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Summer 2007
Landscape and nature inspire creativity at artists' retreat
 BY
BOBBI BUCHANAN
When the founders of Artcroft set out to establish a retreat center
in 1999, they envisioned a place where artists could benefit from
the renewal that comes from living close to the land.
As artists and art enthusiasts, Robert and Maureen Barker and
Florence Thorne understood the cultural benefit of creative work and
the importance of place in nurturing creativity.
For seven years, the pastoral setting of Artcroft has inspired
writers and artists from around the world. Located on a 400-acre
farm near Carlisle, Ky., about 30 miles north of Lexington, the
retreat center features a one-story 1840s Greek Revival farmhouse
with four private bedrooms. The property also offers a studio with
private bedroom and bath, a rustic cabin still under construction
and primitive camping sites.
When poet Kendall Dunkelberg spent two weeks at Artcroft in November
2005, he was the only resident at the time. Dunkelberg is the
director of Creative Writing at Mississippi University for Women.
"For me, the solitude was ideal," he said. He started his day with
breakfast, then used the morning hours to read, revise poems or
translate work.
After lunch, Dunkelberg often took a walk in the woods or through
the pastures, which is where he wrote the first drafts of many
poems. "Over my two-week stay, I wrote almost 20 new poems — most of
which I am still happy with — and worked on revising and translating
many others."
"For the most part, I was happy to spend my time exploring the
farm," he said. "In the late afternoon, I might sit on the porch
swing, watch the goats or the sunset, read or revise what I had
jotted in my notebook on my walk."
In the evenings, Dunkelberg had dinner with the Barkers. The meal
was cooked with vegetables from their garden, which was still
producing tomatoes in November.
 "Staying
at Artcroft is like staying with family who fully understands the
demands of your art and respects your need for a private space in
which to create it. When you need privacy, you will have it, and
when you want company, you couldn't ask for better."
The program offers residencies to writers and visual artists
(painters and sculptors). Artists in other disciplines are
accommodated as facilities and resources permit.
For more information about Artcroft, or to apply for a residency, go
to
www.artcroft.org.
Farm on a Hill
By Kendall Dunkelberg
Oh, if I could paint
this hill in a poem,
the way the meadow
sweeps down, pale green
grass and a few junipers
the only signs of life now.
Copses of bare trees
fill the curves of the S
and on top, stands
an abandoned farmhouse,
white, peeling to gray,
windswept and forlorn,
but oh, the perseverance
of those farmers once,
proud, nearly foolhardy
to build their home
where they could
survey their domain.
Safe from floods, yes,
but battered by winter winds
as if defying the elements
that laugh around it now.
Though it wasn’t the wind
that drove the farmer out,
but the volatile price
of corn and the promise
of an easier life in town.
Kendall Dunkelberg’s poems have appeared in The Literary
Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Texas Review, Poetry Southeast
and others. He has published a book of poems, Landscapes and
Architectures, and a book of translations, Hercules,
Richelieu and Nostradamus.
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