Chapter 3: the artist retreat and a new life plan
Hey,
First off - I am offering an artist retreat on my boat. The idea is: you stay on my boat (alone) for one week; You turn your phone data off when you arrive, and I leave you a word processor, art supplies, a microphone, some relevant books, a camera, and a little booklet with instructions on using the boat, as well as writing prompts, and options and ideas for what you could create. Then, at the end of the trip, we work together to shape what you have made into a multi-media piece, which I will publish here.
The rough idea is: you will go offline, slow down, read, float about, go for walks and bask in sweet warmth of the British summer…
But also, you will write, draw, paint, record audio, make music, take photos, and try to capture the glory of living offline on a narrowboat for a week.
You will be paid for it, and your work will go to around 1000 readers.
There are some dates in early July, and then later in the year. I’ll make sure the boat is somewhere beautiful.
If you are interested, just reply to this email and let me know and I’ll provide more information.
Anyway, enough about you, back to me!
When I started this trip, the plan was to leave London for a year, travel the country on my little narrowboat, write about it, and then come back to London and go back to work.
But nearly half way through the trip, and a over a year since ditching my phone and social media accounts, my plan has changed, my ambitions have changed, and I think I’m a slightly different person.
For one, I don’t think I will return to London. While most of my friends live there, I don’t feel any less connected to them now than I did when I was living there full time. And, having lived in Birmingham for the last month, I have realised that a city can be a little less hectic and a little more connected; and so I want to keep going North and live in different cities and keep exploring the UK and find my city.
I also want to learn how to build - with my hands. And so starting next week, I’m working as a self employed joiner, and carpenter. I’ll be building a sauna for a week in Oxford on the 19th, so if anyone is in town, lets grab a brew.
This is because I have an idea that requires me knowing how to build structures…
My current big plan is to bring people together to build a skill sharing school/artist retreat somewhere remote in the UK. It will be for people generally engaged in the practice of adulthood; artists, creative folk, skilled tradespeople, writers, musicians, etc.
Groups will come and go, during the summer, work on big group projects and share different skills.
Eventually, there will be a main kitchen and living room building, music studio, art studio, pottery studio, writing studio, blacksmith workshop, woodshop, sauna, some body of water to swim in, and whatever else we can think up. The whole point is skill sharing; and the joy of learning and teaching skills.
Everyone will camp.
Nobody will live there full time - just in the summer we will gather and build. This is no commune, no utopia, no space to worship a deity, no space for me to share my enlightened wisdom, no… it’s more like a skill sharing summer camp for adults. Simply a place to make nice things, spend time with interesting people, and teach and learn new skills.
The output will be a magazine, or some kind of paper publication, which we create while there. It will be a showcase of all that has been made; the potters table, the carpenters pot, the drummers poem, etc. Along with practical information on how everything was made.
At least that’s the rough idea. Who knows how long it will take, but it will happen, and you will be invited <3.
Anyway. Sorry for not writing last week, I have been on a little holiday, travelling around the UK with my oldest friend, Jonah (visiting from the states), and my sister Skye. Here are some photos.
Lots of love,
Sebastian
