Baked Alaska: Help finish the Ice Cream Acres Spa

We're building the house of the future together! What would we do without you?

Howdy, y'all! My name is Jordan. I'm here to introduce y'all to a dream I started working on but soone realized from my friends and family that it’s more than just my dream--it's bigger than me. So my queer family and I have come together to do what's right and build together from here on out! We're creating a shared dream on beautiful land that provides for me and others more than I can describe. We've been hosting queer and queer-allied artists, thinkers, makers, and travelers out our our spot for the last 3 years. And it's been the best rest/work we've done yet! So now, we are expanding our spaces here and we need your help!

Our Mission:

Ice Cream Acres is a queer-centered residency space intended to facilitate and foster rest and reconnection with/in queer community. We believe that rest is a necessary part of the artistic process. Unfortunately, in our constant-grind culture, there do not seem to be many queer or queer ally spaces built for resting. Residencies are no cost to the artist and range from 1 week to 1 month, depending on artist timelines and needs. Due to the nebulous and often deeply personal nature of rest, our application process is also nebulous and rolling, but we've delighted in hosting. Our only requirement for the residency is for each artist to decorate a 7” vinyl record to commemorate their time. Artists are encouraged to use their time at ICA to connect with daily/seasonal/annual rhythms.

Our Spaces:

ICA is located on 1.5 acres, 6 miles northwest of Lockhart, Texas (and 19 miles south of the Austin airport).

Artists currently stay in a 700 square foot, 1 bedroom Texas farmhouse. The farmhouse operates as a tiny autonomous space during the residency period. Artists are invited to adjust the space to their artist needs (and also asked to return the space to its initial organization before departing). The space has kitchen/bathroom/washer/dryer/small storage space/a devoted art studio space/an upright piano.

In addition to the farmhouse, there is outdoor workspace, communal outdoor kitchen space that residents are invited and encouraged to use. ICA has a small tool library available for woodworking, welding, sewing, and fabrication work. For recording artists/multimedia artists, we have a devoted computer/studio monitor speakers for sound design work—ICA has access to recording equipment and a recording engineer (Jordan’s brother, Adam) for recording projects.

The Dream:

For the last year, we’ve been working on expand our facilities here at ICA. Currently, ICA has 4 main built structures: The Farmhouse, The Orange Container, The Office, The Blue Container/The Gym. The Farmhouse is the main artist residence space. The Orange Container is where Jordan lives. It is sometimes available for short term rental/residencies. The Office is Jordan’s office/art studio. It is also sometimes available for short term residencies. The Blue Container/Gym is the spa space, open to use for residents.

The Big Dream Plan is to expand the spa space to a comprehensive (albeit modest) spa complex. We’re calling it Baked Alaska! It will have a sauna, hot tub, cold plunge, ritual bath, shower, bathroom, bodywork space, gym, patio.

The Heat Sources:

The basis of the spa's heat energy will be a combination of solar thermal and methane-burning sauna heater. A solar thermal water heating array will be connected to a radiator in the sauna, which will then flow into a hot water heater for hot water storage; the hot water heater storage will flow into the outdoor hot tub. Water will then be filtered and sanitized and pumped back to a collection tank for recirculating through the system. The Home BioGas composting toilet system will be the basis for the bioreactor methane. This methane will be piped to the natural gas sauna heater to allow sauna temperatures to be maintained. So, the compost and the human waste created at ICA will fuel the sauna's heat!

The Ask:

We need $10k to get the last round of materials to build out the solar water heating system, the composter bathroom, changing area, and the bioreactor greenhouse. We also want to pay our friends for their labor helping us out! Here's the breakdown:

A. Shipping container (that will be the bathroom, changing area, and will be the deck that the solar water heating array sits on): $3000

B. Water tank (our system will capture rainwater that will be heated by the sun and then preheat the sauna and supply the hot tub!): $3000

C. Solar Thermal Array (that will heat the rainwater!): $500

D. Solar Greenhouse plastic sheeting (our bioreactor that will supply natural gas to the sauna heater needs to be situated in a place where it will stay nice and warm): $500

E. Labor Costs (our dear pal Ruben is coming to help us for November and December. And he's giving us a BUDDDDY discount. But we really wanna pay him for his labor. Workers unite, y'all!): $3000

The Timeline:

We are planning to get the container delivered and set in mid November. We think we'll be done with the first pass construction and be ready to chill, soak, sweat, and hang by March! And we'll have a big opening party and ice cream social for SXSW!!

So, can you help us gather some resources to support queer/queer ally rest and reconnection?

We think Kate Bush summed it up best (in her song "Love and Anger"):

We're building the house of the future together! What would we do without you?

For more info about building and gift updates, follow us on Instagram!

ICA on Instagram

Thank youuuuu!

A photo show:

The ICA farmhouse, where residents stay:

The Farmhouse interior:

Another Farmhouse glamourshot:

The Farmhouse Studio:

The Resident Record Wall:

Baked Alaska (currently):

The Gym at Baked Alaska:

The Sauna (so far):

The Sunset out here (please come visit sometime, if you can!):

Words from our Ice Cream Alumni:

"I came to ICA during a period of health upheaval, hoping to come and let the land heal me. I watched rocks, trees, horses, and a grasshopper for three days outside, and found my symptoms improve for the first time. On my last day, I opened the shipping container door and saw a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. It was an incredibly moving and spiritual experience, watching it slowly come out, dry its wings, and eventually fly on. I came into clarity around the nature of change and life, and this supported me in pursuing my top surgery within the year, and a cessation to my symptoms within a few months. ICA holds a special place for me, and has continued to be a safety net where I know the land and queer ancestors are there to provide healing, comfort, and wisdom."

--Tt, ICA resident August 2021

"My time at ICA allowed me the uncluttered headspace to focus on my music. It allowed me the space to create a fully-formed vision, without the constraints of requirements, presentations or expectations that sometimes come with residencies. Through all this freeform, I believe ICA led me to produce my most thoughtful, congruent compositions. Prior to my first residency, I had little faith in my own ability to mold my time and creativity, especially when the 'daily grind' had been removed. However, I found that instead I was better able to accept the empty spaces of the day more than ever as necessary moments of creative incubation, while still balancing this with other moments of industry & socialization."

--Molly, ICA resident June 2020/January 2021

"Ice Cream Acres created space for my songs to breathe, where I felt no pressure and also more ease in bringing ideas together. ICA helped me to reacquaint myself with play in my creative practice. The land is a place of deep rest and gratitude. Free from the call of normal daily life, I was able to access deeper rest, nourishment, and care. While I was at ICA, Jordan and I welded an obelisk structure to the stars. The first night, after erecting the obelisk and laying our offerings under it as we walked back towards the house, we noticed for the first time something phosphorescent glowing in our footsteps in the grass. Starshine of the earth! My heart has woven itself into the land at Ice Cream Acres. I feel called to support the land and all people who enter there. It becomes a part of you. It continues to nourish me from afar."

--Lee, ICA resident February 2021