Wildacres Environmental Artist in Residence
July 2023
Ryan spent a week this summer as the Wildacres Environmental Artist in Residence. The Wildacres Retreat, located on the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Little Switzerland, NC, was originally established by a white supremacist (Thomas Dixon, author of The Klansman and Birth of a Nation) as a segregated retreat. But Dixon lost the property after the Great Wall Street Crash of 1929. Several years later, Wildacres was acquired by the Blumenthal family of Charlotte, NC and rededicated as a center to promote “the betterment of human relations.”
Wildacres hosts group retreats and residencies for artists (including writers), and it is also home of the William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations, which Ryan participated in as a member of the 2020 - 2022 class.
During his time as Environmental Artist in Residence, Ryan wrote a complete first draft of an essay about the intersection of wetlands, language, and humility. He also hiked and ran on the mountaintop property, shared meals with guests and residents, and took photographs along the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway.
Check out a few of Ryan’s photos below. Take a few moments to read more about the Wildacres Retreat and the Friday Fellowship.
