our mission
Sheepscot Arts Preserve is a new artist residency center that is dedicated to supporting Visionary, Outsider and Narrative (Visual) Artists of all disciplines with an emphasis on Visual Artists. We are located on 42 beautiful acres bordering the Sheepscot River in Alna, Maine. The center provides group and individual artist residencies that are completely inclusive, and accept anyone regardless of their financial means. We also host workshops, pop up shows, and community events.
We built this center with the goal of supporting Visual Artists but accept all types of artists and especially encourage self taught artists, marginalized artists, and all other artists, who feel that they defy the easy definitions of the mainstream art world, to join our events. Our goal is to create a space for a diverse cross section of artists at all stages of their art career, to come together, create beautiful things and inspire each other, and then bring that energy back out into the world.
the property
Sheepscot Arts Preserve is located on a 42 acre property that borders the Sheepscot River in Alna, Maine. The property consists of a 5 acre homestead area and 37 acres that have been placed in conservation in partnership with Midcoast Coservancy. We are one of a number of properties within the Sheepscot Valley working with Midcoast Conservancy to improve wildlife habitat along the river corridor, helping to preserve the river and protect some of the last remaining populations of wild Atlantic Salmon.
Our property consists of forests, fields, salt marsh, wetlands and river frontage along the tidal portion of the Sheepscot River. Eagles, osprey, waterfowl, songbirds, woodpeckers, turkey, deer, fox, porcupine and more all have a presence here. The land is covered in wildflowers, wild blueberry patches, wild strawberries, numerous wild mushrooms, birch, maple, oak, and towering white pines.
The main house and old barn were built in the 1760’s and since then the property has been used as a homestead, alternatively abandoned and reinvigorated, and most recently was the site of a school that used the outdoors to teach the children. The grounds are a mix of the old and the new, with the original house, old stone walls and older outbuildings, side by side with yurts, outdoor classrooms leftover from the school, and a new timber frame barn built on the footprint of the original.
We are on our way to being fossil fuel independent. We currently generate more solar power than we use and heat the house via a heat pump. We have a kitchen garden, a small orchard with peaches and apples, rows of rehabilitated old concord grape vines, blueberries, strawberries, black raspberries and beautifully landscaped flower gardens. There are numerous paths through the woods and lots of outdoor spaces to explore.
