Wowzers! What a year. I retired from my job as a scientific illustrator/research technician on July 1, I got remarried on October 10 to Jennifer, a wonderfully creative lady, and we have made lots of progress on building an art retreat at our property located in Sessums, Mississippi.
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| Joe and Jennifer MacGown |
Yep, I have long wanted to create an art retreat of some type where people can come look at art, create art, participate in art and music events, to enjoy and learn about nature, and even to start an artist in residence program. The idea sounds a bit crazy, but I believe it is feasible.
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| the front of our art house |
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| living room area with art on wall and art border |
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| kitchen/dining |
We plan on turning the existing house into a place for resident artists to stay while visiting and using other rooms as inexpensive sleeping options for various guests who may be at an event or something. We will be building a small cabin near the pond to live in, which gives us this amazing option! If all goes well, we are hoping to be ready by the fall of 2021. We already have a functioning studio, are about 80% complete on a cool art cabin/studio, have started building a gallery/workshop, and have a cool pavilion on the pond, which would be perfect for musicians to play on!
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| pavilion on a snowy day |
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| art cabin |
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| gallery/workshop started |
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| rafters |
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| studio |
One goal is to have an artist in residence come stay for one to three weeks, with perhaps 3-4 artists per year. I would like each artist to leave their footprint on the property in same way such as creating a sculpture, painting a mural (or helping), doing a painting, or some other expression of what they do. Also, I am hoping to have artists conduct workshops in the gallery/workshop building that I recently started building.
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| a fun view of studio and pavilion from pond |
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| painting in the canoe! |
I am looking forward to completing these projects so we can get started on hosting art events as well as showcasing our own art!
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| current work |
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| love my inks |
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| some of Joseph's whimsical ceramic pieces |
Happy new year!
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