Drop Forge & Tool

The second week of my sabbatical I spent doing the most astonishingly amazing creative residency at Drop Forge & Tool in Hudson New York. They're a relatively new residency program open (unusually) to creatives of all stripes--artists, writers, theater troupes, musicians--those working solo and collaborative groups. I got to live in an enormous beautiful art-filled apartment (ground floor of the house above) and work in an enormous beautiful light-filled studio (attic above, also seen directly below in its pristine shape before I started setting it up to my own desires and specifications). I've never had any dedicated studio space before in my life, so to suddenly have so much was amazing. I had two separate tables--one for writing and one for painting and drawing--and could spread out all my pictures all over the huge floor and think about what I wanted to do with them. I wrote and made pictures all day, and also took a very inspirational field trip to Storm King Art Center one afternoon (fantastic! it does what art does to your brain, and what nature does to your brain, at the same time!) (art below by Andy Goldsworthy and Alexander Calder). I most highly recommend that any and all creative maker-of-things people apply for one of these residencies. It was just so great and really set the tone for the whole rest of my sabbatical just perfectly. One of the most inspiring things I've ever done in my whole life. No kidding.