Reaching out to the Rest of the World from a Small Studio

Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom — who create large-scale collages and installations together under the name Ghost of a Dream — first came to the Tristate region to take part in the Wassaic Project, an art colony in Amenia, N.Y.

Though they’ve lived and worked in New York City, Beijing and Berlin, they chose to buy their home and settle down in Wassaic (a hamlet of Amenia), buying a small house and adjacent outbuilding in 2012.

Both buildings are now painted teal blue, one like a smaller version of the other. They are able to move back and forth between the two buildings, tending to their daughter and their three chickens. 

Renovating their home and studio, the artists say, was one of their favorite collaborations. The studio especially has been transformed by the couple, who converted it from a dirt-floor shack to a brightly lit modern workspace with energy-efficient lights, a guillotine cutter, piles upon piles of papers, and a large worktable.

“I love it,” Eckstrom said. “I love that it’s climate-controlled and that it’s clean. I love that I can walk to it.”

He and Was also love that they are steps away from the community and inspiration of the Wassaic Project, where there are events, a restaurant, art shows and artist residencies (like the one that brought the couple to this part of the world in the first place).

“We’re a part of this great artist community that’s right here and easy to access, so there are always a lot of people coming through the studio and visiting,” Was said.

The couple also are the “embedded critics” of the Wassaic Project, organizing visits to the studio spaces of the artists in residence there.

But there is always the danger that so much rural bliss will begin to limit an artist’s work and vision.

“We started to think, How can we keep working? How can we keep traveling, meeting people and collaborating?” Was said. “So Adam and I decided to reach out to an artist in every country in the whole world and ask them to record 7 minutes of the sun at the end of the day.” 

The COVID-19 quarantine intensified the duo’s desire to do work that would connect them to other artists.

“COVID is what made us decide to make this the most inclusive and collaborative work we could possibly make in a time when we were really kept apart,” Eckstrom said. 

The project consumes the studio, with computer printouts of photos of sunsets lining the walls, all of them held up with blue painters tape.

The studio space is jam packed, with these images collected from artists around the world and with past and present work by Ghost of a Dream — the artists have created quilt-style collages with ephemera such as discarded lottery tickets and used casino playing cards. 

They don’t find that sharing the small space is confining, however — in fact, both expressed how rewarding it is to work and live alongside another artist.

“We’ve gained so much working together because we’ve been able to bounce ideas off of each other and make ideas better because we talk them through,” said Was. 

With a smile and a laugh, she added, “And we steal each other’s words!”

Books that Ghost
of a Dream recommends

• “Art/Work: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career,” by Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathon Melber

“This book was so important to us as we were starting off our careers as artists. It was everything we should have learned through our multiple art degrees, simplified and put into one place.”

• “The Hearing Trumpet,” by Leanora Carrington 

“The escapist in me loves the strange surrealist world that Leonora Carrington creates,” Was said. “It is a story about a 92-year-old woman who, when given the gift of a hearing trumpet, realizes her family plans to ship her off to an old age home. 

“Upon arrival she realizes it’s not a ‘normal place;’ the houses are in the shapes of birthday cakes, a big boot, an igloo, a castle tower and an Egyptian sarcophagus. There is murder, occult happenings and a portal to the underworld. 

“This book is bonkers and amazing.”

• “Ada Twist, Scientist” and “Rosie Revere, Engineer,” by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts

“These are great books that we have read over and over to our 5-year-old daughter, Holiday. They are empowering stories about girls discovering and pushing through challenges to follow their dreams, and it’s written in rhyme. These books are beautifully illustrated with intense detail that keeps us wanting to read them again and again.”

After living in New York and other cities around the world, Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom find that they can remain in touch with the world while raising chickens at a home in the artist community of Wassaic, N.Y. Photo by Sadie Leite

The newest project of art duo Ghost of a Dream is a collection of images of sunsets by artists from around the world.  Photo by Sadie Leite

After living in New York and other cities around the world, Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom find that they can remain in touch with the world while raising chickens at a home in the artist community of Wassaic, N.Y. Photo by Sadie Leite