The Land of Here and Now

✳ Residency at Shared Space Studio

Working from my own particular proclivities, I engaged a homesteading process that emphasized intuitive building, deliberate optimism, and scrupulous consideration. Building a homesite became a proprioceptive experiment in making space by being in it, being of it, and being together.

Using mostly only the often overlooked tools of one’s own hands and feet and figuring, we built a settled space from the accumulations of pattern and process and pedantic rambling.  The winding way trail to the site was worn in with a determined treading, a two-step back ‘n forth tramping of the tall grass.  As a place, its only proper boundary was an avian-influenced branch upbuilding, settled and shortened by summer’s sinking in. The homestead site remains, intrinsically malleable, shaped by the the environment within which it is situated.

The living systems within the homestead came from consistent use and conscientious settling. Amenities included personal raised sleep-sites tucked into the pines, outdoor working studio space, way-making within the site, a fireside living room for company, a meadow-specific Hoping Machine, and a series of trace-making actions to tell an after-story. Many of the living practices were based on texts by Swift Lathers, one of Michigan’s most particular and poetic homesteaders. Feel free to read Eliza Fernand's account of the summer homesteaders at the Shared Space website.