Homestead

Written in 2024 for string quartet (50 minutes)

Extended program notes coming soon…

Notes from the album:

The idea for Homestead came in 2023 during my time as Artist in Residence at Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska with the materials referenced in the titles of the movements as well as the images on this album found in their archives. As a fifth-generation Nebraskan, growing up on the native lands of the Chatiks si chatiks people (Pawnee), this project is a part of my process of learning, listening, and developing a relationship with the land and its stewards in my home state: a beautiful place with a rich history that is as much a part of me as it is part of the settler-colonial project of displacement and genocide through the Homestead Acts.

Images provided by the Homestead National Historical Park from Reynolds family archive. The Wesley Spear family did not homestead but owned a 160-acre farm in Seward County. Their daughter Marion and her husband George Reynolds lived on and operated their farm called “Pine Lodge” from 1910 to 1937 in addition to farming the 40 acres of land given to them by George’s father.

Full interview from Another Timbre:

[coming soon]