I‘dropped out’ in 2014. Traded in home in LA for a life in the woods. I bought a commune founded by idealistic hippies in 1971 on California’s Mendocino coast. Eleven handcrafted cabins clinging to logging roads carved into a south-facing slope of second-and third-growth redwoods. I wrote a letter to the 13 remaining shareholders and expressed interest in continuing the legacy and spirit of the place. I offered to preserve their archive, which included correspondence, weekly meeting minutes, documents, maps, plans, press clippings and photographs. It offered a fascinating window into the social structures and stories behind the buildings that remain.
I gave up my previous life as a nomadic artist to be rooted in one place. An extended community of friends, friends of friends, and whoever showed up, pitched in during thelong-term art project shaped by many hands, a sort of queered commune-farm-homesteadsanctuary-school hybrid. We host workshops and retreats, and will soon start some sort of school. A non-profit has been formed to offer a ‘sanctuary for fostering and cultivating a new kind of artist in the world’. I consider myself a steward of a sacred place that existed before me, and will continue after me. Here are some excerpts from a memoir I’ve been writing about my time on the land:
