| Creating Sacred Space
By Sheila McEntee
Photographs by Steve Shaluta
Imagine waking gently to the soothing sound of a river tripping quietly across its rocky bed. From the comfort of your own soft pallet you stir just slightly, feeling the morning chill of mountain air on your nose and cheeks. There is little else to rouse you in this remote and peaceful place, save for the round, rich notes of a song sparrow or the chortle of a robin welcoming the dawn.
After a time, you open your eyes to find the day’s first light filtering through violet, pink, and yellow hues that warm your cozy space as they beckon the sun, like stained-glass windows in a country chapel. Indeed, there is a holy feel to this shelter by the river, tucked amid trees and so near to nature.
To play artfully with light and create "sacred space" for others to gather in nature were the goals of textile artist Michael Davis when he conceived of the idea of Water Gap Retreat. Located at the edge of the Shaver’s Fork of the Cheat River just outside Elkins, Water Gap features a cluster of five raised-platform shelters with hand-dyed walls created by Davis, as well as a fully furnished cabin, pavilion, and bathhouse. Since opening Water Gap Retreat in 2007, Davis has welcomed individuals and couples, as well as groups of college students and other learners, who have come to experience his unique getaway while they explore workshops and the many attractions of West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands region.
 Michael Davis is known internationally for the exquisite silk clothing he creates using a Japanese pole-wrapping and dyeing technique called arashi shibori (see pages 11 and 12). His garments have been exhibited and sold across the United States and in Europe and Japan.
After many years concentrating largely on clothing, Davis began experimenting with other art pieces. "When I finish dyeing a piece of fabric, I always hold it up to the light," he says. "I see how beautiful the fabrics look with light coming through them. That led me to design lamps, and from there I began to imagine living structures made with dyed fabrics."
Davis also began to dream about a new direction for his work that would integrate his many other interests. In 2002, he purchased the Cheat River Campground, about seven miles outside Elkins, including 18 campsites and a cozy cabin with a magnificent river-rock chimney and hearth. In the open area of the campground that borders scenic Shaver’s Fork, Davis began to envision his artful structures. Little by little they began to take shape and become a reality.
 The raised-platform, canvas-and-silk shelters were designed by architect Bryson VanNostrand of Buckhannon. Each one features two sleeping alcoves with air mattresses or foam bedding, a built-in table and two chairs, storage shelves, and solar-powered table lights.
"To me they’re a great-feeling space," Davis says. "They’re small, but they still feel expansive."
Davis purchased the canvas for the roof and corners of the shelters from Red Sky Shelters, a North Carolina company specializing in all-natural, nontoxic materials. "The shelters are definitely low impact," Davis adds. "One small solar panel powers the lights for all of them."
The shelters’ sidewalls are made of heavy silk, which Davis dyed using a combination of scrunching and "discharge" techniques to create vivid colors and highlights. For the slimmer door panels, he used the arashi shibori method of dyeing, whereby he wrapped the silk around a pole, tied it tightly with string, and compressed it before dyeing.
"For each shelter I used a combination of techniques to produce both cloudy, amorphous patterns and more richly textured patterns," Davis explains. Seamstress Janet Civiello of Elkins stitched the canvas walls together, expertly navigating the shelters’ many angles.
With the shelters complete, Davis could begin to realize the second part of his dream: to host student groups and workshops for artists at his riverside retreat. While he thought teachers might appreciate the comforts of the cabin, where meals and meetings might be organized easily, he imagined young people especially enjoying the shelters, the walls of which can be opened to hear the music of crickets, owls, and the river, or to glimpse the night sky. He also imagined that students staying in the shelters wouldn’t mind the requisite trips to the bathhouse. All guests would enjoy swimming in the river, lunching in the outdoor pavilion, stoking evening campfires, and relaxing in the cabin’s hot tub.
Since the summer of 2007, both college students and artists have enjoyed the peaceful haven that is Water Gap Retreat. Workshops arranged by Davis have included nature-inspired writing, memoir writing, Appalachian singing, and shibori textile dyeing. In 2007 and 2008, a group of honors students from West Virginia Wesleyan College and their mentors explored concepts of creativity in fall and spring weekend retreats of their own design.
Last September, a group of eight students and two professors from Michigan State University came to Water Gap for a weekend immersion in Appalachian culture. Davis planned a weekend packed with activities for the group. Under the guidance of folklorists Michael and Carrie Kline, students spent an afternoon with Dellis Rowan, a native of Randolph County and longtime farmer, who showed them traditional methods of farming and low-impact logging. Rowan still plows and cuts and rakes hay using his two draft horses, and he recently won a national competition for plowing with horses. He showed students traditional farming tools, demonstrating how to sharpen and use a scythe and how to swing a grain cradle. That evening the Klines entertained the students with a program of Appalachian music. The Klines also told them about their work collecting the histories, stories, and songs of Appalachia.
 During their stay at Water Gap, the Michigan State students also hiked at Stuart Recreation Area with naturalist Robert Hunsucker, who acquainted them with the fungi and other flora of an Appalachian forest. The group later toured historic Beverly and experimented with dyeing, carding, spinning, and weaving wool in a hands-on workshop led by artist Laurie Gundersen. Finally, the students visited West Virginia’s poet laureate Irene McKinney at her family home place near Belington. McKinney talked about being a writer from Appalachia and read to students from her works.
"This was a life-changing experience for the students and they continue to talk about it months later," says Michigan State University professor Anita Skeen. "The students set off on the journey a little anxious about new people they might meet. They came home feeling like they were a part of a family, both among themselves and among the people who shared their lives with us for four delightful and new-knowledge-filled days."
"Not until I was totally immersed in the culture and people did I begin to grasp the depth and color of West Virginia," says Michigan State University student Hannah Ettema. "The greatest lesson I learned from the work we did was to appreciate the amount of craftsmanship and skill that went into some of the most homely of tasks, such as dyeing and spinning."
Davis, too, found the Michigan students’ Appalachian immersion weekend especially satisfying. "It fulfilled my mission to do creative things in a beautiful place," he says. "It showed off what is really special about West Virginia and also brought some money into this economy."
 Davis welcomes the opportunity to introduce other groups to Appalachian history, ecology, and life ways. He also notes that Water Gap is an appealing place for family reunions, church retreats, or small corporate retreats. The shelters and cabin can be reserved together or separately. Davis can put together a schedule of events and menus for groups visiting Water Gap Retreat, or they can plan their own activities and meals. Meals arranged through Water Gap feature locally grown, organic produce from nearby Rolling Thunder Farm, as well as breads, granola, and desserts from La Fontaine Bakery in Parsons. Bag lunches can also be ordered.
Some individuals have found the Water Gap Retreat Web site and have come to try out the artful shelters. "People bring their own linens and camping supplies, but it is definitely a step up from camping," says Davis, "and you are right on the river."
Located at the edge of the Monongahela National Forest, recreational opportunities abound near Water Gap Retreat, including canoeing, kayaking, hiking, biking, climbing, caving, and skiing. Also nearby are the Otter Creek Wilderness, Seneca Rocks, Nelson Rocks, Spruce Knob, Dolly Sods, and Blackwater Falls.
Ultimately, as Davis notes on the Water Gap Web site, "Water Gap Retreat is a place where people can leave their cars, cares, and jobs behind to focus on activities that entertain the mind and nourish the soul."
For more information, visit www.watergapretreat.com or call 304.704.7867.
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Creating Sacred Space
