About

Artlab Thuja

Artlab Thuja is the homestead of David Noble and Camille Hildebrandt, located on ten acres of rainforested land at the southern end of Chimacum Ridge, fifteen miles south of Port Townsend, Washington.

We act as an incubator for creative inquiry and collaboration in this rich natural setting.

Our name comes from Thuja plicata, the Western red cedar that is a keystone of our forest ecosystem, and from our commitment to artistic inquiry and experimentation as a path to appreciating the diversity of our world and its many forms of life.

Over the past decade we have hosted a variety of contemplative art practice and meditation retreats, music and dance performances, artist residencies, and creative workshops.

We welcome proposals for retreats, workshops, and residencies by artists and teachers allied with our interest in art that is grounded in inquiry, meditation, structured improvisation, and multidisciplinary collaboration.

Buildings & Accommodations

The main house, our residential space, is at the top of a circle at the end of our driveway. Behind it, rising up the gentle slope of the ridge, is a cleared area for our outbuildings and garden.

The Hangar, a 1200-square-foot pole barn, is our main event space, outfitted with a stage, lighting grid, and sound system for use in performances and workshops. It also serves as our meditation hall.

Adjacent to the Hangar is a fully equipped outdoor kitchen and dining area. An art studio and small woodshop are located nearby, and provide shower and bathroom facilities.

Between the main house and the studio/shop are a greenhouse, raised vegetable beds, a stroll garden, and a well-house that provides our water.

As much as possible, meals for workshops and events feature Thuja garden fruit and vegetables, homemade baked goods, and local produce.

The Forest

The forest is the heart of Artlab Thuja. About a third of our land was cleared for the house and outbuildings; the rest preserves a mature second-growth forest dating back to the first half of the twentieth century. This diverse ecosystem is home to large conifers (Western red cedar, Douglas fir, grand fir, Western hemlock, and Sitka spruce) mixed with deciduous trees including big-leaf maple, alder, bitter cherry, and ironwood. The undergrowth is predominantly sword fern, with salal, huckleberry, Oregon grape, mosses and lichens, mushrooms, and an assortment of spring wildflowers.

Within the forest are walking trails, several campsites, and an open glade that serves as a performance, event, and gathering space.

Camille & David

Camille Hildebrandt was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and spent her formative years in New York City studying dance before moving to the Olympic Peninsula in 1993. Curious about alternative dance forms after graduating from Juilliard, Camille studied authentic movement, contact improv and contemplative arts at Naropa, and began a series of interdisciplinary performance pieces exploring spatial and sensory awareness through structured improvisation.

Camille enjoys being part of local theater productions, working as an art educator in Quilcene, and her ongoing apprenticeship with mother nature as a cook and gardener.

Learning to ask good questions and investigate what has not yet happened are still key principles in her art practice.

David Noble grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. After graduate studies in Japanese language and history at the University of Chicago and Princeton, he pursued an independent career as a translator, editor, and book designer, working in New York City and Tokyo before moving to Washington State in 2003.

He began Zen Buddhist practice in the late 1980s, and for more than twenty years has made mixed-media paintings, assemblages, and photographs—a recent selection of which may be seen at noblearts.studio.

With Camille Hildebrandt and Dmitry Artamonov, he is a member of the performance ensemble Utsusemi, and is currently exploring electronic music and sound art.