Jun 6, 2019 | Featured News & Events, News

saltonstall open houseJoin us at the colony this Sunday, June 9 from 2:00 – 4:00pm for our first Open House and open studio of the 2019 residency season.

Hear poet marcus scott williams and writer Gina Isabel Rodriguez read from their work. Then explore the open studios of artists Harry Leigh and Patrick Robideau as well as filmmaker Robin Starbuck.

Refreshments are served at 2:00pm. Readings start at 2:30pm; studios will open at approximately 3:15pm. Free and open to the public with free on-site parking. Saltonstall is located at 435 Ellis Hollow Creek Road, just 8 miles east of downtown Ithaca.

Read the snapshots below to learn more about what the artists and writers in this current session have been working on. Hope you’ll join us!

 

Harry Leigh

 

Based in Suffern, artist Harry Leigh is most known for his minimalist sculptures made of wood, but during his residency, he’s been experimenting with other material, creating models for future full-scale works.

“I didn’t come to Saltonstall with any particular plan,” he says, “but I did come with a lot of paper and drawing materials. I expected drawing to be my main activity but to my delight, surprise and pleasure ended up creating a whole new body of small paper sculptures which I will realize in larger form with more durable materials in my home studio.”

“There is no doubt in my mind that Saltonstall’s setting of quiet calm beauty, excellent facilities and meals and the kindred spirits of fellow artist contributed greatly to the atmosphere in which creative and imaginative work is maximized and produced.”

 

Patrick Robideau

 

Sculptor Patrick Robideau comes to Saltonstall from Niagara Falls and like two other members of this month’s cohort, is attending his first residency. He has spent much of the last few weeks building a model (seen here, with figure) of a 66 foot-long installation that will be constructed at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh in September for a 10-month exhibition.

He has also been exploring new ideas with old materials he brought with him. “I am finding the work that has been in front of me the whole time, but never fully realized,” he says. “The solitude and natural beauty of this place form an ideal foundation for the creation of new sculptures. The ability to focus on specific ideas without any distractions is such welcome relief.”

 

Gina Isabel Rodriguez

 

Saltonstall is fiction writer Gina Isabel Rodriguez’s first residency, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Based in New York City, Gina recently resigned from a full-time job to dedicate her time to writing, and Saltonstall has helped her develop a daily practice.

“I’ve never been able to write full-time without the stress of another job in the background,” she says. “Each day at Saltonstall, I write, take a walk, read. I add index cards to my bulletin board to make sure I can see, at a glance, the whole of my multiperspective novel. I hope the other wonderful folks in the main house can’t hear me cursing as I stumble upon new research for this many years-long book project.”

“I practice martial arts to re-center myself, because after reading and writing about the Chilean dictatorship, I need to clear my head. Each day, I sum up my progress, ‘so far so good.’ I worried writing full-time might be overwhelming, but it’s been a sorely-needed gift. If I can keep ‘so far so good’ going for the next few decades of my life, I’ll consider my career a success.”

 

Robin Starbuck

 

Bronxville-based visual artist and experimental filmmaker Robin Starbuck lost both her apartment and studio earlier this spring due to a catastrophic building fire. Four of the eight hard drives containing material for her most recent project were destroyed. She’d been working on a film, “How We See Water” for the past four years, traveling to Chiapas, Mexico to document the lives of two young women artisans and street vendors.

She brought the remaining hard drives to Saltonstall and has spent much of the residency reorganizing her thoughts around the film. “My thinking about this film has accordingly migrated away from its original documentary form,” she says, “and is shaping up to be a film as much about defenselessness and the frailty of our human existence, than about the political position I had originally intended to investigate. But most importantly, I have designed the structure for the film. Having the time here to work this out allows me to head into my sabbatical with a six month editing and animation plan clearly mapped out.”

 

marcus scott williams

 

Poet marcus scott williams comes to Saltonstall from the Bronx. This is his first residency. He has spent much of the past few weeks working on new poems for a collection entitled, bootleg self-help poems.

“People are so angry,” he says, referring to the current political climate. “Anger can’t be useful on its own. I’m looking for ways to look at the world that aren’t so tribal. The thing that’s been missing in poetry is gentleness. The bootleg self-help poems are my way of saying, ‘here’s how I’m being gentle with myself.'”

 

 

saltonstall open house2019 Open House dates:

 

SundayJuly 14: 2-4pm

SundayAugust 18: 2-4pm

SundaySept. 8: 2-4pm

TuesdaySept. 24: 5:30 – 7:30pm

Mark them on your calendar and we’ll soon see you there!