My Residency at Brush Creek Ranch: Part 1

As many of you know, I spent my September at Brush Creek Ranch, in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, as a musician in residence through the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts. I shared my time with seven other visual artists, writers, and musicians; all of us living, working, and hiking around the 13,000 acre ranch property.

My primary focus at Brush Creek was recording songs for a forthcoming album. My studio space was a beautifully restored old schoolhouse, and the acoustics were perfect for guitar and voice. Here's a taste of what it looked like:

As you can see, the schoolhouse was an ideal performance space, so I gave a concert for the other residents and guests. That live concert was recorded so I can eventually release it to you folks as well. Yay!

The schoolhouse light was loveliest in the afternoon, and I often took that time to make a video of whatever song felt right. I've uploaded several of them to YouTube, but here's one for now:

From back to front, left to right: Alex Perez, Cheryl Walsh, Beverly Stokes, Nancy Manter, Anna Berry, Wendy Copp, Amy Cimini, Sue Sommers. Photo by Anna Berry

One of the highlights of working at Brush Creek Ranch was the companionship and insight of the other artists. Four visual artists, two writers, and one musician joined me at Brush Creek for the month, and we spent many hours over dinners and evening walks discussing our work, routines, and ups and downs in the life of making art. We also laughed a lot. I felt truly honored to be among them, constantly blown away by their vision and skill.

When we weren't toiling away in our studios, we did a lot together: visiting the natural hot springs in Saratoga, horseback riding at the ranch, and hiking all over the area, including in the Medicine Bow National Forest. In fact we did and saw so many beautiful things that I'm going to have to save it for another post. Prepare yourself, it will be photo heavy!

Love, Bev

P.S. Thank you so much to those who donated to help offset travel and equipment costs while at Brush Creek. If you want to support my musical endeavors or are an outrageously awesome person (or both), you can always donate an amount of your choice using the PayPal link at the top of this blog. Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated! Thanks!