A few weeks ago, just days after the election, Joe and I (Katie) packed up our mobile record lathe and drove up to Cloud Croft Studios in New York state’s beautiful Southern Tier. Months earlier we were invited by the good people at the Tioga Arts Council to put on a record cutting event for the community and spend the rest of the week in residence at Cloud Croft. What a gift this was. We were already looking forward to spending time and creating art in this gorgeous rural place, but after getting sideswiped by the reality of the condition our country is in, the experience felt less like something we wanted and more like something we needed.
As planned, Joe and I spent the week tromping around the woods and fields of Cloud Croft’s 90-acre property, recording natural sounds and making music out of and in response to them. It was very peaceful and restorative to do this. During our time there we also connected with the people from the local community who came out to our record event and to the artist talk we gave on our last evening there. They made us feel welcome and supported; that human connection was as healing as the connection we made with the natural world.
Some kind of Yeti we saw in the woods
Casting a shadow
The view from the converted barn we stayed in
Getting cozy in the barn
The old schoolhouse at Cloud Croft where we did our events
Good advice
Our lathe set-up in the schoolhouse
Meeting people and making records
We created a few songs during our stay and plan to create a set of songs here at home that act as a kind of response to that music. Look for that record in January! Thank you to Suzy and Mike of Cloud Croft Studios and Christina from the Tioga Arts Council for inviting and hosting us, and thanks to our dear buddy Eric, who does one of our all-time favorite zines, Real Tioga, for recommending us for the residency.