“Being at Millay was a time in which I was able to not only reestablish making practices lost during the pandemic but bring some sanity back into my world. During my residency, I was able to produce more work than in the past five months in quarantine. The work simply poured out of me as I felt safe, nourished, enriched, and simply taken care of. Millay made me feel important in a world full of chaos. It provided for me a save-haven to meet the work head-on with no distractions and with full-support. The regenerative discussions with fellow creatives pushed the boundaries of the work, and I felt at ease to experiment and not shy away from failures along the way. I also met a local sculptor (Bijon who runs “The Circle Museum”), who was incredibly welcoming and generous in my search for new materials. I left with enough ideas and concepts as well as lots to read through discussions with writers and poets for the next six months. I feel eternally grateful and blessed for my time at Millay.” ~Nadia Liz Estela

As was the case with Nadia, residents were thrilled to come to Steepletop, leaving urban settings and cramped quarantine quarters (often shared with roommates, friends, family members and kids) for safe studio and living spaces, finally able to get back to work in time for deadlines.

After two weeks with social distancing and mask-wearing, cohorts became a “pod” but still preferred primarily outdoor group activities: there was lots of grilling, lots of blueberry picking, “haunted” poetry trail hikes and fire pit gatherings.

We continue to monitor NY State mandates and guidelines for those arriving from other regions and ask residents to limit their interactions with local businesses and neighbors.  As the Fall descends, we remain cautiously optimistic we can continue to host residents.

The weather has been hot and glorious, with a few days of sweltering humidity, but with the arrival of August, it seemed a switch was flipped, and evenings are now cool enough for residents to ask for extra blankets and sleep with closed windows.