A letter from Chuck Chaney, director/founder

My family began homesteading west in the 1800s, finally venturing to the last frontier – Alaska. My parents acquired the homestead in 1968,inspired by the legacy of my great-grandfather and while they worked as one-room schoolhouse teachers in various small villages across Alaska. I only lived on the homestead until I was 5 years old, mostly only returning for summers to visit my father, who lived here consistently for 37 years. My father truly embodied the spirit of the homesteading lifestyle, defined as “a lifestyle of simple agrarian self-sufficiency” and spent those years acquiring, retaining, and collecting objects that enabled him to rely and survive on the land. When I inherited the homestead in 2005, I found the collections amassed to be vast and overwhelming. The collections were not only extensive but also expansive, and ranged significantly in material and utility. I was faced with the manifold responsibility of restoring the space, organizing these accumulations, sorting through piles of things which no longer worked, and many which had already literally begun to return to the earth.

I ultimately realized what a benefit it could be to the community at large if this land could be transformed again and restored to its greatest potential. I envisioned The Homestead AK Artist Residency as a way to achieve this potential, invigorating the land with the richness of creative ambition. My wish is that in the coming seasons artists will find inspiration not only in the materials around the property, but most importantly in the light, land, and community just as I always have.