In the spirit of the Bealers and the way they built things on their property, Joe Jacobson, Merrick Bochart, & Yarona Jacobson, a talented and hard-working family from Haines, built a beautiful exterior porch off of our art studio in August 2023. They fell and stripped spruce trees from around the property for the timber framing and used yellow cedar milled locally by SCS member Ernie Eggleston in Pelican for the decking. This porch is a wonderful space for outdoor art, writing, playing music, and collaborating.
We love the style and aesthetic of the porch so much that we are bringing this talented family back in August 2024.
Over the winter, we worked with Joey to conceptualize and design the vision and plan materials for our next major project – transforming the beautiful barn Eric and Pam used for their animals and built from materials on the property. We need to transition this space from storage to a communal gathering and maker space to be able to host art workshops, leadership retreats, folk musicians, and more. We want to be able to comfortably host up to seven people on the property at once, so it will also have cooking, dining, and sleeping areas.
Labor on the barn project will involve specialty carpenters and local contractors with volunteers, staff, community members, and artists that will work under them. All upgrades will be made using local Tongass lumber to support local economies, and communities, and create the smallest carbon footprint possible. We expect this project to cost $200,000 and would greatly appreciate any support in creating a new life for this historic barn. Please consider donating here.
Between stripping logs and hauling gravel, Merrick also found inspiration to create some beautiful visual art pieces.
