OBSERVATORY, by smudge studio (Belfast, ME)

OBSERVATORY
SMUDGE STUDIO’S GEO | COSMO FIELD STATION, WORKSHOP + TEA HUT 茶舎
158 High Street, Belfast, ME + Brooklyn + Japan
REGULAR OPEN HOURS RESUME IN MAY 002023
JAN-APRIL + BY CHANCE & APPOINTMENT

44°25'35" N 69°0'27" W, facing 28°NE, elevation approx. 90ft
situated on the St. Croix Belt of the Penobscot Formation

Located at 158 High Street, smudge studio’s geo | cosmo field station, OBSERVATORY, rides upon Belfast ledge bedrock within the thin crust of planet Earth. Here, we experiment with aesthetic experience as a means for expanding human senses of place and time to include the vastness and generative power of the cosmos and our planet.

ON-SITE programming includes:

Observation-based micro-productions and workshops for creating and reflecting on embodied experiences of geo | cosmo change (such as, observations of changing light, wind, sky, climate, season, transits of moon, planet, sun—as well as local community change, land-use, migrations of humans and non-humans and their ramifications across social and cultural difference and geographic distance.)

Public reading and library space including resources dedicated to ancient and contemporary observational practices: geology, environment, art, land-use interpretation, Daoism, weather/cloud spotting, tea, long life design.

COSMOS DAILY window installations, free and open to the public, viewable 24/7.

Collaborative observational and field note projects and events staged in conjunction with local Belfast and Maine organizations, individuals and businesses.

Exhibitions of work by guest artists, educators, and practitioners curated through the lens of observations of geo |cosmo | planetary change in our main gallery and the ERRATIC OBSERVATIONS (EO) project space.

Offerings of smudge studio’s printed material tales (field guides, chapbooks, decks of cards, postcards, letterpress works).

Offering of smudge studio art works: digital camera obscuras, natural ink prints, watercolors and collage—material tales of daily, ephemeral geo-cosmo forces and events.

Educational displays and offerings of Long Life Designs from Japan as material tales about cultural traditions of sustainable making and using (beginning with displays and offerings of teaware and functional tableware designed for generations of use and now 100+ years old).

“Slow tea with the planet”: an evolving series of 30-60 minute long micro-productions and tea events, booked by reservation, that reframe the brewing and drinking of tea as a geo/cosmo event.

Offering local landscape inspired, gluten free, vegan, chocolate “ledge cookies” as a material tale of the Maine bedrock upon which OBSERVATORY stands.

Please stop in and say hello during our open hours, by appointment or send us a message.