Amy “Muscles” Malcolm Adds a New Work to The Homestead Landscape

Amy Malcolm, a recent graduate of Glasgow School of Art in Scotland has constructed an awesome sculpture that we had the privilege to lend a hand on today. With still a few steps to go before it’s complete, it is nearly there, and looks absolutely beautiful in its place. We even got to bring out the fork lift!!!

Amy hangin' out on her work before moving the 11ft., 350lb.(ish) structure to the front field.

sloooowwly lifting what we have playfully dubbed "Nessie" upright.

After 2+ weeks of building, Amy finally gets to climb up and enjoy!

We’re totally pumped about this new addition. Stay tuned for some more images of the final product.

Cheers!!

Fishing with Artists…

Last week we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and made a trip down to Montana Creek and to try our hands at fishing. Turns out, we have a few naturals on our hands….

Nicole, Chad, and Richard waiting for their catch

Ann enjoys a whole different kind of fishing - goldfishin'! By far the most popular (and poignant) snack of the day!)

Not such bad scenery, eh?

It was a great day, and we came home with two impressive catches.. which made for some delicious eatin’ two nights later!!!

 

 

one down, two to go…

Our first week of residency is coming to a close today… and it’s been a good one! In addition to great weather upon arrival and an exciting walk around the property to see all the surviving art, everyone has been busy getting knee-deep into awesome new projects – big sculptures, beautiful videos, surreal installations, and clever experiments have already taken shape and kept us busy.

Taking a moment during the tour of the grounds to view Shari Mendlowitz's scultpure still standing in the field.

Richard and Amy working on her sculpture.

A whole lot more is in store as the session continues.. stay tuned for some freshly finished works and field trip photos!!!

The Homestead AK 2011 Season is here!!!

It’s official! We’re all here and enjoyed the first few days of the season with unbeatable warmth and sunshine. For the next three weeks we’ve welcomed four new artists to The Homestead AK from across the globe: Nicole Jean Hill, Amy Malcolm, Ann Mansolino, and Lauren Yeager, and will re-welcome returning guest artist Chad Arnholt for a week-long visit halfway through the residency session.

We’ll have updates as the session progresses, but for now… it’s time to get to work!!!

 

Fish On

Ah the season is upon us and changes in the regulations this year for king salmon season pose a big change to durational fishing, this will hopefully help overall population in future years, fingers crossed. We have often spent 24 plus hours at a time down on the bank knee deep in combat fishing (an Alaska tradition of fishing shoulder to shoulder) a practice that has often renewed my belief that people are good, by following a few simple rules : 1) Don’t take someone elce’s spot (once they catch theirs they will move on) 2) When you hook into a salmon yell “Fish On”, if you hear “Fish On” get your line out of the way (kings can swim at 50 mph bursts)  3) If you get your line tangled with someone who has “Fish On” cut it, if its crossed, from a errant cast or drift with another work together to get it uncrossed  4) have fun, be safe, paticent and respectful.

Noted Excerpt from 2011 Sport Fishing Regulations Changes Highlights all the regulations and changes can be found at  http://www.adfg.alaska.gov

• The king salmon season on Parks Highway streams within Unit 2 of the Susitna River is reduced. King salmon fishing is open until the third Monday in June and for the next two consecutive three-day weekends (Saturday-Monday). This year these streams will be open from January 1 -June 20, June 25-June 27, July 2-July 4. In addition, fishing is only al­ lowed from 6 a.m.-11 p.m. in waters open to king salmon fishing from May 15-July 13. These new regulations apply to all flowing waters within Unit 2, including Willow, Little Willow, Grays, Caswell, Sheep, Montana, Sunshine, and Rabideux creeks, and the Kashwitna River.

“These things look so easy in Alaska”

was the attention-grabbing topic sentence of this awesome article in the NYTimes.

Just in case the digital-subscription police prevent you from reading, here’s the gist:

24-year-old pilot, Jason Maloney insisted on landing his single engine Piper Warrior airplane on a beach in Queens. Why? because he had a passenger suffering from airsickness and he probably just thought it would be fun. He got the idea from watching “Flying Wild Alaska”, a TV show that features crazy and dangerous flying landings (in Alaska). Reading through the article, it grows questionable whether or not this kid needed the emergency landing, or just wanted to have some fun. After all, he walked away from the plane at the scene and confusedly addressed the police officers with, “What’s the big deal? It happens all the time in Alaska”.

We like this kid, because in any case, emergency or not, he was resourceful, calm, and sharp. The opportunity for this sort of improvisation is exactly why we like Alaska, and why we welcome the break from the rest of the world for a couple months every year. One of our favorite and oldest Homestead AK mottos is, “Sometimes you just gotta get wet”. You want something? Build it. or catch it, or fix it, or land it… even if it’s a little off-kilter.

We like Cove Park!!!

This week we had the privilege to take a stroll through the grounds of Cove Park – an artist residency in Argyll, Scotland enjoying its 11th season this summer. Among its enjoyable innovations are these re-purposed, grass-roofed shipping containers that serve as living and studio accommodations for artists.

We also enjoyed their Scottish equivalent to our beloved moose – this very friendly (and cute!) highland cow… just one of several who are free to graze the property.

Take a look at the Cove Park website and see what they’re all about!!!

What’s that we smell???

Oh just some delicious Alaskan birch syrup. And maybe a field trip for our 2011 artists.

We’re gettin’ socially networked!!!

That’s right folks… after three facebook-phobic and tweet-free years, we’re getting connected and you’ve managed to network your way to our brand spankin’ new blog. You have hereby stumbled upon our newest forum for keeping our artists connected, and the news fresh for all our friends and alumni.

You can also friend us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. You know, just to keep all your bases covered.

Love always,

The Homestead AK Team