Community update

April 8, 2013

There is a finally a working title for this new venture that is the artist community outside of Sedona: Acres of PEARLS.  PEARLS stands for Purposefully Engaged, Artistic Real Living Spaces.  It represents several of the concepts that I associate with this new community, which include intentional living, a focus on artists, and a space for each of us to live and work together in a beautiful setting.  It also ties back to a story entitled “Acres of Diamonds” about finding treasure in your own backyard.  We’ll see whether that turns out to be the final name or whether it changes by the time the space is ready for us to move in.

I have closed on the 40 acres of land and am in the process of acquiring another 38 acres and a road that goes along with the new parcel.  The picture on the left is a little rise on the westernmost edge of the land where we did a gratitude ceremony for the ease and grace with which we found and purchased the first parcel of land.  Between the two parcels there are hilly scrub areas, flat grassy areas, forested areas, a dry creek bed – which (pending advice on the matter) we may attempt to revive with wells, and a circular area with an earthen berm around it that used to be used a long time ago for watering cattle.  In connecting with the land and listening to what it had to tell us about its history and uses for the various areas, we heard information from the past as well as advice for the future.

The design process is just about to start.  We’re having some preliminary meetings with the architects now, even though we won’t kick into high gear until the end of the month.  Oh, and that reminds me, I keep saying “we are” not “I am”.  There are several people who have expressed interest in participating in the community already.  One in particular has been really active in working with me on this project.  Since I don’t have permission to blog about her, I won’t mention her name yet, but she knows who she is… 🙂

Not all of the people who have expressed some level of interest are ready to commit, especially since we have no idea what the numbers are going to look like for the individual homes yet.  So far, I will be footing the bill for the build-out of the infrastructure, because I seem to have a habit in this lifetime of manifesting money easily and I have enough to be able to do that.  Actually, I should say the company will, since I’m putting the land in the name of a company who will own it and actually do the development, as well as take care of the maintenance.  It will be essential, especially since we’ve already found out that with multiple homes and one well, we have to form a private water company in order to deliver water to the individual homes we will be building.

As this process goes forward, I’ll be sharing updates and photos along the way to document what we’re doing and where we’re going.  I’ve also created some new glass pieces and need to make some time to blog about them soon…

It’s been a while – new community

January 31, 2013

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted here. Quite a lot has been changing in my life and business. The biggest thing that is changing is that my biggest dream – creating a community for artists – is now in the process of coming true. That has had a huge impact on my focus and my attention for quite a while as I’ve been getting the ball rolling to make this dream a reality.

I was also planning to attend a show in Orlando in April that would allow me to showcase my glass, especially my intention plates, in front of a tribe that I think would be very welcoming of my work. With the change in focus to the artist community, I’ve decided to withdraw from the show so that I’m not splitting myself between two very different efforts that require large amounts of very different focus and attention.

In the coming months, I may be blogging about new pieces of art coming out of the kiln, however, my main focus is likely to be on the community I’m creating. It will be an off-the-grid, completely green project, with housing as well as shared studio space for the artists who live in the community to share ideas and inspiration with each other. I’m currently closing on the 40 acres of land outside of Sedona on which the community will be built. After that, conversations with the architects, engineers and builders will begin. I’ll probably be posting quite a bit about that process as it proceeds.

With this change in topic for the moment, I will understand if some of my readers stop following this blog. However, I am so excited about this new phase of my life that I want to share it with a wider audience. I hope you’ll come along for the ride!