Weekend at Field Farm

My co-worker Amy and I had the opportunity to travel to Western Mass to take part in the Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. It was truly a 'perk' that we were able to go and be a part of something so special.

It was a hot and steamy weekend with temperatures in the 90's, but it was well worth it. We worked at the Trustees' booth, talking to festival goers about our more-than 100 properties, sponged temporary tattoos (that I designed back in the studio ;) onto little kids arms, and connected with other organizations – some that had traveled from across the country to have a presence at the festival. We saw some amazing performances (it helped that our booth was located directly across the main stage and within walking distance to all of the others). Lucius was my favorite. I had known about them prior to going to the festival so I knew to expect great things. If you haven't seen it already, you should check out their Tiny Desk concert on npr. Its incredible. The highlight was their pop-up concert in the middle of Xu Bing's Phoenix exhibit, where people flocked like hungry geese to gather around them in a corner of the humungous gallery.

The meat of this story is the part where we got to stay at Field Farm in Williamstown, just a stone's throw away from the festival, and one of the Trustees' more-than 100 beautiful properties. Located on a quiet road in the middle of 300 acres of gorgeous open land, and overlooking Mt. Greylock and the hills of Vermont – is this gem, which was once the home of the Bloedel family. The Guest House at Field Farm serves as a bed and breakfast, and is open to the public. Mr. Bloedel was a collector and builder of furniture, and a collector of modern art. The Guesthouse rooms are preserved to look exactly like they did when the Bloedel's lived there in the 1950's through 70's. In fact, the whole experience walking through this place was like walking through a modern art museum.

Amy and I stayed in The Folly, separate from the Guest House, where the Bloedel's hosted their parties. The Folly was built in 1966, and is more a sculpture and piece of art rather than a house. It sits right on a frog pond; The Bloedel's used to have skating parties on the pond and built The Folly to have a closer spot to gather than the Guest House. The interior of the space was so meticulously crafted – every corner and every inch of the house was thought through and had a reason to be there; architecture characteristic of Bauhaus-style design.  We slept in the living room, with the screen door open so the bull frogs could chant us to sleep. It was wonderful.

Maybe it was the history of the place, or maybe it was the change of pace, after having been transplanted from the city to this beautiful piece of land, but when we sat back to admire the still night, I felt so much at peace. And when I stepped outside right before bed to take a last breath of fresh air, I looked out into the field, where complete darkness had taken over, and saw the most beautiful thing;  Tiny specs of glittering light were blinking over the field; completely filling my view. Fireflies. I really think Tinkerbell was flying overhead, dumping sacks of fairy dust all over the field. It was the type of moment that you can't capture in any photo...but you have it with you, burned forever in your mind. I wrote a song about it...in which I try to capture the very essence of that moment, and whether it embodies the experience for you or not, I will post it when its finished. Or maybe you should go spend a weekend with someone special and get lost at Field Farm. You will be glad you did. Learn more about the history of Field Farm here