Habitat for Artists @ YMCA Farm

Habitat for Artists is a collective project that uses the idea of the artist's studio as a catalyst for mutual engagement between artists and communities. The ‘habitats’ are small, temporary, 6’x6’ studios installed at a variety of locations: some highly visible to the community, others, more unexpected venues for experiencing art or connecting with the processes of artists engaging in creative work. 
https://www.facebook.com/habitatforartists 

The studios are made from recycled or reclaimed materials and are reused in each new iteration of the project. During short-term residencies, artists work in the studios and consider their relationship to the surrounding environments and communities. Habitat for Artists encourages artists to think about how we might be more creative about our consumption of materials and our use of energy and land. Could we be doing more with less? In thinking about the space to create, How much? How little?

In this project, HFA partners with the Kingston YMCA Farm Project. The quarter acre farm organically grows fruits and vegetables from arugula to zucchini. The Farm is a place of education and community food production. https://www.facebook.com/KingstonYMCAFarmProject?_rdr 

Along with farmer KayCee Wimbish, HFA members Simon Draper and Jessica Poser have collaborated to create a habitat that meets the unique needs of the farm. The proposed project will provide the farm with a community space for cooking demos, classes, workshops, and general community gathering. The habitat will feature a solar panel to provide power to a small refrigerator. Water collecting barrels will be installed on the roof, and a wood-burning clay oven will be built facing the habitat. This design will allow for the farm to continue its important work in community food production and education.

The money donated in this campaign will go directly towards all of the materials required to build the habitat, install the solar panel, purchase a 12-volt refrigerator, and build the wood-burning clay oven. In addition, several benches and tables for the site will be built.