artvamp’s eco-friendly artist retreat 1


Artvamp founder Kristie Alshaibi is making plans to open a new artist retreat on her family’s 92 acre farm in northwest Missouri. The hope is to have the place running on 100% renewable energy within five years. The land is just outside the site of Missouri’s largest and most profitable wind farm.

land
There’s a clean natural spring running under the property, and the farm itself is a part the CRP conservation program set up to keep ground water clean and the land viable for future farming. The land has been farmed by Kristie’s family for over 100 years. It is the place that inspired Kristie as a young girl to begin shooting photographs – dressing dolls in her great grandmother’s dresses from the 19th century and setting them against a wild, rustic, magical backgrounds. It is the perfect space to find inspiration and solitude.

The materials from the old collapsed barn will be reused to build a large studio and rehearsal space, and the house will be remodeled with energy efficiency in mind. Volunteers are already lining up to help plant a large organic garden where vegetables will be grown and served fresh to artists in residence. Cherries and mulberries are among the fruit baring tress that dot the landscape.

The hope is to continue to develop the retreat to house up to eight artists at a time (for residencies lasting from two weeks to several months), in the main house and in several small cabins. More and better facilities will gradually be added, from kilns to multimedia computer suites. The site may also become home to seasonal celebrations (think all night bar-b-ques featuring a pit for cooking Masgouf – an Iraqi specialty).

A non-profit organization will be created to oversee the management of the artist retreat. There is currently a lien on the land because of of medical bills left behind by Kristie’s grandfather upon his passing. $100,000 still needs to be raised to release the lien and secure the deed. When this first step is accomplished, there will be nothing to stop the business plan from moving forward. Several organizations have already offered their assistance and resources to help bring this project into being. It is this initial hurdle that will make or break this dream.

Investors, loans, and fundraising ideas are all welcome at this time. Become a part of a project that benefits both the environment and the arts. If you know of a way to help, please don’t hestitate to contact Kristie at kristie@artvamp.com.


One thought on “artvamp’s eco-friendly artist retreat

  • Virgil

    Kristie,

    This sounds like a marvelous project! (also very ambitious!) But the ideas melding together – preserving family heritage, ecology, and arts – all fit together so nicely in a projec like this.

    I’m retired, so don’t have a lot of financial resources to promise. However, being retired, I do have some time available. One thing I can offer is doing one thing I love, figure modeling. Since your project will benefit artists to a large degree, how about holding regular open figure drawing sessions, with proceeds going to your project. If you can get volunteer models (I would volunteer my time), and have a place, it would be almost pure profit. If you could get 10 people a week to put out $10, that would be $5,000 a year. Not that much, but if you could come up with 20 ideas like this you would meet your goal in a year. With only 4 ideas like this you would meet your goal in 5 years.

    What do you think? If you like this idea, I probably can come up with a couple more.

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