Greg just received a letter from the Ucross Foundation that he's been accepted into their artists' residency program for two weeks in November. Needless to say, his feet haven't spent much time on the ground since then.
Ucross is located in Clearmont, Wyoming, on the 22,000-acre site of a former cattle company. Greg, as the one composer in residence, gets his own cabin, Jesse's Hideout. How many log cabins come equipped with wi-fi and a grand piano? He even found a YouTube video made by a previous composer-in-residence that shows the front of the cabin and the interior.
(FYI, literary fans: Annie Proulx wrote The Shipping News while in residency at Ucross, and the surroundings inspired her so much that she established Wyoming as her permanent base thereafter. Bad Dirt, Brokeback Mountain, and Postcards were inspired by the area.)
This trip is intended as an opportunity for Greg to do nothing else except think and create -- they even bring him his lunch every day -- so no, I won't be going along. I'll be pretty much cleaned out of vacation time by then, since I'll have spent a week apiece at both Beardie Specialties again this year, plus assorted long weekends surrounding dog shows.
Greg should have plenty of time to finish up the Brass Quintet (if it isn't done by then) and maybe get back into Ongiara while he's there. Since he tends to draw inspiration from the surroundings whenever he travels, I wouldn't be surprised if he also brought home the seeds of a new composition as well.
4 comments:
I'll bet you didn't know that Annie Proulx was my kindergarten teacher. Seriously! She had a slightly different name then.
Congrats to Greg! And I really liked Wyoming when we drove through it last year en route to CA; very tough, wild and cool.
Very cool!! Congrats to Greg!!! Don't get any ideas of moving out there though...there is no ocean in Wyoming.
Wow, how exciting is that! What I wouldn't give for even a few days in a mountain retreat with a grand piano. Heaven!
I recently read an account by Annie Proulx of the genesis of her idea for Brokeback. Such a remote place, surrounded by natural beauty, must be inspiring to artists of all kinds.
Congratulations to Greg!
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