Our Story Starts…

Our Foundations

  • David K. Van Nostrand - 1951-2023

    David Kilbourn Van Nostrand, died in the early morning of Monday, February 13th at the age of 72.

    David identified as a sculptural woodworker in his early career, and sold artistic, wild, and nature inspired furniture and art pieces throughout the 20th century. He purchased the property at Carman Road with his then-wife Elaine Papageorge in 1992.

    The first studio rented at ARQ was made available in 1998. The final 25 years of David’s life included woodworking, space building, gardening, tending the land, and the building of a life-long community.

    Connect with David's Approach to Art, ARQ, and Life

  • The Carman Family

    All the structures at ARQ were built by multiple generations of the Carman Family, who inhabited this property from the 1840s-1980s.

    The Carman’s were Quakers, abolitionists, farmers, and community builders. We are deeply grateful to the Carman family for their long stewardship of the land, growing the community of Mecklenburg, and for building the many agricultural buildings that now house our ARQtist studios and spaces.

  • Murray Mill aka the Goat Farm Arts Center in Atlanta GA

    The Goat Farm Arts Center is a visual and performing arts center located in West Midtown, Atlanta, Georgia. The center is housed in a 19th-century complex of industrial buildings and contains the studio space of over 300 artists.

    David Van Nostrand was a member at Murray Mill from the late 1970s-1980s and its purpose as an intentional artists enclave deeply inspired his desire to create his own artists community in the Finger Lakes.

    Goat Farm Arts Center

The Van Nostrand’s first visit to 6340 Carman Road in August 1992.

“Perhaps a bit of the future that we’re looking at…kind of nervous, and thinking hard.”

- David Van Nostrand, age 42, before purchasing 6340 Carman Rd.

Archival footage of Elaine Papageorge (41), Alex Van Nostrand (age 6), Zoë Van Nostrand (age 3 months). Narrated and filmed by David Van Nostrand (age 42).

  • The "Big Barn" view from the house. ca. 1993 or 1994

  • David Van Nostrand mowing the Fruit Orchard. Black Walnut space behind the apple tree. ca. 1993 or 1994.

  • Carman Farm House, before the living room addition. ca. 1993 or 1994

  • Carriage House before the "Maple Sky" studio addition (no stairs!). ca. 1993 or 1994

  • November 29th 1992, just after purchasing 6340 Carman Rd. David Van Nostrand (42), Lainey Papageorge (42), Orion Hanson (14), Alex Van Nostrand (6), Zoë Van Nostrand (6 months).

The History of ARQ

an abridged and partially remembered version…

ARQ sits on the traditional homeland of the Haudenosaunee People.  A Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ (Cayuga) village site home to at least a dozen families was perched just above some of Taughannock Creek's headwaters at the intersection of what is now Carman Road and North Buck Hill Road for many decades. A historic marker was placed on the property in the 1990s after archaeological excavation work completed by the University of Pittsburgh. This village site was dated to the mid-1500s, and is part of a larger chain of Indigenous village sites from current day Mecklenburg to Ovid. We credit the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ for their centuries of caretaking of the region, and introducing agriculture, creative practices, and human habitation to the lands we now build, grow, and create on.

The Carman family acquired the land through the Military Tract allotments following the 1779-80 Sullivan-Clinton Campaign which forcibly expelled the Haudenosaunee from the majority of their traditional territory in a violation of treaty rights with the new American government. The Carman’s moved into the region in the early 1800s, and developed the land into agricultural fields and family homes throughout the 19th century.

The Carman’s were a prominent family of Quakers who established themselves in Mecklenburg, Hector, Perry City, and Ulysses in the early years of white settlement. William Carman who lived about a mile from ARQ was a documented part of the abolitionist network in upstate New York that supported self-liberation through providing a safe haven to those escaping enslavement pursuing freedom in Canada.  

The ARQ Barn under construction in the mid-1950s. Photograph donated to David Van Nostrand by Bill Carman Jr. in the 2010s.

Successful Farming Magazine featuring the Carman family collecting eggs in the newly constructed barn (what would become the ARQ Barn), January 1955 issue. Personal collection of Zoë Van Nostrand.

(Fun family note, the picture was actually taken in the summer of 1954, but the Carman’s donned winter gear to look more wintry!)

Historic Marker located at crossing of Carman Rd and Buckhill Rd N.

The Carman Family Farmhouse at ARQ was built in the late 1840s along with the historic Grey Barn. The Carman family lived in many neighboring houses for much of the next 150 years.  The Carman Family Cemetery with headstones dating to the early 1800s and old schoolhouse adjoin the ARQ property. ARQ residents have been caretaking the family cemetery since 2021, after the last local Carman retired to Florida.

In the 1920s the house and farm were owned by Selim M. Bodle and his wife Mary Elizabeth “Libby” Carman.

In 1931 Selim sold the house to his cousin-in-law William David Carman (1906-1979) and his wife Marion Dempsey. William and Marion raised three children in the house Mary (1938-1984), Nancy (1939-), and William “Bill” (1942-2024) Carman.

The main ARQ barn was completed in 1954 as a large-scale chicken operation organized by William Carman Sr., and was featured as the cover photo for Successful Farming Magazine in January 1955. The farm specialized in egg production with up to 80,000 White Leghorn chickens at its height of local operations, supplying to Babock Poultry. The Carman Farm employed many locals in egg sorting and processing during the 1960s-1980s. The egg-production operation closed in the latter half of the 20th century, and the farm was non-operational by the late 1980s. A fun side note for the latter half of the 20th century, one of the signs to turn onto the road read “Carman Rd”, the sign at the other end read “Carmen Rd”. The Town of Hector made the signs match to both read “Carman” in the late 2000s.

Carman Family headstone, located in the Quaker Cemetery adjoining the ARQ property.

A Collective Dream for Artists

David Van Nostrand (carpenter, sculptural woodworker) and Lainey Papageorge (Elaina Designs, jewelry designer) purchased the property from Bill Carman (Jr.) in 1992, the same year that their youngest daughter Zoë was born.  Lainey and David had met in Atlanta, GA doing craft shows in the mid 1980s, and co-founded a fine jewelry gallery, Illumina, located in Phipps Plaza, which featured the works of over 100 artists from around the world from 1987 (the year their daughter Alex was born) until it closed its doors in 2000. The money earned from the success of Illumina was hugely influential to the early years of ARQ.

David had been a woodworker at Murray Mill (aka The Goat Farm Arts Center) in Atlanta in the early 1980s, and part of his vision for an intentional artist community came from working there alongside blacksmiths, metal workers and other artisans.  Most especially his multi-medium collaboration with ironworker Michael Gilmartin with whom he cofounded “Interpreta Designs”. During that time David's unique work with chainsaw carving, tree roots, and one-of-a-kind sculptural live-edge pieces was cutting edge, and featured in museum and private collections around the country.  David had grown up in Buffalo, NY and spent summers in Hector, NY on Seneca Lake starting in 1958. His love of the north-eastern hardwood trees, and the friendships he forged with local loggers like Sammy Argetsinger and Phil Davis, were foundational to his woodworking. It was David’s yearning to move back to the Northeast that encouraged the family’s move from Atlanta in the early 1990s.

After Van Nostrand/Papageorge purchased the property in 1992, they invested in an expansion to the farm house so each of their three children would have their own room, building a jewelry studio for Lainey (now the Maple Sky Apartment), and setting up a carpentry shop for David (now the Black Oak Studio). Lainey and David separated in 1996, and David continued to build on the dream of making the old chicken barn into an artist collective.

In the late 1990s, David began advertising the property to creatives and craftspeople interested in building out their own studio spaces. One of the earliest transitions was the creation of three metal forge and ironwork studios from the former agricultural out-buildings located by the ARQ barn (these are now the Metal Shops including: Black Walnut, Hickory, Chestnut, and Acorn Studios). The move-in and establishment of “Durand’s Forge” by Durand Van Doren in 1998 into the Hickory space is marked as the official “start” of the Carman Road Artist Quarters (CRAQ) artist community. The next studios available were all in the basement of the ARQ Barn, including Milkweed and Taproot, and a decade of local band Donna the Buffalo using the Hazel space as their recording studio.

Draft note advertising “Creative Space” for local newspapers. Written by David Van Nostrand in the early 2000s.

ARQ was called “CRAQ - Carman Road Artist Quarters” from 2000-2020. This image of the mailbox dates to the 2010s.

Additional studios were built in collaboration with residents and local handymen throughout the 2000s. Level by level transforming sections of the ARQ barn into heated, electrified, and walled work spaces for painters, comics, carvers, leatherworkers, musicians, performance artists and more. These spaces were transformed by a dozens of different residents over the decades, but special appreciation to Scott Seidts for his many years figuring out plumbing and electrical solutions. These completed studios include: Cedar, Quince, Hazel, Grapevine, Spruce Tips, Cattail, and Taproot.

Throughout the building of ARQ David prioritized second-use and sustainable materials. Sourcing wood from old barns, metal sheeting, and regular reuse and upcycling of materials from across the Finger Lakes Region. In the 2010s, the Ithaca ReUse Store became a standard shopping trip for property materials.

For just about 20 years the property went by Carman Road Artist Quarters , CRAQ pronounced “CRACK” as a short hand, and the resident artists jokingly called themselves “CRAQheads”. David had selected the name and acronym as partial recognition for the grandness of his vision, transforming a former industrial chicken barn into studios producing high quality art works across a range of mediums was a somewhat “crackpot” idea when it started. It also brought to mind the Gaelic word “craic” which intimates a good party, a good time, or a good laugh.

In the 2010s we became better known through hosting a series of mini-music and arts celebrations; the Summer Jam hosted annually in June, the Mid-Winter Blast hosted in February, and the first two years of the Big Mean BBQ curated by the band Big Mean Sound Machine in 2015 and 2016. These larger than life celebrations filled with immersive art experiences designed by the current CRAQhead artist residents of each season, shine brightly in the memory of all who attended. Prominent local bands and musicians performed including Big Mean Sound Machine, Maddy Walsh and the Blind Spots, Richie Stearns, Driftwood, Rockwood Ferry, and Thunder Body among many others.

From 2017-2022 we invested heavily in improved smoke alarm systems, upgraded electric, and safety features across all levels of the barn. A highlight of 2019 was the use of the ARQ Barn as a filming site for the feature film “My First Film” directed by local Zia Anger, which premiered on Apple TV in 2024. Zia’s first version of the film “Always, All ways Anne Marie” had also utilized ARQ as a filming site eleven years earlier.

What’s in a name? From CRAQ to ARQ

In 2020 after a few years of internal discussion we voted to change our name from CRAQ to ARQ, pronounced “ark” for Artist Resource Quarters. Representing the change and growth the property had experienced in the 28 years of ownership and management by David Van Nostrand. We no longer exist in the “cracks” of the community, we instead have built a reputation for ourselves of supporting and encouraging local arts. Hosting drawing groups, rich community dinners, and 2+ decades of providing affordable work and living spaces for artists and creatives of all mediums.

We announced the name change through a co-created “Press Release” shared on our Facebook page in September of 2020, after more than two years of discussion with our current residents and artists, we also established the @arqbarnmecklenburg Instagram to further share information and support the artists and craftspeople at ARQ.

Press Release (3 pages) announcing the renaming of CRAQ to ARQ, released in September 2020. Background images feature the work of David Van Nostrand (Wood), Nicole Costa (Gargoyle Painting highlight), and Durand Van Doren (metal sheeting).

In 2018 the property received a homeowner grant from the Arbor Housing & Development which supported a dramatic and much needed expansion to the ARQ Barn septic field, whose human inhabitants had exceeded the septic and water plans originally intended for 80,000 chickens. This was a huge shift for us, as it was the first structural investment made possible through outside funding, not funded through rental income of current residents, or David’s personal finances.

In the summer of 2021 Durand Van Doren, the longest running in-resident ARQtist, semi-officially retired. Selling his large collection of display pieces that had created the “Sculpture Garden” at ARQ from 1999-2021 and the much beloved Pie Party Displays. Pieces of this massive collection landed in private homes and gardens across the region, as well as some of the largest artistic sculptural pieces finding their home at the Ithaca Children’s Garden. Durand officially sold the tools and materials of the metal shops (Black Walnut, Hickory, Chestnut, and Acorn) to his long-time student and friend, retired Union iron-worker Chris Langenberg who had been a part of CRAQ since 2008, with long-time apprentice Teo Aceto taking over operations of the ironwork forge, re-naming it to Crepuscular Forge.

In the fall of 2022 ARQtists David Van Nostrand and Chris Langenberg pursued our largest improvement to date for the Grey Barn, the oldest structure on the property. This massive shoring up of windows, walls, and roof repairs qualified us for our first NYS Historic Barn Rehabilitation Tax Credit coordinated by the New York State Parks Department.

A Generational Fire and Passing of the Torch - 2023

Our most transformative shift came in late 2022, when David Van Nostrand, the founder, visionary, builder and first artist of ARQ received a terminal brain cancer diagnosis, on December 20th 2022. His daughters Alex and Zoë cared for him at home round the clock over the next seven weeks until his death on February 13th 2023. In his final weeks hundreds of friends, family members, community connections, and CRAQheads and ARQtists from all generations of the property visited with David for final conversations, performances, laughter, and story telling. David’s illness caused rapid physical and mental decline, a shocking shift from his spearheading the rebuild of the Grey Barn over the summer of 2022, just a few months before. David was clear and adamant with his desire to remain in his home throughout his weeks in hospice. He was equally clear in his wishes for the property:

Grow Food - Preserve the Oddities - Throw Parties

The deeds to ARQ were transferred to David’s daughters, Alex and Zoe Van Nostrand in January of 2023, thirty-one years after David had purchased the property, and twenty-five years after the first artist studio was rented. David’s last physical visit to the ARQ Barn was in early January, supported by a wheelchair he traveled through his carpentry studio (Black Walnut) of the last 30 years, and explored the new works being created by ARQtists Ben Gould and Andrew Groner in the ARQ Barn. Both daughters had grown up on the property, and had been living in different studio spaces at ARQ, helping with property management and rentals for the past seven years.

Ever connected to the larger patterns of the universe, David got in one final joke, as his cremation was completed by a local man named Art, on February 14th 2023.

My Father’s Hands. Picture by Alex Van Nostrand. February 13th 2023.

  • David Van Nostrand watching a fire. ca. early 2020s. Photograph by Zoë Van Nostrand.

  • David’s last visit to the ARQ Barn in January 2023 with Ben Gould and Alex Van Nostrand. Pictures by Zoë Van Nostrand.

  • David’s last visit to the ARQ Barn in January 2023 with Alex Van Nostrand. Pictures by Zoë Van Nostrand.

  • Burning of the last fire pile built by David Van Nostrand during his Celebration of Life, in July 2023. The crowd includes his daughters, friends, family, community and many ARQtists past and current.

  • Note written by Alex Van Nostrand to Zoë Van Nostrand. February 14th 2023.

Woman Powered - Looking Upward and Forward

Alex & Zoë Van Nostrand. Black and white picture by Kateri Connolly Photography, 2023.

2023-2024 were a time of radical learning and discovery at ARQ, as sister-duo Zoë and Alex worked to untangle the highly personal systems created by their father to manage the property, which now provided homes and livelihoods to some 19 ARQtists. Alex brought in her extensive coordination, community building, and get-to-it-ness to fixing problems, and Zoë dove headfirst into creating structured financial systems, stabilizing and building community relationships, organizing paperwork, and pursuing grant opportunities to support needed improvements. Both sisters have a long history of community organizing, racial justice work, environmentalism, and community building; but ARQ is by far their largest endeavor to date. Alex’s creative practice is found and inspired in nature, Zoë’s can most often be found in spun threads, and woven fibers (neither identified as an “artist” until their 30s).

In the fall of 2023 they formalized the “Inherited Dreams LLC.” as equal co-owners to manage the finances of the property. In 2024 the property was split into two parcels, with the Carman Family Farm House, and Zoë’s home for the last decade in one parcel, and the ARQ Barn and Metal Shops as its own separate parcel co-owned by both sisters.

In 2024 through recommendations by ARQtists Aaron Arlinghaus and Caleb Smith, the property pursued a massive heat pump installation project coordinated by BLOC Power, with an 87% rebate through government incentives. Transitioning the ARQ Barn into environmentally sustainable heating and cooling systems with over 15 heat pumps connected to various studios and rooms. This was our largest investment to date in shifting away from fossil fuels, and support a long time environmentalist dream for the entire Van Nostrand family.

In 2024 each current ARQtist selected a name for their studio space inspired by something growing on the property. This nomenclature system was developed to do away with the confusions of “Chris’ space, that was Lora’s studio, well you know the old Donna recording studio…”. The names were finalized in December 2024 and include:

Raspberry, Taproot, Cattail, Hickory, Chestnut, Black Walnut, Black Oak, Maple Sky, Cedar, Hazel, Spruce Tips, Acorn, Grapevine, Birch, Mullein, Willow, Goldenrod, Deadwood, Bittersweet, Mycelium, Wild Rose, Quince, Milkweed, Redbud, Sungold, Iris and David’s room; Dandelion.

  • Milkweed glow at ARQ.

  • Milkweed Studio, showing porcelain flowers by Owen Mann Ceramics. ca. 2022.

  • Basketful of Sungold tomatoes from the ARQ gardens. Handwoven willow basket by Zoë Van Nostrand.

  • Sungold Studio ca. 2019.

Designed in 2024 by former ARQtist Bee Parisi, and made public in 2025, an official logo for ARQ celebrating the view of the iconic ARQ Barn from the Metal Shops main entrance, the first studio rented back in 1998. The text for the logo was created through scanning handwritten documents by David Van Nostrand. Forever a homage to his disregard for computers, and cellphones. A version of the logo for the Inherited Dreams LLC. which manages the finances of ARQ includes a sunflower, in memory of the iconic 16 foot sunflower grown by Durand Van Doren one summer that later inspired the iconic Sunflower Throne, a beloved staple in the ARQ sculpture garden for many years before it graduated to the Ithaca Children’s Garden in 2021, following Durand Van Doren’s retirement.

The most recent studio built, was a renovation of the Black Walnut studio, which for over 15 years was the showroom and display gallery for Durand’s Forge. Black Walnut was transformed into a working knife shop for the Straffan Forge Collective, which completed the renovations in 2023, and are now producing hammered Damascus steel blades from the studio. Straffan Forge’s first visit to ARQ for a possible future studio space, was on February 13th 2023, the day of David’s passing. He would’ve been jealous to miss it, he always loved good metal work.

In 2025 we published arqbarn.com - a monumental undertaking spearheaded by ARQtist co-owner Zoë Van Nostrand; a digital attempt to pay homage to the first 25 years of CRAQ and ARQ and all the works, music, celebration, and food that has been produced and nourished in our little corner of the Finger Lakes.

We’re building and repairing our foundations. While trying to pursue new opportunities to continue this wild inherited dream of a rural artist community.