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WASSAIC, N.Y. — When Bowie Zunino is interviewing candidates for residencies at the Wassaic Project, she spends a lot of time trying to talk them out of coming.
“I tell them, it’s rough,” she said. “Your studio will be in a barn. If there’s tons of water outside, chances are there’s going to be a bit of water inside, too. It’s all about managing expectations.”
Floods, freezes, vintage (and minimal) sanitation: Ms. Zunino and her collaborators have endured much since the Wassaic Project’s beginnings nearly seven years ago as a weekend arts festival held in an old grain elevator and mill here, and conjured up by Ms. Zunino, now 32, Eve Biddle, a friend and art partner from the Rhode Island School of Design, and Elan Bogarin, a filmmaker.
But despite her efforts to lower the expectations of would-be artists-in-residence, what began almost as a lark (and was intended to be short-lived) is now a mature and vibrant arts center and year-round community. And many of its former artists-in-residence and festival attendees have been so taken by its leaky, rustic charms that they have moved here full-time.
Spreading out among the grain elevator and mill, a century-old former hotel and bar, a schoolhouse and a cavernous livestock auction house/barn, the Wassaic Project’s elements to date include a summer camp, a haunted house, arts programming in the local school and an annual parade, along with its festival, residencies and exhibitions.
Last year’s festival drew 5,000 attendees. To read more click HERE!
art peeps in farm country
Posted: September 28 2015
2015 Summer Exhibition Party
WASSAIC, N.Y. — When Bowie Zunino is interviewing candidates for residencies at the Wassaic Project, she spends a lot of time trying to talk them out of coming.
“I tell them, it’s rough,” she said. “Your studio will be in a barn. If there’s tons of water outside, chances are there’s going to be a bit of water inside, too. It’s all about managing expectations.”
Floods, freezes, vintage (and minimal) sanitation: Ms. Zunino and her collaborators have endured much since the Wassaic Project’s beginnings nearly seven years ago as a weekend arts festival held in an old grain elevator and mill here, and conjured up by Ms. Zunino, now 32, Eve Biddle, a friend and art partner from the Rhode Island School of Design, and Elan Bogarin, a filmmaker.
But despite her efforts to lower the expectations of would-be artists-in-residence, what began almost as a lark (and was intended to be short-lived) is now a mature and vibrant arts center and year-round community. And many of its former artists-in-residence and festival attendees have been so taken by its leaky, rustic charms that they have moved here full-time.
Spreading out among the grain elevator and mill, a century-old former hotel and bar, a schoolhouse and a cavernous livestock auction house/barn, the Wassaic Project’s elements to date include a summer camp, a haunted house, arts programming in the local school and an annual parade, along with its festival, residencies and exhibitions.
Last year’s festival drew 5,000 attendees. To read more click HERE!