Off the Coast of Paradise

"Off the Coast of Paradise: Ossabaw Island, Georgia, 1961-Now will explore the profound impact of an undeveloped, 25,000-acre barrier island off the coast of Savannah on arts, culture, and the sciences in the United States during the later half of the twentieth century. in 1961, Ossabaws co-owner Eleanor Sandy Torrey West and her husband Clifford Bateman West established the Ossabaw Island Project (OIP), a multidisciplinary residency program that ran until 1982. Unlike similar programs such as Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York, and MacDowell in Peterborough, New Hampshire, that were tailored towards artists only, the Wests invited intellectuals in the sciences, linguistics, history, mathematics, law, and other disciplines to Ossabaw in addition to painters, photographers, sculptors, writers, musicians, and other artists. Residents were given the opportunity to work on projects of their choosing and gain inspiration from the wild and majestic environment of the island. In 1970, the Wests expanded their program to include Genesis, a cooperative, semi-sustainable community oriented towards younger and less established residents. The exhibition takes its name from a poem written by Henri Cole, who was a resident at Genesis in 1981"--