What You Should Know Before Scheduling A Visit!
What You Should Know Before Visiting
The house is both charming and rustic. Artists are housed in a 80 year old lovely and simple farmhouse. For environmental reasons, we use passive heating and cooling whenever possible. That means it can be drafty/cold in the winter and humid/hot in the summer.
We are very conservative with our heating and cooling energy (it is good for long-term sustainability of both the planet and our non-profit center). In the winter bring warm clothes and pajamas and expect to layer your clothes while indoors and in the studios. In the summer, expect to sweat. If you need a temperature controlled environment Makers Circle is not a good choice for you. Remember, pack for fluctuating temperatures and expect to layer and un-layer your clothing.
The director and center manager lives and works at Makers Circle. Unless special arrangements are made, you will always be sharing the house with at least one other person (and a dog).
You will be providing your own food. We have a lovely grocery store, small health food store, local produce stand and farm stand with fresh eggs all within about an 8 minute drive from the house. The kitchen is well stocked with all the needed cooking gear and simple basics like spices, salt, pepper, etc.
Guest rooms are upstairs. The stairs to the upstairs bedrooms are steep. If you have trouble with your balance, the upstairs accommodations will not be a good match for you. If the upstairs rooms are not well suited for you, please let us know, we may be able to provide a downstairs room.
Linens. We provide one set of sheets, pillows, duvet cover, heavy quilt, light blanket, bathrobe, towel and wash cloth for each resident.
We have one bathroom. While this sweet little art center can house up to 3 artists at a time (4 including the house manager) it only has one downstairs bathroom. We are working on creating additional composting toilets and a possible outdoor shower for the spring, but for now, we are working with this one bathroom. Showers need to be kept short in order to consider other guests.
You might encounter bugs. We are located in a rural area. Expect to encounter small spiders and their webs, the occasional grass hopper, stink bugs, house flies and in early spring likely a tick or two if you go hiking or lay in the grass (though we do not have any lyme carrying ticks in our area at this time). Once there was a black snake in the yard, so encountering a snake is a possibility but a rarity.
We only provide accommodations to non-smokers. Smoking is not allowed in or near the house. Many of our guests are chemically sensitive. We have learned from experience that guests who smoke off the land carry smoke back into the house on clothing. As a general policy we only provide rooms to non-smokers (this includes vaping). If you would like us to make a special exception, please email us before filling out the residency application or residency retreat form.
Candles or any other potential fire hazard are prohibited.
You might hear things like cows, crickets, birds, dogs barking, coyote howling, etc. Most people find our rural symphony pretty charming. Also, darkrooms and studios are open 24 hours and some folks like to work around the clock so you might hear water running, printers printing, exhaust systems running, etc. We do ask people to respect quiet hours from 10pm - 7am and to refrain from loud conversations and playing music in areas where people are sleeping.
You will need a car! The closest town is a 7 minute drive. There is nothing in walking distance to Makers Circle except beautiful barns, neighboring houses, cows, rabbits and the occasional groundhog. If you would like us to make an exception, please contact us before requesting a retreat or applying for a residency.
Bring a computer! The digital studio computer is used for specialized editing that requires the Wacom tablet or specialized software. Digital studio computers can be reserved in advance when available. We ask that you do all your editing, printing, emailing, downloading, etc. on a personal computer. If you do not have a computer, we have an in-house laptop that can be rented for $10 per day.
We have a resident hypoallergenic dog. Rosie is a very large, young poodle mix that will start her service dog training (medical alert) later this year. She has a sweet disposition, and LOVES to cuddle and play. However, because she is a puppy you can expect to hear occasional barking and if you chose to interact with her she is likely to display occasional bad manners, such as overly enthusiastic greetings, as she grows and matures. Most people enjoy the sweet love Rosie brings to Makers Circle.
Because Rosie will be a service and future therapy dog, we ask that people treat her with gentleness and kindness, no harsh or aggressive reprimanding allowed.
Rosie is not allowed upstairs, in visitors rooms, or in the studios (with the exception of the digital studio). If you want a dog free environment, we do have the option of boarding Rosie during your visit for $35 per day and for no longer than 4 days. The boarding fee will be added to your retreat or residency rate.
You will be expected to clean your studio. We believe that caring for our creative work space is a way of honoring the creative process. You will be expected to return the studio to the beautiful condition you found it in when you arrived. Cleaning might including cleaning trays, scrubbing sinks, wiping off surfaces, removing chemical stains from counters, walls, and/or floors, sweeping, and mopping. We recommend people set aside at least 1 - 2 hours, depending on how many spaces you have worked in. If you prefer not to clean, or you are really bad at it, you can pay a $50-$100 cleaning fee, depending on the amount of cleaning required. If you do not clean your studio, and have not made prior arrangements for our cleaning service, you will be required to pay a $100 cleaning fee.
You will be expected to tidy your room. We ask each person to remove all trash and remove all used linens. Each person who stays pays a $50 cleaning fee.
We have good WiFi, but then, sometimes we don't. Like all internet in rural areas it can be occasionally finicky and unpredictable. We can go long stretches without a bit of trouble and then have the internet go down for a few hours at a time. It hasn’t happened recently, but you never know.
Cell phone reception can be spotty. Verizon and US Cellular have a decent signal. AT&T and T-Mobile get poor reception. We will keep updating as we learn more about other carriers.
You will be sharing space with others. You will be sharing the kitchen, bathroom and other public spaces. Clean up after yourself! Be courteous! Take others needs for privacy and quiet into consideration.
EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTIONS. Which is just another way of saying "stuff happens". We do our very best to keep all of our equipment well serviced. But with that said, as anyone who owns an inkjet printer, or any piece of machinery can testify, things happen that you can’t control. We keep backup bulbs, ink, cleaning solutions, printer cables, and all manner of support supplies on hand, but that doesn’t mean we have it all covered. We cannot promise you that if you are coming here, lets say as an example, to print with the NuArc, that it won’t break. And that goes for every piece of equipment we offer. So be prepared to shift gears if necessary.
Most Importantly, we are a communally minded, generous, supportive and open group of people and ask that you bring your best community spirit with you when you visit. Communal spaces, that are rooted in fairness, sharing, kindness and generosity only work when everyone joins in the spirit of sharing and generosity. We look forward to sharing our beautiful creative world with you and really look forward to enjoying the gifts of your creativity, experience and unique self.