Sense of Place: 10 ways to connect artists to a residency program.

I'm excited to see more residency programs working to connect art making with community, ecology and a sense of place. Unlike the older "retreat" model, which serves artists (often from urban areas) by allowing them to "get away" and commune with something vaguely referred to as "nature," a true sense of place helps artists comprehend that they have arrived somewhere with a rich history. This history is not just the names and stories of artists who have come before or the biography of the founder, but a complex interweaving of ecology, economy and community.

What follows are some notes toward a future document: Ten ways to connect artists to a sense of place at a residency program. This list is slanted towards ecological awareness, rural areas and the ecology of ISLAND's home in northern lower Michigan. Comments and additions are appreciated.

1.) Nature based interpretation. Used to great success in our national parks, interpretive signs, tags, displays and tours readily communicate plant and animal species, historic events, wayfinding and other basic information about the ecology and history of a place. Examples: a display illustrating what a residency looked like 500, 200, 50 and 10 years ago, and how the ecology has changed in that time. A Studio in the Woods has an environmental curator on staff!

2.) Artistic interpretation. A variation on the above, but using local artists to create the signs and referring to the creation and appreciation of art. Examples: signs directing potters to local seams of clay with notes on different types' usefulness in glazes. An outdoor installation which comments on and directs attention to the surrounding landscape.

3.) Life on the land. A residency program must have other uses and be a place of activity and work outside of the work of the artists. Examples: Madroño Ranch is a working bison ranch that offers hunting, fishing and cooking workshops to the public and sells meat, eggs and produce. Atlantic Center for the Arts keeps beehives and sells the honey to raise funds.

4.) Invite artist engagement with the above. Artists can work on the land outside of their art making. Example: morning chores in the garden, help milking the goats, trail work, volunteering at the local food pantry.

5.) Connection to the community. This is always easier said than done, and requires care in creating seclusion for working artists while still allowing them to experience the larger culture in which they work. Example: residency tours/open studio, readings or concerts in community spaces, inviting community elders to dinner at the residency.

6.) Create art supplies from the land. Use locally available natural resources to provide raw materials for art making, either as equipment or supplies. Examples: beeswax (bees), milk paints (goats), art-grade charcoal (willow), wood for carving, clay for pottery, fiber (sheep, alpaca, etc.), natural dyes and found materials.

7.) Use the land itself for art making. This can be as simple as installation art using local resources or using the land itself as gallery. Think beyond just a sculpture park. Examples: much of the work being done at A Studio in the Woods and Art Farm.

8.) Hospitality from the land. Grow food for the artists. Use native flowers as table centerpieces. Use local materials in the construction of buildings. Partner with local farms to eat food that is local and in season. Partner with local breweries, wineries, cideries, dairies, butchers, smokehouses, fermenters and other craft industries to supply as many needs as possible for the artists. Example: the Hill House comes stocked with local and seasonal produce, fish, cheese, meat and wine, along with empty growlers that can be filled at the local pub.

9.) Keep it wild. Resist the urge to over-manicure the landscape. Allow for wilder plants and fungi to populate the grounds, even if some of them are "weeds." Value the edges where the cultivated meets the wild. Create simple paths leading visitors into less manicured places. And yes, provide mosquito spray or bear mace or even a guide. Example: both the Hill House and the ISLAND property are connected to large tracts of public forest, including a canoe river. A Studio in the Woods keeps the cultivated footprint to a minimum to allow artists to engage with the bottomland forest ecology.

10.) Seek close encounters. Vistas are great, but real engagement takes place at arms length or closer. Use wild space, along with bat houses, bird feeders, butterfly gardens and meandering paths to help create dynamic, intimate encounters between artists and the wild nature. If your wild nature includes mountain lions, bears or alligators you'll want to think carefully about what to invite in and what to exclude. Example: A Studio in the Woods has a simple dock overlooking a small pond, and allows fallen trees to decay in place, creating more habitat for wild creatures.

This list is intended to be a rough beginning to a more polished document. I expect it to change drastically as more folks look at it and offer their thoughts, and I realize it is focused on my part of the world - the woods and water of rural northern lower Michigan. Your help is appreciated in tailoring it to your own ecological, economic and cultural landscapes.

—Brad

ISLAND Featured in Edible Grande Traverse

Holly Wren Spaulding, former writer in residence at the ISLAND Hill House, wrote a lovely article about ISLAND for the summer issue of Edible Grande Traverse.

Check it out: The Good Earth

ISLAND was given the 2011 Local Hero Award, Non-Profit Organization Category for "outstanding contribution to the local foods movement in the Edible Grande Traverse community."

We're honored.

—Amanda

Time to Slow Down: Post residency with Kathy Leisen

Detroit native Kathy Leisen, and her cat Gerome, received their first northern lower Michigan welcome at ISLAND's Hill House residency. Leisen spent the month of November at the residency, embracing the solitude and slower pace of life. Following are her thoughts of reflection.

"My first impressions of the Hill House were of thrill and amazement. I felt so lucky. The house and the surrounding area exceeded my expectations in terms of size, beauty, comfort, and overall creative atmosphere. There was a bottle of wine there for me with a note and chocolate chip cookies. There were several guitars and other pieces of equipment, good books on the shelf, and of course the beautiful-sounding piano. I list these things to describe my happiness.

Then I immediately dug into my work. My background is in visual arts, but in the last couple years my music pursuits have taken the lead in terms of opportunities and successes. So although I am a songwriter, I don't have formal training in music. I wanted this opportunity at the Hill House Residency to dig deeper into my processes and to reexamine my approach to melody and lyrics. Oh did I! I took advantage of the many miles of trails behind the house in the state forest. I walked and looked, and listened. This residency is unique because you are in isolation. I discovered that my eyes started to open a little wider, allowing me to notice more than I had. I slowed down. I paid attention.

All of this affected my work. I struggled with changes and rewrites. I walked away and came back, and went through so many emotions that my music draws from. I honestly think I am a better writer through this experience. I wrote one of my favorite songs the night before I left. Now that I am back in my regular life, I try and hold on to those moments."

Sound of Silence: Post Residency with Adam Waugh

Emerging musician Adam Waugh spent the month of October-- this year the peak of Northern Michigan's fall-- at ISLAND's Hill House, where he dedicated days of solitude to honing his musicianship. Following are his words of reflection along with photos he made during his residency.

 I arrived at the ISLAND residency after several months of travel along the east coast ready to explore all the material and ideas I had bouncing around my head.

 It was an amazing time of year to be nestled in the woods of northern Michigan with the leaves changing color and the weather sunny and warm.  I couldn’t have asked for a better place to witness the transformation of summer into fall. Towards the end of my first week of stay at the Hill House I was given the opportunity to play a show at Short’s Brewery. Short’s is one of my favorite breweries so I felt very honored to be able to play a show there. It was nice to come out of the woods and perform for a live audience. The experience gave me a chance to try out some new material and to reflect on what it is I want to express in performing live music. Thanks to the Short’s crew for allowing me the opportunity!

 A good amount of time during my residency was spent reflecting on musicians, writers, and albums that have inspired and influenced me over the years. I kept returning to the many ways in which culture and current events influence art. It is hard to escape such influences in this age of information. Being alone in the woods is one way to do so and it was interesting to observe how my music and my experience of sound changed over the course of my residency.

 I am constantly exploring sound in its myriad forms and originations. It has always been fascinating to me how environment and surroundings influence the songs I write. The beauty of being alone in the woods lies to some extent in being able to control the forms and the amount of media and noise you are consuming. At the Hill House I was able to step away from the news of the day and all the background noise our society generates. Having lived in New York City all summer I had been inundated with sound, noise, and culture at its most extreme and diverse. To go from that environment to a space of silence, retreat, and solitude was quite an intense and welcome transition!  

Once I settled in to a daily rhythm at the Hill House I found my senses opening to and absorbing all the sounds and patterns of the woods and my surrounding environment. Even in this space away from the noise of society I found the sound of my own system to be deafening at times. Anyone who has spent an extended amount of time in solitude knows how much noise one’s own mind can generate in such a space. I recalled an interview with the composer John Cage. In 1951, Cage visited the anechoic chamber at Harvard University. An anechoic chamber is a room designed in such a way that the walls, ceiling and floor absorb all sounds made in the room, rather than reflecting them as echoes. Such a chamber is also externally sound-proofed. Cage entered the chamber expecting to hear silence, but he wrote later, "I heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation." Cage had gone to a place where he expected total silence, and yet heard sound. Cage was inspired to compose the piece 4’ 33” from this experience. In this piece Cage sits at his piano in silence and allows the sounds around him to come to the attention of the audience and in essence form the piece of music.  My experience at the ISLAND Residency was similar to Cage’s experience in that, as time passed I found my mind moving deeper into silence and my ability to listen expanding. In what most would consider to be a silent space I was beginning to hear a symphony of sounds. The sounds of the forest began to influence my music. My music became an extension of the natural rhythms I was enmeshed in every day.

 Silence is relative to our state of mind. Even in what we consider to be absolute silence we are faced with the sound of our own system and our inner dialog which in turn has a profound influence on our relationship to the world around us. I came to meditate on the fact that we are always engulfed in soundscapes and very few of us are aware of our relationship to these sounds and to the noise we are creating and the ways in which this noise, or lack thereof affects those around us and our immediate environment. Being in solitude for an extended time focused solely on sound. I became acutely aware of the affect sound has on my mood and overall state of mind. Sound is essentially vibration and it influences and permeates us on all levels. Exploring these aspects of sound has deeply affected the way in which I create and perform music. I have become subtlety aware of the influence sound has in our culture and the power Music and Sound has in affecting human beings and environment.

 All of these meditations have had a profound affect on my music, my relationship to sound, and the ways in which I approach songwriting. My time at the Hill House afforded me the space and solitude I needed to fully engulf myself in my music and songwriting.

 Powered by amazing Local produce and delicious local beer and aided by the amazing group of people that compose ISLAND (Institute for Sustainable Living, Art & Natural Design); I embarked on a deep exploration of music, sound, and the space we find ourselves in this age of abundant information and over stimulation. To be afforded the opportunity to step away from society and to reflect on my life, my art, and this culture I live in was such an amazing blessing for which I am forever grateful to everyone at ISLAND.  

Musician resident Adam Waugh brings musical talents to Short's Brewery

Saturday night October 2, after a victorious Michigan State University football game against Wisconsin, Adam Waugh, ISLAND Hill House musician in residence, took to the stage at Short's Brewing Company to share his musical explorations. Adam arrived at the Hill House September 29 and will stay through October 27 as the emerging musician resident. 

Waugh was born and raised in Cedar, Michigan. He has traveled and lived extensively throughout the United States, including Montana, Colorado and New York, as well as in Europe and South America. Adam is a strong believer of immersing himself in and absorbing the culture, lifestyles, and music of the diverse areas through which he has traveled and lived. He is a musical expeditionary, always exploring new sounds and music, and the means with which to record and share these findings. His music is a rich blend of Indie Folk, Americana, and old Country infused with intrepid vocals and emotion.

During his performance, Waugh invited friend and fellow musician Eric Chamberlin, to join him onstage, adding harmonica and vocals to Waugh's original pieces. 

Along with performing to a full-house at Short's Brewery, Waugh had the honor of being the second live concert for the newest member of the Kik family, Ily Magdalena, who, rumor has it, is a tough music critic. Rumor also has it, she thoroughly enjoyed the performance.  

 

Post Residency: A Letter of Reflection by Esteban del Valle

In more ways than one, I arrived at ISLAND at the perfect time. I had just wrapped up a large project, the weather was phenomenal, and I was ready to get some new ideas off the ground. Upon arriving to the Hill House, I immediately felt welcomed. Being without a car, I was fortunate enough to not find any excuses to leave the general area. I say fortunate because the solitude I experienced in such a beautiful environment helped me discover new things about my work and myself. When I am in the midst of the hustling and bustling world, I seldom get the chance to create my own schedule. I was actually surprised at how naturally it came. I always figured that when I had unlimited “free” time and zero obligations, I would run wild like a British school boy from Lord of the Flies. But it was the opposite. I craved routine because it provided a rhythm for the day.

As soon as I woke up, after sleeping in of course, I threw some coffee on, grabbed a book, put something on the record player from the Hill House collection, and went out to the porch where I would spend the next two hours reading in the hammock. Listening to a great collection of classical records, I spent the time taking notes and doing some inspired writing. My work has largely been influenced by the research I do through books, theater, and film. While in the midst of city dwelling, I rarely have the opportunity to critically approach each aspect of my research. An idea has to quickly be evaluated as worthy or not worthy of extra time. If deemed unworthy, it is tossed out with all the other things I can never remember, such as where I left my wallet, birthdays, and grabbing my glasses before I leave the house. But while I was at ISLAND I noticed something I had never experienced before. By the third day my thoughts became louder. I realized that my mind, not having anyone around to speak with, began to act like another conversational presence. I was finally able to slow the process in my head and truly listen to what was going on. It may sound like a simple event, but for me it was profound. I was finally able to comprehend both the ridiculousness and the validity of certain points. I often asked myself, “Why is it that you think that?” One of the most sincere questions I have ever grappled with.

With the positive changes in environment and self-awareness, my time at the Hill House quickly turned into the perfect opportunity to begin work on a play/film I had been developing. I felt confident that I would be able to solidify the foundations of this project, something that may have been impossible to do while in Chicago. The project will eventually take the form of a reproducible performance, a video piece, and an installation. But the project revolves around the central theme of the relationship between a political speech and a theatrical monologue. Being in a space that allowed for clarity and freedom of thought resulted in an increase in the amount of daily ideas, both new and old. Needless to say, being immersed in a quiet environment was a fruitful experience.

My work sessions were sprinkled with delicious food and plenty of time to cook! The locally grown organic vegetables, which were the best I had ever tasted, inspired me to change the way I eat. I was also fortunate to have the time and space to get in a 3-4 mile run every other day, which further allowed me to take in my surroundings and meditate on the thoughts of the day. The river a mile away from the Hill House became a point of reference and a friend to visit. I would later go on to complete my very first kayaking trip, a two-hour solo adventure that took me down the Jordan River in the company of a blue jay. After a late night dinner I often watched interesting films with the goal of learning more about iconic directors and actors. I mainly focused on the dialogue and how the scenes were filmed, which helped me visualize how to solve certain problems in my own work.

That being said, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the awesome amazingness of the entire ISLAND staff. These warm and generous individuals proved truly inspiring. Their efforts to welcome me to the program consisted of a canoe trip, a wonderful potluck dinner, and a night at one of best microbreweries I have ever been to. They also arranged for me to give a visiting artist talk complete with a screening of my film. Each time I met with the staff we had engaging conversations in which I learned a lot about the program and the surrounding areas of Michigan. I was so excited to learn more about ISLAND’s philosophy of embracing the arts as a positive social tool, making the program all the more amazing. I truly hope that more artists begin to look at the ISLAND program both as a resource and as an inspiration. As for myself I am happy to report that another application is in the future!

Through their photos: Gifts or Creatures at the Hill House

Gifts or Creatures is the musical pursuit of husband and wife duo Brandon John and Bethany Foote. The two share the patience of old world principle, with new world delivery and grace. Brandon and Bethany were residents at the Hill House in early June. Following are some images they captured of their residency experience. The couple recently released their debut album Pilot House, which was recorded in Ann Arbor. Congratulations and we look forward to more great music from this talented duo!

Breakfast on the porch; local eggs, bread & fresh veggies.

A space to create with: the living room turned studio.

The fuel behind the creativity.

Bringing Back Chaplin: Hill House artist in resident presents silent film project

Monday night August 23, Esteban del Valle, ISLAND Hill House artist in residence, took viewers back in time to the Charlie Chaplin era during a short film screening at the Jordan River Arts Council. Del Valle presented his A Preemptive Collapse of an Arduous Revolt Against Lunar Aspirations or "That revolt gives life its value" which he wrote, directed and performed the main role, immersing himself as both creator and character.

Presenting slides of mural work throughout the US.

Deeply inspired by Chaplinesque silent movie conventions and Chaplin's work during the Great Depression, Esteban used the film to take a comical approach to evaluating the role of the political artist in the pursuit of social change. The piece follows the rise and fall of one man's attempt to start a revolution against the moon.

Esteban spent three weeks at the Hill House residency researching for and beginning to write his next short film. Next month Esteban will be heading to Woodside, California to continue his work at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program.

Self-portrait that aims to reflect on his role as an artist in the
fight for justice and equality.

Writer in Residence Shares Work With Community

Hill House writer in residence Beth Nelson, read from her essay “Family Tree” during a luncheon at the Bellaire Senior Center Tuesday, July 20. Born in St. Louis, Beth has been a writer for 35 years. Raised in Minnesota and wandering the Ozarks of Missouri, travel and life experiences have always contributed to Beth’s mantra of “writing is living life aware.” During her life she has worked at Yellowstone, fostered an emotionally ill child, lost a niece to leukemia, lived as an expatriate in Saudi Arabia and owned and curated her own art gallery. She has been published in the American Literary Review and Camera Arts Magazine and has worked at the Arts and Humanities Council in Tulsa. Most recently in her work she has put a microscope against life’s daily routines, connecting readers to her stories in personal ways. She currently resides in Centennial, CO with her husband and their four dogs, one of which traveled with her to Michigan. Following is an excerpt from “Family Tree.”

Papa was Serbian.  He stood six feet six inches tall, but when he was released from the prison camp after the Second World War, he weighed only ninety-eight pounds.  Papa had served on the allied side as an underground guerrilla.  He rarely spoke of those days.  To ease the pain from nights on cold, wet soil, Papa constructed a wooden box and filled it with sand.  My grandfather’s sandbox was too much like a casket, built to fit his size.  Most mornings, he’d prop open the lid, and allow sun to heat the sand.  He’d walk from the house, a lemon slice balanced on the edge of his glass, the day’s Globe Democrat tucked under one arm.  He’d slowly lower his body onto hot sand then tilt an umbrella to soften the glare.  This is how he healed, nearly naked in the sun.

Papa used to say to my grandmother, “Jena, sing that song for me.  Sing the one I like.”

            And my grandmother would say, “Oh, Alex, it’s just a silly commercial.” But she would sing it anyway.  She would sing:

Halo, everybody, Halo.

Halo is the shampoo that glorifies your hair,

Well, Halo, everybody, Halo,

Halo Shampoo, Halo!

Then Papa would grin and clap and tell my grandmother how pretty she was.  “Jena, my Jena,” he would say, and he’d cup her face in his large hands and kiss her mouth.

Papa taught me to play chess when I was seven.  With few words of English but many nods, grins, frowns and some head shaking, Papa guided me through the game. Sometimes he would let me win.  The days my family visited my grandparents, Papa and I usually managed to fit in a game before dinner. 

Once the meal was laid out on the table, Nana would stand in the dining room doorway and announce the meal by yodeling.  She was famous for her yodel.  I would get up and help Papa to his feet and we would walk to the table together.   Everybody would wait quietly until all the family was standing, heads bowed, hands folded.  Then Papa would recite a prayer nobody understood, and cross himself.  The rest of us were Baptists, but we followed Papa’s lead.  My mother’s fist would ball up in a knot, but she did it for Nana.

            In the summer, Papa and I took long walks after dinner.  We must’ve been a sight, he and I, walking down the street past all the brownstones.  I was skinny and small for my age, brown-skinned from the sun.  I had to half-run to keep up with Papa’s long gait.  Even in the heat, he wore a beret he’d picked up in France after the war.  Papa spoke more French than English, and that day he was trying to teach me a little French folk song:

Sur le pont, D’Avignon,

L’on y danse, L’on y danse.

He lifted his walking cane and used it like a baton.  It made me laugh to watch this giant directing music in the city streets.  We sang loud, in off-key harmony, wanting to be heard over the traffic and pigeons.

            The heat and humidity brought an unexpected thunderstorm.  When we heard the first clap of thunder, we were walking across the highway overpass about a quarter-mile from the house.  Papa pulled me against him and began to push the pace.  My half-run became a gallop, and Papa used his stick to push off from the sidewalk like a ski pole. My left leg and the stick collided, and the two of us tumbled to the ground.  Rain started to fall, first in gentle pellets, then like a curtain around us.  The walking stick, a keepsake from Papa’s visits to Switzerland when he was a young man, lay broken in the street.  I stood up.  “Jena, Jena,” Papa said, confused.  He sat up and replaced the beret on his head.  It was soaked and hung down over his eyes like a bad hairpiece.

Post Residency: A Letter of Reflection

Dear ISLAND,

In the first days, we were in a dream-like state of wonderment.  The visuals of the house and of the forest, and the reverberation of the landscape drugged us.  We rejoiced in liberty.  We looked each other in the eye and joined in creation. 

We wrote a lot in the first several days.  We carried our notebooks throughout the house and experienced each room.  Sometimes we did freewriting, and allowed poems and incomplete thoughts to fill our individual pages.  Melissa took a lot of our freewriting through the songwriting practices that she diligently studies and practices with her professors and music students.  With Melissa and I, what one is an expert in the other is (at the least) an expert in the philosophy of.  In this way, we crafted the songs together line by line.  We were (for the first time) in a space wholly focused on applying the lessons of poetry and music that we have found so far.

We entered our northern Michigan stay with 12 incomplete grooves.  Our intention was for these grooves to serve as backbones around which we could flesh out complete songs.  And it worked well that way.  Our breaks from creating included amazing in-season, local and organic foods.  Conversation largely centered around newly emerging reflections on the experience we were sharing.

            We commented on the feelings.  We played with shared definitions.  We smiled and hugged (a lot).  We celebrated the way that creativity and love are affected when given time.  And space. 

One of the times we ventured out into the surrounding communities (we didn’t explore extensively but we went to East Jordan, Ellsworth and Bellaire), I reflected that the experience was as if

We were painters who had canvas and brushes at home. 

We even had most of the paint that we needed. 

Only no red. 

And no yellow. 

Melissa and I work hard.  We often work nonstop for extended periods of time.  We have agreed that it is valuable to practice balance and our nightly music making is part of how we found we can best do that.  We have the tools we need to create.  We have many of the elements that we need to create.  We were struggling with space and time.  ISLAND and the Hill House gave us these, our red and our yellow.

It was like someone said,

“Come we’ve made a place,

We invite you to use it

Bring your paints (or just use ours)

We have red.

We have yellow.”

We are now reflecting on what we have brought home.  Tonight, we played a song that we wrote in those first days about those first days.  It felt wonderful.

We are continuing to experience amazed admiration of the vision and dedication Amanda and Brad Kik offer the art community.  We are thankful for the time we got to spend with Elly.  We thoroughly enjoyed the potluck with ISLAND staff and board members.  We are thankful for all who make ISLAND live, including the National Alliance of Artist Communities.  We were interested to learn of the tremendous resource this national organization has been for ISLAND. 

            We would like to help support the residency model (in general) and the Hill House Residency (in particular).  We believe that residencies are ridiculously valuable.

Sincerely,

marcus sigh

Time & Space to Collaborate: Marcus & Melissa Sigh

“That was one of the best times I’ve ever had anywhere doing anything.” -Marcus Sigh

Emerging musicians Marcus and Melissa Sigh completed their two-week residency at the ISLAND Hill House on July 12 where they collaborated on pieces for their new group, Small Enough to Win.

Joined in life almost six years ago, the Sighs met through their music, but have not had the opportunity to fully collaborate musically until this year.  Marcus is a hip-hop artist and bassist who has performed in Lansing area schools, churches, and community centers. He is also an accomplished audio engineer, videographer, video editor, and graphic design artist. He has successfully woven these skills together on multiple music projects. Melissa is a vocalist, keyboardist, and (beginning) guitarist and has held solo performances at several venues in the Lansing area, including coffee shops, art galleries, and festivals. For the past five years Melissa has taught music in Michigan’s public schools where she collaborated with her students to create and release 9 albums of original music.

Small Enough to Win combines soulful sounds of keyboard and bass guitar with sound engineered drumbeats and rhythms that give the pieces a worldly edge. They also plan to add another dimension to their music through the use of multimedia in performances. “Our approach to music making thus far has been to freely pursue small   grooves or musical concepts that can serve as a backbone to be fleshed out.”

During their two-week stay at the Hill House, Marcus and Melissa, accompanied by their dog Sadie, wrote nine songs, which they performed for the ISLAND Board, staff and friends during a potluck at the Hill House. They return to Lansing with the prospect of a slower summer and the potential for continued collaboration. We wish success to the Sigh’s and renewed energy for their coming work.