“First Impressions”

“I can’t wait to get in to the studio here at home and begin a new body of work based on all of the observational paintings I made over the past few weeks.”
– David Aipperspach

David Aipperspach at work behind the house and his painting.

“The most unexpected boon was the resplendent amount of wild edible plants- as a hobbyist forager, I was so delighted with the abundance of late summer, and every meal my week there was based on or augmented by something from the forest or fields- blackberries, raspberries, sumac, nettle, asiatic dayflower, yarrow, mint- the list goes on.” – Everest Pitkin

Suzette Marie Martin is laughing with joy after having made 17 large works on paper, 17 small studies, 2 canvases and 3 large scale drawings in four fast and happy weeks.

“The grounds and the landscape are gorgeous and inspired an important new direction in my work. Most of all, I valued the time and space to make my work and share in an extended dialogue with fellow artists.” — Wendy Kveck

Studio – photo: @pRODUCT614

“I had an incredible time at Soaring Gardens!!! It really was magical to spend so much undistracted time working and exploring a beautiful landscape. I was able to make over 30 paintings including this one.” — Ben Cowan

Ben Cowan, Soaring Gardens Church, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 16″ x 20″

“Thank you for the incredible experience we had at the residency in August. Last month was one of the most fruitful, inspiring, magical months of my life–we all made a lot of work, including several collaborations.” — Suzanne Stroebe

Studio exterior

“I am preparing (reluctantly) to leave Soaring Gardens today, and I’m sending this entirely inadequate email to express my gratitude for this beautiful gift of a residency with my collaborative fellow artists, Martha and Alice. Words cannot express how deeply touched I am by my experience here…I was also very touched by the church setting, which is bucolic and peaceful, and offered so much in terms of my own creativity – the goats, the horses, the winding gravel roads, the endless horizon. It was all magical…it was a transformative experience being here. For me especially, I found my thinking deepened and my creative process grew in leaps and bounds over the few short weeks.” — Nan Ring

Church (downstairs) – photo: S. Dydo

“I can’t believe what a magical month it was, living and working at Soaring Gardens. Now that I am back in New York City, it seems like a beautiful dream. But I know it was real because I am home with tremendous work accomplished and a feeling of peace and renewal that is with me still.” — Susan Oetgen

Farmhouse and studio exterior – photo: D. Miller-Lanning

“We also enjoyed meeting the resident at the church, Paul, and even arranged a reading one evening. The members of my writing group have already read the longest of the three essays I wrote this June, and several seconded the comment of one: “This essay has convinced me of the power of residencies.” I feel the compliment is yours.” — Alison Kendra Green

Studio (upstairs) – photo: D. Miller-Lanning

“My residency at Soaring Gardens was invaluable to my creativity, my body, and my soul. The four weeks spent there were like a year’s worth of experience and growth.” — Barbara Laube

House (living rooms) – photo: D. Miller-Lanning

“I was fortunate enough to be awarded a three week residency at the Church. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. I had never spent that much time in almost total isolation, just focusing on painting. My days quickly dissolved into what for awhile seemed like an endless continuum of creation, punctuated ever so slightly by a simple meal and sleep.” — John Adams

Farmhouse exterior – photo: S. Dydo

“The time I spent at the Church near Soaring Gardens was like a gift. While I was there, I deeply connected to spaces of quiet and solitude.” – Janell O’Rourke

Church exterior (rear porch) – photo: S. Dydo

“The residency yielded not only a new body of work, but also lent clarity to our individual practices and revealed a model for thinking, making and working in an environment of mutual respect. During that time our separate art-making methods “indeed our identities” were fused into something new that has become a meditation on the act of exchange, artistic process, and conversation.” — Kate McGraw & Ann Tarantino

Church (downstairs) – photo: C. Johnson

“Soaring Gardens was a magical environment, a place to wander, to dream. A place that allowed me to let the unexpected enter into my work.” — Walter Hnatysh

Allée behind the House – B. Moyer-Vinding

“The Church, with its open views of the rolling hills of Pennsylvania…was so compatible and seductive to working.” — Robert Zakanitch

Farmhouse exterior – photo: D. Miller-Lanning