CAMPHAUS
4+ mo residency options
What is your best season availability?
January to April
May to August
September to December
Are you questioning your art, education or career life in post pandemic world?
Are you seeking a safe place to rediscover or redirect your creative path?
Are you yearning to contribute to a meaningful art community endeavor?
Are you looking for a solid chunk of time to create while making connections to others and the land?
An exclusive option with only two rooms available in the Camphaus with the camp cats to spend FOUR months practicing and refining your craft in a nature immersion and farm stay experience. Perfect option for remote workers or even a sabbatical.
Has the pandemic left you in a state of impermanence where you may have the time to settle into a routine for your practice while being hands on in a nature retreat farm environment?
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Escape to a happy nature oasis where time is flexible and life's demands are organic. Have a dream to live short term in a cat cafe? You will love our friendly rescues who want lap cat time.
Spend at least FOUR MONTHS in an evolving live/work residency retreat environment where your art practice can thrive and you'll enrich the landscape and retreat with your ingenuity and physical activity. Be a part of the longer ebb and flow as creative people interested in nature looking for the pit stop between your past and your future.
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Be a part of the sprouting of a unique residency established and managed by a multi-faceted artist (former graphic design professor) who has chosen to walk away from the h.o.v. lane to forge a metaphorical unpaved path in the rural rolling hills of Tennessee. One may consider this better than a post-bacc or even grad option. One may consider this as the space between life as an educator and life as an arts entrepreneur or other endeavor.
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The live/work space is fully furnished and creatively decorated to encourage your immersive mind-wandering. You'll reside in the camphaus (a Queen ensuite or a Queen shared bath) and participate in the shared economy communal aspect of the residency program. Spots are also available for those who have transitioned to nomadic van or camper life.
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Start and end dates are negotiable based on availability. If there are certain life circumstances affecting your plans, definitely reach out to discuss.
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ROLLING APPLICATION PROCESS.
Applications reviewed regularly. APPLY NOW
AN ALTERNATIVE LANE
For those that are using the pandemic as a catalyst for change, this long term residency is an opportunity to travel slowly in an alternative lane, sometimes forging your own unpaved path to the future with several others of like mind, drive, and determination.
Nature should probably be your muse, inspiration, collaborator, or co-conspirator.
History has given us numerous movements including the anti-academic Bauhaus which we can channel in our own unique way as a random group coming together for a common cause of camaraderie in uncertain times.
What would you do surrounded by nature and animals where you can see the stars on a clear moonless night, watch the pace of nature in going slow, wander into the bamboo grove or sit by the lazy Buffalo river, listen to variety of sounds from birds to wind, smell the earth after rain, and follow the seasons into a new year?
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The guild movements of Arts & Crafts along with the Bauhaus can be an inspiration for an eclectic group in this camphaus process. Application will include an interview via zoom to ensure that personalities will all jive.
WHY WONDER & WANDER?
EMBRACE A PHILOSOPHY OF WONDER WANDERING. Engage in Forest Therapy and all that comes with an escape into a rural location 20 minutes from civilization (with only a few neighbors in visual distance). When would you have time to stare at a snail for more than 10 minutes or intentionally embrace happy accidents in your own craft? An introduction to the land will be a complimentary Forest Therapy session with Val, certified by ANFT.
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Being physically active on the land can nourish your spirit and help you in your creative pursuits. Take a walk whenever you want. Visit the donkeys. Talk to the chickens. Hang out with the tripod Pyrenees. Let your mind wander as you wonder about whatever you notice in the landscape.
"Expect three main benefits from nature: restoration, contemplation and inspiration. All of them are crucial for creative leaders. Nature restores us. It gives us physical and emotional health—when it comes to stress relief, breathing fresh air is as close to medicine as you can get. Being in the mountains or near the ocean directly affects our health in a good way. After just 20 minutes in a natural setting, our levels of cortisol, which is a stress indicator, decrease significantly." for the full article click here to read "The outdoors prescription: how nature ignites creativity" by Kate Inglis
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Scientific reasons support the philosophy and methodology of the Sarasvati Creative Space at Camp Wonder Wander. Learn more: NPR's On Point with Tom Ashcroft original airing July 24, 2015.
Tips for an aging brain include Be Social!, Engage in New Experiences that challenge your way of thinking and allow for sense of Wonder, Don't Multitask - put the phones away, Eat Healthy Real Food.... and more in a delightful conversation.
"Take two hours of pine forest and call me in the morning" also discusses the need to put away phones and get into nature to lower blood pressure, reduce stress and more.
WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?
Each participant has a private room to work and access to a variety of work space options on the property. Residency houses are fully furnished and creatively designed. You have access to living and dining/kitchen area. On occasion we would have group meals and social opportunities. What organic conversations may bubble up at the end of the day or around a fire?
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if these are some of your questions, please email before applying:
What are the personal expectations of living with others?
What are the personal expectations of living in a space during seasonal changes?
What are the personal responsibilities of being a part of a dream turning reality?
What is it like living in a rural area?
What are the fees associated with this and why?
When would I know who else will be there?
What do I have to sign?
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You can apply to start the conversation or if you have a specific question before submitting the application and the application fee, please contact Val at mail @ campwonderwander.org .
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Please see the FAQ for rates, work expectations, and Guest Policy to ensure you are acceptable of all facets of the residency.
