Kristine and Colin Poole

“My time at Buffalo Creek Art Center provided many opportunities for growth and development in my work. Being away from my usual routine and day-to-day obligations, and having a span of uninterrupted time, I was able to work through various ideas that had been in the back of my mind for a long time, but that I probably never would have gotten around to in my normal workflow. Given the time frame, I decided to work on a much different scale than what I typically do, which is life-sized fired clay figurative sculptures. In this case, working on a much smaller scale allowed me to develop six sculptures simultaneously, which was quite a different and exciting approach to experience. This experimentation and focused time opened an invaluable new door in my work process that will allow me to explore many ideas in the future in addition to my large-scale sculptures.

The Buffalo Creek Art Center itself is beautiful. With its many streams, aspen groves, fruit orchards, wildlife, pastures, water features, and stunning views of the mountains and Carson Valley, it is in itself a source of inspiration. My husband Colin, a sculptor and painter, was able to join me for a portion of the residency. We often collaborate on sculptures, so this was an ideal opportunity to spend time working through ideas for future works. We were very grateful to Steve, Bill and Mel for their efficiency in accommodating our specific creative needs. It seemed that everything we needed was available to us, from our housing to our selection of space to work in. For us, it was an idyllic creative experience.

We also found it compelling to be around the other artists working in different disciplines than what we do-each day, we were able to see their working methodology and problem solving processes, learning things along the way.

Our accommodations were perfect for us. It allowed us to focus on the sculptural work we’d planned to do, and the solitude also inspired Colin to write four new chapters of his mythology book, with notes for an additional three stories, several of which were inspired by things we saw and experienced at BCAC. This experience was the beginning of some new creative habits that have continued into our work and life back in our home studio.”