Good Bye My Muse

I lived on Green Gate Farm on Maury Island for 26 years. Raised two kids, Remodeled the whole house. Made a garden. Had pets come and go. Made lots of largescale art, from giant puppets to murals to scenery for theater, and for the last 14 years, I painted it in oil and watercolor.

I live in West Seattle now, and went back to Green Gate Farm yesterday to clear out the rest of the stuff in my old treehouse studio. When I stepped onto the unmown path to my old studio, I suddenly welled up with tears. It was unexpected and viseral. Like my body’s own reaction to touching a friend that had been close for so long. The mix of sadness and love did not seem to come just from me, but from the land itself as well

I had walked the 1 mile trail that circumnavigates the 15 acre property literally thousands of times. It is more than just a piece of property with woods, fields and ponds. It has been my muse. Songs, poems and ideas for essays percolated up from the soil as I traversed it daily. I watched how the seasons transformed the land, how the trees grew, and animals migrated. Mushrooms, ferns and frog. Heron, Deer and Raven. The madrona and cherry trees blossomed, as did ideas for performances and sculptural installations. As if the land itself was planting seeds there. “Imagine what I can become”, and I did.

Swamp Bottom Jamboree was born from thousands of walks; listening to what the woods and waters wanted. An Outdoor Persformance Celebration at Dusk is how we described it. I think it happened 3 times (or was it 4)? it took around 75 people to put on the progessive performance/art installation for about 400 attendees. People always raved, saying they had never experienced anything like it. I think it is becasue they had never experienced the land itself being such an equal partner in the storytelling. It was not just serving as the enviroment, but was the main character as well.

I love and miss you GreenGate Farm. I want to thank the Atwells, especially Adam, for being the being the Tree Herder, Trail maker, Land crafter. it’s been an honor to watch you work. So much has spun out of those 15 acres, and it’s meant the world to me; a place of healing, creating and becoming. May it always be so for those who are held in its arms.