There are many ways to see creative places. Artists sow ideas and cultivate thought, creativity blossoms in fits and starts, the seasons turn and the cycles reset. Artists settle into corners, crannies, and caverns - whether a theater, luggage store or auto shop…recent construction either old or renovated. There are a number of seedlings in Seattle - surprising due to the challenging conditions and fragility of the ecosystem. These spaces are fragile because they are emerging.

Artists may be drawn to liminality to prevent complacency, and because of this not all stems will grow into stalks. As such, gardeners are at the core of a perpetual quandary of permaculture. Soil is initially dry and infertile or can be outright toxic; the efforts to till and fertilize are for naught if a downpour washes away the nutrients. The fruits of creativity do not need physicality. A proverbial bed is turned over, but the berries can still make their way into communal consciousness.

The birth of such a place as these requires space, imagination, drought, cisterns, and stewardship.