What happens when you subscribe?
As a reader of The Ruins Project, you are invited into one of the thin places of the world. The term thin place is very old. Celtish old. It resists definition. In fact, you could say that a thin place is defined by its resistance to being understood. To some it will be sacred. To some it will be a place that jolts you out of the normal world. A field or a hollow, a building or a corner that you pass through and are changed.
The Ruins is a real place in Appalachian Pennsylvania that can be visited (with an appointment). But in these pages, its truths and philosophies are animated with my words. The Ruins Project is a giant cement canvas that used to be a coal mine operation but is now a concrete cathedral for storytelling.
It’s real. But it’s also a state of mind.
The Ruins is the only place in the world where contemporary mosaic artists and long dead coal miners tell stories together.
I am Rachel Sager, its founder, owner, and chief idea maker. It is my purpose on earth to protect and celebrate The Ruins and its many stories.
The Ruins is art, history, nature, past, present, and future.
Subscribers are invited to watch and read during these active growing years, as The Ruins is a work in progress. Over 400 artists from around the world have contributed their mosaic voices to its walls. This newsletter is the place where the ideas are born, fine-tuned, and transformed into finished works.
If you are a creative soul, you are the first to learn about new projects, collaborations, calls to artists, and long-term visions for our mosaic museum in the woods.
If you come from coal, you are a Ruins VIP and are invited to share your own story of being a descendant of the industry. One of the most important jobs of The Ruins is to recover almost forgotten stories.
If you believe that building beautiful things is one of the best ways to change the world, then this may be a place for you.
Will you answer the call to unearth optimism with me?
I love thinking about what it means to live as an artist. From the how to pay the bills part to the how to change the world part. And all the fascinating paths in between.
Much of my writing is free, but I reserve a percentage of my more personal works for the paid subscribers. If you become one of these, I dub you a unicorn. Rare and precious.
What Ruins readers have to say about becoming paid subscribers:
I love how you write Rachel. You allow me to escape my crazy world for however, long it takes me to read it and reread it and click on all the links. It’s my 15 minutes of peace and calm that I remember being at the ruins, it allows me to breathe and to think and to listen and to feel.
I toured the Sager Ruins and am in awe of what you have created. I felt it was a very sacred experience. I am an artist and will enjoy your writing about your artistic journey, process and vision.
I support your work because you live it. You are telling stories about people whose stories would be lost. You tell the truth even when it is hard. The life of an artist is hard. But we do it because we are called. Thank you for answering.
I love what you've done to promote art in general, and specifically the art of mosaics! The Ruins has opened up a whole new world for me and am forever grateful for that!
You are an innovator and indeed an inspiration! And I have a little owl which sits proudly on one of The Ruins walls. I'd love to contribute something else to the project one day!
