Pond Farm
Encyclopedia
Pond Farm was an American
artists’ colony
that began in the 1940s and, in one form or another, continued until 1985. It was located near the Russian River
resort town of Guerneville, California
, about 75 mi (120.7 km) north of San Francisco. Situated on a hilltop 600 ft (182.9 m) above the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
, Pond Farm began around 1939-40 when a San Francisco-based couple named Gordon and Jane Herr (architect and writer, respectively) acquired a portion of property called Rancho Del Lago or the Walker Ranch. Initially 250 acre (1 km²), their property was later expanded to 400 acre (1.6 km²). Because one of its primary features was a large pond, the Herrs renamed this setting Pond Farm.
, Frank Lloyd Wright
’s Taliesin
, Eliel Saarinen
’s Cranbrook Academy of Art, and Black Mountain College
, the Herrs envisioned Pond Farm as an artists’ community that would in part support itself through summer workshops. According to their son (Jonathan Herr), Gordon Herr regarded Pond Farm as “a sustainable sanctuary for artists away from a world gone amuck,” while for Jane Herr, “it was a new beginning after rejecting conventional city upbringing” (Schwarz 2007, p. 315). Working together, the Herrs became able practitioners of homestead farming. They raised a wide variety of livestock; planted fruit orchards, nut trees and vegetable gardens; and established several fish ponds.
In 1939, Gordon Herr traveled to Europe to search for artists whose beliefs and personalities might be compatible with his own. While in Putten
, the Netherlands
, he met the proprietors of the Het Kruike (Little Jug) pottery shop. They were Frans Wildenhain
and his wife Marguerite Wildenhain
(née Friedlaender), who had moved to Holland from Germany, where both had studied pottery at the Weimar Bauhaus
. Herr urged them to emigrate to the U.S., in order to become a part of Pond Farm Workshops. The Wildenhains hesitated initially, but only six months later, when the Nazis invaded Poland, they wrote to Herr, asking if his offer stood. It did, and on March 3, 1940, Marguerite departed for the U.S. Her husband, however, was left behind, because the quota for German citizens had been filled. She was Jewish, he was not.
Eventually, Marguerite Wildenhain ended up in California and (having explored other options) decided to join the Herrs’ Pond Farm Workshops. She moved to Pond Farm in 1942, helped to put in water lines, established a garden, built a house and, working with Gordon Herr, restored and redesigned a barn that became her pottery workshop. Later, in 1949, on property adjacent to the entrance of the Armstrong Redwood Forest, the Herrs began construction of a building called the Hexagon House, where students could be housed and fed, and where public gatherings could be held.
(painting), Lucienne Bloch
(fresco), Stephen Dimitroff (fresco), Harry Dixon (metals) and others.
It appears that the Workshop’s first summer session took place in 1949. Unfortunately, it would close only a few years later in 1953. Given the strong survival instincts of the artists, they soon proved incompatible. In the words of Tim Tivoli Steele (the Herrs’ grandson), “In the end, the trait that all the artists had relied on to survive the war and follow their visions—the strength of their personalities—would also contribute to the demise of the Workshops. Constant bickering tore the group apart” (Steele 1992, p. 3). Around the same time period, one of the Herr children died of mushroom poisoning, the Wildenhains’ volatile marriage collapsed, and Jane Herr developed breast cancer and died in 1952.
, co-founder of South Bear School, who studied at Pond Farm during the 1960s. University of Utah Professor of Art, Dorothy Bearnson, participated in seven summer workshops with Wildenhain between 1947 and 1964.
As early as 1963, the State of California had used its powers of “eminent domain” to require Pond Farm residents to sell their property to the State, in order to expand the Austin Creek State Recreation Area
. Gordon Herr was forced to move, but, in response to appeals by her students, it was decided that Wildenhain could continue to live on the property until her death. As a result, when she died in 1985, her property reverted to the State of California and became part of the State Park System
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artists’ colony
Art colony
right|300px|thumb|Artist houses in [[Montsalvat]] near [[Melbourne, Australia]].An art colony or artists' colony is a place where creative practitioners live and interact with one another. Artists are often invited or selected through a formal process, for a residency from a few weeks to over a year...
that began in the 1940s and, in one form or another, continued until 1985. It was located near the Russian River
Russian River (California)
The Russian River, a southward-flowing river, drains of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately , it is the second largest river flowing through the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area with a mainstem 110 miles ...
resort town of Guerneville, California
Guerneville, California
Guerneville is a town in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, California, USA. A popular vacation destination for couples and families as well as corporate retreats and family and friend reunions, Guerneville is well-known for its natural beauty, laid-back attitude, friendly population, good...
, about 75 mi (120.7 km) north of San Francisco. Situated on a hilltop 600 ft (182.9 m) above the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve is a state park of California, USA, preserving of Coast redwood trees . The reserve is located in Sonoma County just north of Guerneville, California....
, Pond Farm began around 1939-40 when a San Francisco-based couple named Gordon and Jane Herr (architect and writer, respectively) acquired a portion of property called Rancho Del Lago or the Walker Ranch. Initially 250 acre (1 km²), their property was later expanded to 400 acre (1.6 km²). Because one of its primary features was a large pond, the Herrs renamed this setting Pond Farm.
Pond Farm Workshops
Inspired by such precedents as the BauhausBauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
, Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
’s Taliesin
Taliesin
Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...
, Eliel Saarinen
Eliel Saarinen
Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century....
’s Cranbrook Academy of Art, and Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College, a school founded in 1933 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was a new kind of college in the United States in which the study of art was seen to be central to a liberal arts education, and in which John Dewey's principles of education played a major role...
, the Herrs envisioned Pond Farm as an artists’ community that would in part support itself through summer workshops. According to their son (Jonathan Herr), Gordon Herr regarded Pond Farm as “a sustainable sanctuary for artists away from a world gone amuck,” while for Jane Herr, “it was a new beginning after rejecting conventional city upbringing” (Schwarz 2007, p. 315). Working together, the Herrs became able practitioners of homestead farming. They raised a wide variety of livestock; planted fruit orchards, nut trees and vegetable gardens; and established several fish ponds.
In 1939, Gordon Herr traveled to Europe to search for artists whose beliefs and personalities might be compatible with his own. While in Putten
Putten
Putten is a municipality and a town in Gelderland province in the middle of the Netherlands. In 2007 it had a population of 23,024.Putten is surrounded by a great variety of landscapes. To the east of Putten lies the Veluwe, the biggest national park of the Netherlands...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, he met the proprietors of the Het Kruike (Little Jug) pottery shop. They were Frans Wildenhain
Frans Wildenhain
Frans Wildenhain was a Bauhaus-trained German potter and sculptor, who taught for many years at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.-Bauhaus and after:Born in Leipzig, Germany, Wildenhain’s early artistic training was in drawing, design...
and his wife Marguerite Wildenhain
Marguerite Wildenhain
Marguerite Wildenhain , born Marguerite Friedlaender, was a French-born American ceramic artist, educator and author. In the second half of her life, having emigrated to the U.S...
(née Friedlaender), who had moved to Holland from Germany, where both had studied pottery at the Weimar Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
. Herr urged them to emigrate to the U.S., in order to become a part of Pond Farm Workshops. The Wildenhains hesitated initially, but only six months later, when the Nazis invaded Poland, they wrote to Herr, asking if his offer stood. It did, and on March 3, 1940, Marguerite departed for the U.S. Her husband, however, was left behind, because the quota for German citizens had been filled. She was Jewish, he was not.
Eventually, Marguerite Wildenhain ended up in California and (having explored other options) decided to join the Herrs’ Pond Farm Workshops. She moved to Pond Farm in 1942, helped to put in water lines, established a garden, built a house and, working with Gordon Herr, restored and redesigned a barn that became her pottery workshop. Later, in 1949, on property adjacent to the entrance of the Armstrong Redwood Forest, the Herrs began construction of a building called the Hexagon House, where students could be housed and fed, and where public gatherings could be held.
Resident artists
Marguerite Wildenhain was the first artist to accept the Herrs’ invitation to join the Pond Farm Workshops. In 1947, they were joined by Frans Wildenhain, who, having been drafted into the German Army during World War II, had been separated from his wife for seven years. Franz would teach sculpture, while two other European artists who joined the colony in 1949, Trude Guermonprez and Victor Ries, taught weaving and metals, respectively. Gordon Herr taught architecture, and Jane Herr served as an informal business manager. In addition to the resident artists, others participated as visiting artists and instructors, including Jean Varda (collage), David Stewart (painting), Claire FalkensteinClaire Falkenstein
Claire Falkenstein was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, jewelry designer, and teacher, most renowned for her often large-scale abstract metal and glass public sculptures.-Early life and education:...
(painting), Lucienne Bloch
Lucienne Bloch
Lucienne Bloch was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and came to America with her family in 1917. She was the youngest child of internationally famous composer and photographer Ernest Bloch....
(fresco), Stephen Dimitroff (fresco), Harry Dixon (metals) and others.
It appears that the Workshop’s first summer session took place in 1949. Unfortunately, it would close only a few years later in 1953. Given the strong survival instincts of the artists, they soon proved incompatible. In the words of Tim Tivoli Steele (the Herrs’ grandson), “In the end, the trait that all the artists had relied on to survive the war and follow their visions—the strength of their personalities—would also contribute to the demise of the Workshops. Constant bickering tore the group apart” (Steele 1992, p. 3). Around the same time period, one of the Herr children died of mushroom poisoning, the Wildenhains’ volatile marriage collapsed, and Jane Herr developed breast cancer and died in 1952.
Pond Farm Pottery
When Pond Farm Workshops fell apart in 1953, nearly all the residents left. Thereafter, a school and workshop on the site, called Pond Farm Pottery, were carried on by the community’s only remaining artist, Bauhaus potter Marguerite Wildenhain, who continued to offer instruction through 1980. Among her students was Dean SchwarzDean Schwarz
Dean Schwarz is an American ceramic artist, painter, writer and teacher. He was also the co-founder and proprietor of South Bear School by which he imparted to students a tradition of functional studio pottery that originated as early as the Middle Ages, and of which an impassioned revival...
, co-founder of South Bear School, who studied at Pond Farm during the 1960s. University of Utah Professor of Art, Dorothy Bearnson, participated in seven summer workshops with Wildenhain between 1947 and 1964.
As early as 1963, the State of California had used its powers of “eminent domain” to require Pond Farm residents to sell their property to the State, in order to expand the Austin Creek State Recreation Area
Austin Creek State Recreation Area
Austin Creek State Recreation Area is a state park unit of California, USA, encompassing an isolated wilderness area. It is located in Sonoma County, California, adjacent to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, with which it shares a common entrance. Its rugged topography includes ravines,...
. Gordon Herr was forced to move, but, in response to appeals by her students, it was decided that Wildenhain could continue to live on the property until her death. As a result, when she died in 1985, her property reverted to the State of California and became part of the State Park System
California Department of Parks and Recreation
The California Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 278 parks and 1.4 million acres , with over of coastline; of lake and river frontage; nearly 15,000 campsites; and of hiking, biking, and...
.
Sources
- Tim Tivoli Steele, “School of the Pond Farm Workshops: An Artist’s Refuge,” in A Report, the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum Journal, 10:2, 1992.
- Dean and Geraldine Schwarz, eds., Marguerite Wildenhain and the Bauhaus: An Eyewitness Anthology. Decorah, Iowa: South Bear Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9761381-2-9. Majors portions of this book provide historic documentation (text, interviews, maps and photographs) of the Herr family’s Pond Farm Workshops and Marguerite Wildenhain’s Pond Farm Pottery.