Douglas Scholes  –

October 2023

I prepared a short 10-minute video, a sketch and a diary of things and activities done during the fall residency. I was listening to the land and responded to the different sounds, smells and images that presented themselves. There surfaced a strong sense of the dual importance of nature and the subjugation of the land by various users that make the environment multi-layered. The seemingly divergent uses were accorded to the needs of the agents (people, animals, natural forces) living on, using, and forming the land. Farming, driving, hunting, wind, decomposition, rain, apples, harvesting, gathering for winter are among the various things I witnessed while on the farm. It’s the sound of place, of the wind rustling the leaves on the trees, of cars driving down Route 108, of tractors pulling trailers, of gunshots from the range, of voices, of water running in the creeks, of insects, and even the sound in the Foreman Art Gallery, the place where these rambling thoughts and observations will coalesce.