Read about our Pine Meadow Ranch Open Studio!

What a wonderful article about our Open Studio that took place on September 19th! This event recap is provided by Arts Assistant Moriah Arnold. Read the full article and see more pictures here.

 

OPEN STUDIO RECAPIt was a warm, late-summer afternoon when The Ranch invited community members to participate in our September 19th Open Studio event.

This Open studio was unlike any other we’ve had at Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture. The September cohort transformed their studios into an interactive art exhibit for visitors to participate in and engage with.

Jamie CorneliusMichelle Swinehart, and Michelle Illuminato have spent the past 2 weeks here on The Ranch collecting data, recording audio of wild birds, and playing with different art techniques to study the red crossbill and how the smoke has been impacting their usual migration patterns.

Two studios on the ranch, The Old Shop and The Pickle Room, were completely transformed on Thursday evening to reflect this collaborative group’s research and musings.

The Old Shop

In The Old Shop was a wall of wonder, which contains questions the collaborators used to brainstorm when they first came onto The Ranch for their residency. These questions mostly pertained to the everyday experience of a bird, how creativity informs action, who gets to ask these questions, and how would they go about being answered.

Sitting in front of the wall of wonder were two recorders equipped with headphones where attendees could listen to Jamie and the Michelle’s as they either read or sang the questions to each other. Beside these recorders were pieces of paper where attendees could pose their own questions about the project and Jamie’s research.

In addition to our community members, there were 2 crossbills in attendance. They were actually a strategic (and entertaining)  part of the experience that day, but normally Jamie uses them for decoy birds when conducting her research in the field.

The Pickle Room

Another studio on the property, the Pickle Room, was used as another immersive art space. What is usually a ceramic studio was transformed into a science lab, with a shadow puppet show and viewfinders containing images of crossbills. While participants were immersing themselves in the Pickle Room, there was an audio track playing on a loop, which was Jamie discussing different aspects of her research. There is a lot to be learned about the crossbill population, and Jamie has spent countless hours studying them and observing their patterns. The transformed Pickle Room felt very much like a museum display with artifacts, interactive elements, and intentional lighting.

The evening concluded with all attendees gathered once again in The Old Shop. Everyone sat in a circle and enjoyed 3 songs written and performed by Jamie on her acoustic guitar. Song topics ranged from crossbills, to finding love as a biologist, and working in the mountains with birds while your husband works on the seas with sharks.

This evening was full of wonderment and we’re grateful to the artists for curating this experience and to the community members who stopped by The Ranch to participate.

Photos by Loma Smith Photography