Soaring Gardens Artistsí Retreat offers residencies to visual artists, writers and composers between May and September.

Soaring Gardens is located in rolling hill country dotted with dairy farms approximately one hour west and slightly north of Scranton, Pennsylvania. From the house and studios you can see the northern end of the Appalachian mountains-one hours drive away. It is a ten-minute drive to Laceyvilleóthe closest town.

Soaring Gardens Artistsí Retreat consists of two separate properties:

Soaring Gardens itself. This was Ora Lermanís country retreat. It consists of a large four-bedroom farmhouse and an adjoining studio building with two 720 sq. ft. studios on twenty-three acres of land. Around the house are extensive flower gardens and a pond. The house was built in 1850 by Frank Gay who made his fortune in the California Gold Rush. For many years the house was the center of an extensive farm. Gradually various parts of the farm were sold off.

In 1973 Ora Lerman, looking for a country place where she could paint landscapes, purchased the house and its adjoining machine shop.

Ora converted the upstairs of the machine shop into a studio. Until her death she lived and painted here in the summers. The rest of the year she lived in Manhattan where in addition to painting she was an active teacher.

In the late 1980s Ora was a guest artist at Giverny on the first of two grants she received from Reader's Digest. Inspired by Monetís garden, Ora designed a grand allé here and gradually developed extensive perennial gardens which inspired her to call her property "Soaring Gardens".

The Church. Ten minutes drive from the house is a small turn-of-the century church.Some forty years ago it was converted into two studios and living quarters by the painters, Jules and Cornelius Kirschenbaum. Cornelius gifted it to The Ora Lerman Charitable Trust in the fall of 2000.

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The Ora Lerman Charitable Trust Web Site
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Artists' Residency Application Information

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Eligibility

Any actively working visual artist, writer or composer may apply. Residencies are available between May and September at either the House or the Church.

• The House at Soaring Gardens
  Depending on the nature of their work, the house can accommodate up to three working artists. Since the residents will be living closely together we encourage people to apply as a group. A group may consist of any combination of artistic disciplines. (Preference will be given to group applications.) Residencies at the House are from 2 to 6 weeks.

• The Church
  The Church can accommodate one or two artists. The living arrangements will work best for two people who are comfortable sharing together. Residencies at the Church are from 2 to 8 weeks

• While the Trust will consider applications from all artists who believe that they can benefit from a residency at Soaring Gardens, we particularly encourage applications from emerging women artists.

• Please note:
  When you come to either the house or the church you must provide your own transportation. You will need a car. You will be expected to shop, cook and clean up for yourself. A gardener maintains the grounds, and once a week a housekeeper does a general cleaning.

Applications

Each summer's applications are due on March 10 of that year. Preference will be given to group applications.

To apply please send:

• A proposal of the project(s) you wish to undertake during your residency.
• How long a residency you would wish and which dates would work best for you. (Please also indicate how flexible your dates can be.)
• A curriculum vitae or resume (one for each potential resident)
• Examples of your work (We are happy to return these if you include a stamped self addressed envelope.)
• Two letters of recommendation for each potential resident; one professional and one personal. (Please be sure they include a telephone number, so we can call them.)

Subject: Re: Soaring Gardens Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 20:23:34 EDT From: JulianRene@aol.com To: dostwald@worldnet.att.net Dear David, Thank you for the opportunity to have blissful weeks at Soaring Gardens. We returned to a hellish city heat wave and mountains of mail, but rich with memories of clear starry nights, green pastures, the scent of white lilies at dusk, butterflies and the rare expanse of time unburdened with any need but to be responsive to the glorious day and its gifts. My work opened to the nature around me. I did a very surreal photo project with dolls in the pond and amongst the flowers and nearly completed 3 paintings of dolls interacting with the local fauna, as well as voraciously reading and looking through many of the hundreds of exceptional art books Ora had. I especially devoured the mythology, folk art, fairy tales and Surrealists sections. I felt a strong connection to Ora's artistic subject matter. We were delighted to see some post cards of her work - the plaster pieces on the porch and the tapestry in the front downstairs bedroom are wonderful. She created a whole mythological world with toys and folk pieces. Julian too was absorbed in the wonderful library. He was very happy to have access to so many fine Asian art books as his own work generates from a Zen like approach to the process of painting. He made a large series of beautiful Sumi ink paintings and nearly finished 4 atmospheric oil paintings that are meditations on the seemingly infinite variety of greens in the mountainous landscape. We deeply relaxed and regenerated. We toasted you and Ora on our last night. She must have been an incredible spirit. She has left a beautiful legacy. The place is magical. Thank you for making it all happen and for being! Hope your summer so far has been sweet. Best Regards, Rene Lynch & Julian Jackson

Please send your application to:

THE ORA LERMAN CHARITABLE TRUST
ARTISTSí RESIDENCY AT SOARING GARDENS
c/o Trudy Gerlach
RD2 Box 228
Wyalusing, PA 18853
(please send as "no signature required")

Questions?
Please, if at all possible, use e mail:
dostwald@worldnet.att.net
Otherwise call (212) 645 0834 or write to the above address

Our artist residency is listed with artdeadline.com