Longtime floating home resident Judyth Greenburgh and her husband keep a home on Main Dock, but they’ve relocated to Darwin, CA, a town with a population of 48 on the edge of Death Valley. Judyth, Co-Founder of the Charles Van Damme Project, is an artist who maintained a studio in an outbuilding on the property.
On April 24, a fire of unknown origins burned that structure to the ground and, as Judyth told the Floating Times, “I lost all my life’s work, mementos, [and] art library” as well as a collection of newspaper articles chronicling the CVD Project’s efforts to preserve artifacts from the beached ferry that was once the social center of Waldo Point.
Because of Darwin’s remote location, the structure was uninsurable, so friends have launched a Go Fund Me Page to help Judyth continue with her work.
Judyth notes, “A neighbor convinced me to pick through the ashes. I found a family heirloom—a gold half sovereign—intact. I am making ink from the ashes that I will call ‘Studio Blood’ and melt the copper I had for kaleidoscopes into etching plates—I am counting my blessings for the things that were saved. All the rest is just ‘stuff’ but I hope to rebuild as soon as possible to start sharing my art once again.”