I am nearing the end of my three months in Costa Rica. Instead of touring and meandering and seeing the whole of the country, I have chosen to stay put, to feel essence, to immerse in place and get to know it’s subtleties. I can say that I have fallen in love with the road and hiking it to Mastatal, at night especially. Each time I go, there is a new discovery. I have watched the grdaul transition of the sky and the weather and rise and fall of certain insect populations, the three moon cycles and bird species coming and going, migrating, flowing in a great cycle. I can only imagine what I would come to know after a year, or three, or five, closely observing and noting the details of this place. I am so grateful for Robbie, the principal founder of the Choza. His disposition toward the future of the Choza project is open to facilitating personal vision, intention, ideas. I can’t imagine a better person for me to connect with to facilitate my intentions . I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I first came and yet, I am now providing my input on the future development of the Choza project. I’ve been able to assess the viability of producing artwork here, noting the imoprovements to infrastructure that would facilitate my art production process and have determined that a studio is needed, set apart from the main house, an open structure that could also function as a meeting place, where workshops could be held, but would primarily function as a yoga studio in addition to housing two Artists studios with a variety of work zones, some enclosed, some outdoors, areas covered but open, all with views from the top of a hill 100 yards away, for a variety of potential projects. And Robbie Schingler is excited by the prospect of building such a thing! Imagine this place becoming a fully functional Artist in Residence destination, a yoga retreat, a place to do projects, to experience the tranquil pace of life governed by the rural, remote, flora and fauna density and tropical weather, the incredible prevalence of inspiration from the Natural world everywhere you look. The sounds, the colors, diversity, systems, patterns, people, culture, geography, topography, all turned up to eleven.
I can see the Pacific Ocean 30 miles away from here, where I sit. On days with low relative humidity I can see the peninsula of Manuel Antonio, a national park, jutting out of a mountain framing the left edge of the ocean view. At night I can see a light from Quepos, at the far right of the view. From this vista you can determine the probability of rain. If the air is thin and you can see the white line of surf and the clouds begin to roll in and become a solid sheet, you can be sure it will rain heavily in the afternoon. If the land is transpiring it’s moisture from the heat of the sun, and you can’t see the Pacific or the Manuel Antonio peninsula, it will be a hot one and no rain, even if the clouds build by afternoon. But I know this general observation has subtle variations and my take on it is likely wrong. And this is why getting to know a place through time, closely observing it’s phenomena is so interesting for me.
Here are some conceptual sketches for possible studio solutions. I drew some up on the way back from Cuidad Colon, after accompanying Robbie on his trip to San Jose for his return to the States,the bus bouncing wildly, so…things are at the concept phase and ideas are welcome from all. Comments/ideas are welcome and input appreciated.
