Culture-Making In Context

In Situ Polyculture Commons (ISPC) is a nonprofit arts residency, commons and cultural catalyst located in Southeastern Vermont, on the unceded land of the Elnu Abenaki people.

 

in si·tu. /ˌin ˈsīto͞o,ˌin ˈsito͞o/

adverb: in the original place.

adjective: situated in the original, natural, or existing place or position.

pol·y·cul·ture. /ˈpälēˌkəlCHər/

noun: the simultaneous cultivation of several diverse kinds of [creativity, culture-making and beings]

 

We at In Situ Polyculture Commons (ISPC) champion the meaningful intersection of creativity and ecology: all culture-making and expression happens in a specific context comprised of place, time and myriad, interwoven relationships— whether or not an artist’s focus is solely on those connections.

ISPC is an experiment in revitalizing an old idea; the creation of creative space to be shared as commons. We are especially interested in;

• supporting collaborative practices between individual artists in unique disciplines, established collaboration groups, and cultivating cross-disciplinary opportunities for inspiration, art-making, and learning,

• re-skilling artists and the general public in relationship to the materials of making,

• supporting the creative lives and wellbeing of artists by investing in their creative practices, offering time, space, resources and community,

• stewarding diverse and nourishing commons committed to regenerative practices,

and

• piloting possibilities for regenerative, egalitarian and utopian practices that can inspire other organizations.

the Commons

In Situ Polyculture Commons is a small, private art residency campus with rustic but comfortable accommodations. We have two yurts and a small community kitchen for self catering, as well as ample space for tenting. We are close enough to the villages of Rockingham, VT for access to guesthouses and inns (Saxtons River, Bellows Falls, & Chester, VT).

A 2,000 square foot barn on the Hartley Hill property underwent extensive renovation and revitalization in 2023, to provide comfortable, shared and private work spaces for the resident founders, local artists, and visiting artist residents. Links to both Accessibility info and Facilities info are below.

The studio barn and surrounding environs lend themselves well to; visual art, music, writing, poetry, dance, collaborative work, land-based work, research, reflection, ephemeral practices, small workshops and educational retreats. We do have some material and media restrictions based on our ecological impact philosophy, and the studio’s ability to accommodate them, but we aim to be able to serve as many types of creative expression as we can!

Types of Programming at In Situ

Self-Directed Residencies (or as we like to think of them, incredibly important art-vacations)

Collaborative Group Residencies (making your art with your collaborators or in community with your art pals)

Workshop offerings on our Campus (art, material-making or ecology-related courses for the general public)

Institutional Collaborations (local venue with a need to host a visiting performer? Collaborative residency, exhibition or workshop idea?)

You can learn more about the upcoming programs we have on offer, including workshops and residencies, at the Programs link below.

We also welcome proposals from artists, curators and other organizations for residencies, retreats and workshops.

Don’t wait for an application round to open, go ahead and send us a proposal! Please send us a message on our Contact page, so we can learn more about what you envision.

Art, Food & Community: Fertile Grounds

Our residency ethos goes beyond simply studios as fertile creative spaces. We are interested in what nourishes us, and how;
Art, Food, and Community.

Sharing meals together is one of the informal and very essential ways that we create polyculture— ISPC programming is often self-catering and folks can expect to be self-responsible for their food and meals, however we do often make communal welcome meals and co-create food together throughout the course of a program. Some of the food is grown on-site, but much of what we stock and serve here is cultivated by neighboring homesteads, small farms, and ethical foragers in our region.

We are committed to the material reality of our campus and our studio practices. Material knowledge, ancestral practices, re-skilling artists and people’s hands is an essential task.

The commons on Hartley Hill are approximately 9 acres of meadow and steep incline woodland with some trails adjacent to large stretches of undeveloped woodland; a mixture of hardwoods like ironwood and maple, hemlocks and evergreens. Like much of New England, the forest is recovering from clearcutting and heavy grazing in the 19th century, and is second generation growth for the most part.

We are cultivating multiple groves of perennial fruit and nut trees and shrubs, as well as diverse beds and swaths of perennial native wildflowers and edible and medicinal herbs. We have blueberries, raspberries, russet apples and pears, mulberries, hazelnuts, butternuts, chestnuts and pawpaws thriving amongst the goldenrod, asters and milkweed. We aren’t expert gardeners or horticulturalists yet, but we are learning to steward a nourishing and diverse array of plants, both cultivated, domestic food varieties and indigenous plants will help to feed us, our residents, our neighbors, and also especially our non-human neighbors; we see porcupines, deer, chipmunks, foxes, fishers, possums, monarch butterflies, skunks, barred owls, hawks, finches, bluebirds and occasionally a bear!

Goldenrod ink, mushroom spore printmaking, dogbane fiber, knotweed paper, garden tomatoes and maple syrup are all examples of materials that we have cultivated, foraged / harvested, processed and used at In Situ Polyculture.

Community

In Situ Polyculture is a utopian project initiated by founders Candace Jensen and Owen Schuh, who currently function as volunteer staff. We have a generous, volunteer advisory Board of Directors comprised of working artists & Vermont community members. They have enormous heart, intellect and talent.

We are also defined by the ever-growing community of curious and creative folk who visit us for programs, workshops, residencies or the occasional bonfire on the hilltop! As well as our local partners, inns and fellow art organizations with shared vision and a commitment to the local community. We’re proud to host & collaborate with them, and share a window into their diverse work through our Community Page.

Our community is also much larger than just the human beings who take our workshops, teach, create artwork here, and support our staff— we acknowledge and value the birds, mammals, mycelium, trees, grasses, bugs, lichens, frogs and all other critters and flora who are our neighbors, our collaborators, our friends (and sometimes antagonists— looking at your mosquitoes!).

Learn more about all of us below:

The Context of In Situ

Located just outside the village of Saxtons River, VT on Hartley Hill, In Situ Polyculture Commons is on the unceded land of the Elnu Abenaki, in the Dawnland of Turtle Island.

To learn more about the Abenaki in Vermont and the Northeast today, we highly recommend looking up and supporting the efforts and organizing going on through the Atowi Project: https://www.atowi.org/

“Atowi is an Elnu Abenaki community initiative to affirm Native relationships to the Land and its inhabitants, raise Indigenous voices, and foster inclusion with understanding, in place.”

Coming Soon...

Residency Application Open Calls: In 2024 we will launch a general application open call for residency sessions. Watch our Instagram and join our Newsletter to be the first to know!

Resources and Further Reading: A list of resources and further reading is coming soon, to encourage other to be inspired by the numerous books, speakers, thinkers, cultural artifacts and schools of thought and action that have informed our approach and our vision.

Consulting and Education: We are striving to cocreate the world we want to live in— and once we figure some of this stuff out, we want to share it! How do you transform private land and make art commons? How do you share rental space or unused or underutilized parts of your property with artists and creative folk, who otherwise might not have space to do their work? How can we more meaningfully inspire the intersection of horticulture, agriculture, and land stewardship with creative work, cultural production, and creative expression? These are the questions we seek to answer through dialogue, experimentation and determination.

 

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In Context

Located just outside the village of Saxtons River, VT on Hartley Hill, In Situ Polyculture Commons is an experiment in revitalizing an old idea; the creation of creative space to be shared as commons. A small art residency with rustic but comfortable accommodations, we have two yurts and ample space for tenting, and are close enough to the village for access to guesthouses and inns. A 2,000 square foot barn is undergoing renovations and updates in 2023 to provide comfortable work space to be shared amongst the resident founders, local artists, and visiting artists. The studio barn will lend itself to visual art, music, writing, poetry, dance, collaborative work, small workshops and educational retreats.

The village of Saxtons River has a post office and a well-stocked General Store, as well as Main Street Arts, an arts organization with theatre, community programming and exhibitions space. Only 10 minutes away by car is Bellows Falls, VT, where restaurants, bars, bookstores, grocery and other amenities can be accessed, as well as the local Amtrak line with direct train service to Burlington VT, New York City, and Philadelphia.

The Vermont towns of Westminster, Brattleboro, Putney, Grafton, Chester, Springfield and Londonderry are all accessible by a short drive (or bike ride!) and host their own arts organizations, farmers markets, libraries, parks and conservation spaces for hiking and outdoor recreation.

In Situ Polyculture Commons is on unceded land of the Elnu Abenaki in the Dawnland of Turtle Island. To learn more about the Abenaki in Vermont and the Northeast today, we highly recommend looking up and supporting the efforts and organizing going on through the Atowi Project: https://www.atowi.org/

“Atowi is an Elnu Abenaki community initiative to affirm Native relationships to the Land and its inhabitants, raise Indigenous voices, and foster inclusion with understanding, in place.”