Peters Valley Re Cap: Luna Parc

 While at Peters Valley this past summer, I got to go to Luna Parc not once, but twice. Luna Parc is the home and studio of madcap artist Ricky Boscarino. The place is hard to describe, sprawling grounds, miles of mosaics and re-purposed everything, wine bottles, bowling balls, license plates and trophies. It's just 10 minutes down the road from PV, and a group of us went one Saturday, when Ricky was hosting an open house and the power was out in the studio.

 There was literally something to see everywhere you looked. The experience was a little overwhelming. Not only was there the main house, but also the metals and ceramics studios behind the house, and numerous little out buildings like this one made from cement and blue glass bottles. There was also building materials for future projects everywhere too. A little ways behind this building were several shopping carts full of more blue glass bottles.

 The inside of the house was as detailed as the outside, if not more so. Inside were more mosaics, paintings done by Ricky and various items he's collected  from his travels all over the world. This was just a small part of my favorite room, which was rather like a minerature natural history museum. My other favorite part was a tiny chapel behind the house full of all kinds of religious kitsch, like this saint covered in rosaries.

 The second time I went to Luna Parc, I went with the Special Topics class, and it was just us. I enjoyed this visit more than the first. There were less people and it was less overwhelming, so I felt like I could notice more details or absorb more. The first visit I took pictures, the second trip I sketched. The second time I went, I also actually got to meet Ricky. He showed us some areas of the house that are still in progress and weren't open to the public during the open house. I got to see more of the studio and learned that Ricky has a metals degree from SUNY New Paltz. He wanted to be a smith, but says the jewelry pays the bills.

 I have a feeling you could spend a week at Luna Parc and not see everything. It really is incredible that someone chose to live in a place like this and devoted nearly 10 years of his life to making his vision come true. I guess it goes to show you anything is possible with enough time, patience, love and and spare parts.

Oh, and yes, Ricky's house was featured on TLC's first episode or Four Houses