SCS is incredibly grateful to SCS Board Member and professional mariner and artist Adrienne Wilber for taking the time to visit Sea Pony Farm in 2026. Adrienne dedicated her time giving the Vandercook No. 3 press a full oiling and cleaning, creating a block print, cleaning and organizing Pam's upstairs art space, and learning the inter-workings of operating Sea Pony Farm. 

Born and raised in Sitka, Alaska, Adrienne draws much of her inspiration from the many boats she has worked on throughout her life, and also the Tongass National Forest and the environment she calls home. "I choose to live in Sitka because of the really beautiful community that it and other communities in Southeast Alaska have because of the remote nature of the region."

When reflecting on her time at Sea Pony Farm, Adrienne noted how getting deep into the Vandercook press was such a cool experience, as she loves a non-electrified machine that is still in good working order. "It is so beautiful and in such good shape even after so many years unused. Being able to approach printing on it by first cleaning and oiling and reading the manual gave me the feeling like coming up on a shift starting as a deckhand on a boat."

Adrienne found the pre-printing maintenance she performed to be a soothing task amidst her currently extraordinarily busy life. "Being in one place and zooming in on that one project that could only move as fast as it could really kept me in the moment, and having that purpose temporarily lifted some of the mental stress I've been dealing with." 

 

The elements Adrienne was thinking about when she put together her piece, entitled "Press Song," stemmed from always really loving tools and machines. "Eric's presses are so cool so I knew I wanted to incorporate something related to the presses into the project. I was sitting in the machine shop studio sketching the etching press that I knew I wanted to be a central part of the piece, but as I was listening and heard a Swainson's thrush singing, I realized there is so much more to Sea Pony Farm then just the physical things that are there. I took a walk and noticed the beauty and the little things that were part of the place - a stone monument marking the resting place of one of the Bealer's ponies and the field in front dotted with chocolate lilies. I started thinking about an ecosystem and how we are all part of it - the birds, the plants, and us humans. As I began incorporating these smaller elements of the place, the piece started depicting the press within its whole environment." 

 

"Press Song" by Adrienne Wilber