While this tiny island off an island might not be the easiest place to get to—Newfoundland has its own time zone, after all—painters, musicians, filmmakers, designers, writers, and creators from all around the world are arriving on its remote windswept shores to find inspiration.
The Fogo Island Inn.
It takes a resilient and creative spirit to survive on Fogo Island, with its isolated location off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada’s easternmost province. But a far-flung island in the wild, windswept North Atlantic Ocean comes with its own rewards as well: Giant glacial works of art break off from Greenland every spring and pass the island’s rugged shores and path in “Iceberg Alley.” Lying on the outside edge of the North American continent, the Flat Earth Society even considers Fogo Island to be one of the four corners of the earth.
The first studio, Long Studio, was completed in 2010, and its elongated space is ideal for hosting artists working on large-scale projects.
While surrounded by dramatic and romantic landscapes, living on the edge of the world hasn’t been easy for Fogo Island’s outport communities. Over the years, the islanders have struggled with resettlement and a cod moratorium, which drastically affected their traditional way of life and main economy—fishing. Zita Cobb, a native Newfoundlander and successful entrepreneur who made a sizable fortune in fiber optic technology, came up with an innovative approach to create a new sustainable economy in her childhood home.
Long Studio also offers dramatic views of the crashing waves on its elevated perch on the North Atlantic Ocean coastline.
In 2001, Cobb, along with her brothers Alan and Anthony Cobb, founded the philanthropic Shorefast Foundation , which seeks to infuse an innovative entrepreneurial spirit into Fogo Island to grow the economy while still respecting and fostering its traditions and culture.
Art, architecture, and community are all at the core of Shorefast’s projects. With its initiative to build cultural and economic resilience on the rural island, Shorefast is developing sustainable tourism with the Fogo Island Inn and connecting local and international creative communities with Fogo Island Arts (FIA) and its artist residency program.
Tower Studio, located in Shoal Bay has a loft, rooftop terrace, and a long boardwalk path to the main road.
Dominating the landscape with its perch on the rocky shore, the Fogo Island Inn is a 29-room lodge praised for its contemporary architecture, which buoys the island's fishing roots with 35-foot columns that nod to the fishing stages characteristic of Newfounland’s outports. Blending the island’s traditional culture with modern design, the inn is home to a contemporary art gallery and a 37-seat cinema. A five-star hotel that also mirrors its welcoming and friendly surrounding community, the inn embodies the deep hospitality that has always been at the core of Fogo Island—it was the only way to survive in an isolated community in harsh conditions.
Inside Tower Studio.
Cobb’s social business model is also focused on connecting artists from around the world to the local community on Fogo, bringing the island's visibility to tourists worldwide, while growing the island’s economy that has suffered from a diminishing fishing industry. These artists-in-residence come to the island to do research and disconnect from their busy urban lives back home. Select artists are then invited to present their work in exhibitions at the Fogo Island Gallery located inside the inn. The artists also live within the community, with the goal of mutual inspiration and exchange from the local residents, who often become the muses of the art created within the studio walls.
Bridge Studio, located in Deep Bay, is a favorite for writers with a desk and full-height window facing the bay.
Artists in a residency with Fogo Island Arts work out of one of four contemporary studios scattered across the island. The artist studios are designed by Todd Saunders, an architect born in Newfoundland, who also designed the Fogo Island Inn. Each of the four studios—two more are in the works: the Short Studio in Little Seldon, and Fogo Studio in the community of Fogo—has its own distinct look, but all are linear in proportion, minimalistic in design, and have full-height windows that frame the shoreline and perhaps even a passing iceberg. The studios also are a nod to the island’s traditional fishing sheds with spruce wood shells and supporting stilts.
Inside Bridge Studio.
All studios are self-sustaining and lie completely off the grid; rainwater is collected from the roof and stored in tanks for the small kitchens and showers in the studios. Anchored into the landscape by steel legs, the studios range in size from 200 to 1,200 square feet. All studios are equipped with compost toilets, solar-powered electricity, and wood-burning stoves. The only tie to the outside world is the WiFi connection.
Squish Studio, with its white-painted plank angles, sits on a rocky trip of coastline just outside the small community of Tilting, known for its strong Irish culture, on the eastern end of Fogo Island.
If you’re not an artist seeking residency, you can still see make a pilgrimage to these inspiring spaces. Either with a community host at the Fogo Island Inn or on your own self-guided scavenger hunt, search for the studios across the island. Just try to steer clear of disturbing the artists at work (don’t peer into the studio windows). Though the artists, prone to be inspired by the welcoming spirit of Fogo Island, are likely to smile or wave at passersby when seen outside their studios.
RELATED: The Most Remote Island Vacations in the World
