accommodations
camping
We have a beautiful landscape for tent-camping, with cleared paths and campsites tucked in the trees, up on the hill, or back by the pond. Bring your own tent with a rain fly, tarp, sleeping bag, and any other camping gear that you need. We do allow van-campers! Vans must stay in the camp parking lot near the road.
We can get heavy rainstorms and chilly nights here during camp, so be prepared! Seal your seams, and bring quality tarps and rain-flies, personal rain gear and boots, and extra warm layers. Residents will be given a detailed list of suggestions.
MEALS
We provide three delicious vegetarian meals each day, always with vegan options. Snacks, coffee, and tea are made available all day. Breakfast is a rotation of eggs and potatoes, loaded oatmeal, yogurt/granola, or maybe something special! Lunches and dinners are a wide variety of veggies, beans, rice, potatoes, pastas, soups, and wraps, and we have fresh salads with greens growing right in the garden at camp. Meals are planned and prepared by our kitchen staff, and served buffet-style in our large outdoor Picnic Pavilion. There is also a grocery store in town if you need anything extra for yourself.
BATHROOM FACILITIES
Water comes from a well and runs to taps at the Water Grove in the center of camp, as well as in the kitchen, and at the studio barn. The Water Grove has running water at a utility sink for washing clothes, filling water jugs, or brushing your teeth. There is a solar-heated shower and a curtained-off space with a mirror for changing. We also take frequent trips to the lake to swim and bathe, and there is a coin laundry in town.
Toilets are either in outhouses or in open-air outdoor privies. We use a composting toilet system, layering with peat moss in the toilets, and then layering with hay in a composting corral. The peat moss keeps it from smelling, and it’s truly a pleasurable way to poop in the woods. All privies and outhouses have a hand washing station nearby.
Shared Daily Chores
Resident artists and staff all come together in our picnic pavilion for three hearty, delicious meals each day, prepared by our kitchen staff in our outdoor kitchen. After lunch, we all work together to complete the simple daily chores that keep camp running. Chores are assigned on a rotating basis, and only take about 30 minutes to one hour each day. Chores might include helping the kitchen staff wash dishes or prep for dinner, filling and hauling water jugs, collecting firewood, helping to clear a trail, or maintaining the composting toilets (we call it “poop patrol” and it’s really not that bad, we promise!)
STUDIO SPACE
Workspace includes our Studio Barn, the A-frame, the outdoor Clay Cathedral, the Porcupine Palace in the woods, the Oak Tree Theater stage in the woods, plenty of outdoor space to set up with an optional canvas carport covering, and the large covered outdoor Picnic Pavilion (between meals). Electricity is available in our Studio Barn and A-frame, and Wifi is available under the crab apple tree, or in town at the Ewen Library.
All residents have access to indoor and outdoor shared studio spaces, use of shop tools, electricity, and assorted hardware. Local transportation is also provided for field trips, touring local workshops, and going to the lake. See Projects pages (Clay, Independent) for details.
collaborative building projects
Residents and staff may work on collaborative building projects during the residency, such as fixing up old picnic tables, constructing a lumber rack, or welding kiln burner brackets. We use mostly reclaimed, salvaged, and donated materials, and use our creativity to build what we need with what we already have. These projects are either directly related to your workshop area, or are optional, but if you want to join in and help out, you might learn some new skills!
CAMPY Fun
Breakfast bells ring to welcome the day, trombones sound to lead you on adventures, and the croaking of frogs and coyote calls will lull you to sleep at night.
Gather on the deck of the A-frame for afternoon music circles and beautiful sunsets, convene in the picnic pavilion before dinner for “camptail hour” drinks and presentations by your fellow residents, and cluster around the campfire for songs and s’mores at night.
It stays light outside until almost 10pm here in summer…but once those stars come out, wow! The Perseid Meteor shower happens each year in August for extraordinary star-gazing. We’ve even seen the Northern Lights! There are miles of maintained and marked hiking trails through the woods and meadows, with spaces to explore, relax, and experience this gorgeous environment along the way.
