERE to read it.)  I've already completed the first one.  I'll blog more as the work progresses.  There's no way to finish this idea in just two-weeks but at least this installation is underway.

As easily as I could spend all my time with a needle and thread, I will take time to walk the trails here ...

... stare at the blue sky ...

... and even meditate in the garden.  Plus, this Saturday is ARToberfest here at Bethany Arts Community and I'll be conducting a community crazy quilt activity from 10 - 4:30!  If you are in the area, come see me!