(Editor’s note: Manhattan-based radio journalist Jon Kalish visited Hardwick recently and produced this audio slideshow. Kalish has reported for National Public Radio since 1980. His newspaper articles, radio documentaries, podcasts and NPR stories can be found here.)
[I]n August a monthlong gathering called Ghost Scouts Camp is held in Hardwick. This was the fifth year of the camp, which brings aspiring illustrators, animators and comic book artists to the homestead of 36-year-old Daniel Bandit, aka Ghostshrimp. The campers spend mornings building forts and doing forestry work. In the afternoons and evenings they work on their drawing projects. All of them camp out with no internet or cellphone service. Bandit wakes them every morning to do calisthenics at 6 a.m.
Bandit has illustrated album covers, done illustrations for the New Yorker and The New York Times Book Review, and worked for the Cartoon Network series “Adventure Time” as lead background designer. He made a conscious decision to raise his family in the woods in Vermont and live a low-overhead life.
This year’s visiting artists included Kent Osborne, head writer for “Adventure Time,” and his brother Mark Osborne, who directed “Kung-Fu Panda” and “The Little Prince.” Other participants were from Guadalajara, Sarajevo, Montreal and elsewhere.
