Hello friends….It has been awhile!
I am fairly active on Instagram which strangely makes me feel a connection with all of you out there in social media… (You can find me here @dorrae and @creekroadhomestead) That being said …
I was shocked to look back and see how long it had been since my last blog post. So, today I’m taking a mantra from my friend Karly Borden over at The Public Running Club to “Begin Again”.
(side note) This little catch up post is being shared both here as well as my Photography site. As most self employed artist know we have many different worlds we live/work in and they often collide. This is one of those collisions.
The last year I have spent time reflecting on who I am as an artist, what my art is, what process I want to use, how I want to work? I have applied some of those same question to how we run Creek Road Homestead, how we want to use this land? The one thing I know is we are all a work in progress. Changing and growing, always evolving.
In photography I still enjoy the occasional traditional portrait session such as this sweet couple.
But I’m mostly excited to continue my journey down the path of Alternative Process Photography. This is such a broad range of ways to capture, create and print images. I have several methods I am looking forward to trying but one of my new favorites is the printing method of Polymer Photogravure. I’ll share more about that process in another post but here is an image currently included in the Texas Photographic Society members only show at The Cain Gallery in Corpus Christi.
“Italian Washday” Polymer Photogravure DorRae Stevens 2019
One of the things I have learned about myself (or maybe just reminding myself): I love and flourish when spending time in community, learning new things and collaborating with others. Here are 2 pieces created in a workshop this past fall. Did I say I love workshops? Here are a few from a workshop hosted by A Smith Gallery last fall.
This is where Creek Road Homestead crosses with my art!
About 18 months ago we lost our beautiful 32 year old horse Fauve. Such a sweet big guy who we’ve had since the day he was born. I could write a whole post about him, but that’s for another time. The image above is Fauve, created using a photo base then hand colored with pastels.
With his passing we officially ended horse life (at least for the foreseeable future) and began the process of re-purposing the barn into art studios and intimate gathering spaces. One of the core values of Creek Road Homestead to offer and honor a space for the creative life. Over the years we have had an amazing group of musical, visual and literary artist spend time here and share their art with us. With the barn repurpose that vision continues. Although it is a work in progress, with details to work out, here is the idea:
Work in progress but still making good use of the space for the holidays!
We will be offering a few studio spaces to lease, a dark room space to share, workshop space, a space to host intimate gatherings such as art shows, book launch, house concerts as well as small dinner parties. We are even dreaming about how to create an artist residency program with the lodging we have available here. We are not quite there yet but we started having soft opening events for family and close friends, (those close enough to see past all the construction work!!!!) Including a birthday party, a baby shower and a holiday wreath making day!
So that’s the update! We are creating a space where I get to surround myself with creative people, mix my photography with our homestead, mix art with running a B & B all while caring for the land and raising bees. Oh did I forget to mention we are now beekeepers? Another post…
I hope you will check back, follow the blog or Instagram to hear about what comes next. Just a hint, watch for a weekend workshop for creative women coming up spring 2020. And if you know anyone who might be interested in Studio space please send them my way!