GOLDEN MEAN – SHAPING THE NEW YEAR, GROUND UP
December 29 through January 1, 2008 - $180
Foundation determines the building, whether of a year or home, and growth appreciative of the resources at hand is likely to help both be happy and healthy. We turn the calendar with awareness, expression, home-cooked meals, conversation, laughter, walking, and whatever else will nurture the days we have with our children and parents. Bring everyone.
ARTICULATING DREAMS – MARTIN LUTHER KING and EXPRESSIVE NECESSITY
Jan 15 to February 28 - Optional Participation Fee
Exhibits and stage presentations in Louisville and Lexington, on what "We, the people" wish our world to be. People of all ages, working in any expressive medium, are encouraged to model the work of master artist Martin Luther King – to hone our dreams, develop our skills, find the courage to put ourselves out there, and create masterpieces that change our world. Enabling everyone to speak and be heard is a huge step, isn't it? Current programs are open to participants from anywhere, but our dream for next year is to host one in your community. Give us a call if you'd like to make that happen – 859-375-2411.
IRANIAN SPRING – The New Year For People Some Think We Should Fear
March 22, 11 AM till 4 PM with Maryyam Kaykavoosi - $10 includes lunch
In Iran New Year's comes on the Spring Equinox. Aid norooz (celebration of the new day) welcomes the changing year and season in exotic style, with time-honored foods, music, song, dance, games, clothing, philosophy, language, and folklore. Fears are said to always be of the unknown - the dark, the stranger... A broader understanding of what shapes Iranian perspectives may shed a different light on our own, and give us personal reasons not to fuel our cars with self-serve wars.
PEACE AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP FAIR
May 10th, Noon to 8 PM - An open-to-all, Lexington community event
In recognition of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this year’s Peace and Global Citizenship Fair focuses on the rights of people and the earth. The celebration presents multiple opportunities to learn and experience the benefits of world citizenship in an atmosphere of fun, live music, and art, with specific activities on increasing global/cultural understanding and living sustainably in place - on peace, environment, gardening, cultures, health and well-being, social justice, spirituality, and youth. Children’s banners reflecting the theme will decorate the grounds, and local foods will be provided by Terrapin Hill Farm and Slow Food Bluegrass. This is Bluegrass Community and Technical College's 3rd annual event, and takes place on their Cooper Campus, 470 Cooper Drive. Think. Act. Discover. Peace.
For more information, contact Rebecca Glasscock, 859-246-6319
SOURCE POTTERY: Not only HOW to make it, but WHY and WHAT OF?
May 16 to 18 with Marshall Thompson - $200
There are always classes a professional wishes she'd taken early, as a foundation for all others, but a novice will need time to understand. This is one of them - a workshop providing geological and philosophical foundations for both extended play and more meaningful work. Master potter, materials wizard, and grounded philosopher Marshall Thompson will take us from local clay to truly organic food service with a fully appreciative attitude - instilling reason beyond production and value beyond function.
YMCA BLACK ACHIEVERS and LEXINGTON YOUTH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
June 6th to 8th with Jill Wilson and Faith Calhoun
We think of culture as being ethnic based, but consider your first trip as a farm kid to the city, or a city kid to the country, and know part of what's in store for Lexington's Black Achievers this weekend. For some, this will be the first opportunity to take a dip in a river full of crawdads and snapping turtles, put a worm on a hook, gather eggs, touch a goat, stay awake to the howling of coyotes singing grace before dinner, and/or feel lost in the woods of edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants. For all of them, it will be a reward for great achievements and further incentive to appreciate the small print of life's many diverse, necessary, and wholesome contracts. For participant information, contact Jill or Faith at 859-226-0393.
MAYAN MEAL
June 21, 2 to 7 PM with Nico Menchú, Our Board, and Friends - Donations Appreciated
A feast of common foods from a simpler, enduring culture – one far older than that of most of our ancestors - the one that gave the world the bulk of staples now common all over the globe - corn, potatoes, tomatoes... This is a feast of homemade tamales, battered corn tassels, cabbage/onion slaw, and hibiscus flower tea. It is also an opportunity to witness as well as learn more about the on-going cultural, ecological, and immigrant work of Open Ground.
GUATEMALAN POTTERY, FOLK ARTS, AND CULTURE – in Guatemala
June 20 to June 28 - Juan Lucas y Celestina Batz de Menchú - $2,700
Travel to Totonicapaan, Guatemala, and learn to process local clay into exquisite storytelling figurines, mystic Mayan whistle jugs, storage jars, and functional cookware. Teachers Juan and Celestina Menchú each have a mastery inherited from generations of broad family folkart traditions. Take a respite from mud to learn embroidery, use crayons as paint, and change your perceptions of what constitutes tool, art, and value. Our work in any medium will be informed by visits to the Mayan ruins at Zaculeu, and Totonicapaan's Market Day of heirloom foods and fabrics coming from terraced mountain gardens. The cost includes transportation from Kentucky, housing with the Menchú family or their neighbors, traditional foods, program, materials, tour guide, and full-time interpreter. Presented in English, Spanish, and Maya-Quiche.
ROOTS AND WINGS – For Families Adopting Children From Guatemala
June 28 and 29 Nico Menchu and Friends - $125
Why do children adopted as infants so often carry a sense of great loss? How much awareness of 'home' and culture rests in genetic memory, nine months of tacit learning, and as little as a few minutes of familial surroundings? How important is it that we give our adopted children their communities, their heritage? This 2-day extended family gathering asks such questions, tells our stories, and develops a network of people facing the same great joys and unexpected difficulties in looking for ways to give our adopted children new roots and their own wings.
WRITING AND DRAWING IN JOURNAL & SKETCHBOOK
July 11-13 John Begley and Richard Taylor - $180
The insight, inspiration, and skills that necessarily come from settling into place with the companionship of gifted teachers will inform our sketchbooks and notebooks for as long as thought finds paper. This workshop takes a close look at our Oma Chaplin river valley, and all that is blessed to live in it, through drawing, painting, poetry, prose, and conversation. In all of those, we will seek light, shadow, and affective words for sharing them with others.
FOR YOUNG ADULTS AFFECTED OR INFECTED BY HIV/AIDS
August 8-10 - No Charge
Whether a person is born with HIV/AIDS or contracts it through dirty needles or less-than-careful sexual contact, the result is the same - and it can kill the spirit long before it does the body. This workshop invites personal and collaborative expression of the dreams and expectations of people who, like all of us, make life-changing, and life-threatening mistakes. It provides a community of peers and supporters in a camp experience that builds expressive skills, invites their use, and listens well.
HOW TO BE A GOOD POTTER
September 12-14 with Albert Bauman - $250
Marshall grits a pinch of our Kentucky clay between his teeth, speaks of it's composition and prospects, jumps into the metaphysical functionality of producing stuff, and guides us to an appreciation that shapes what will eventually set our tables and feed our spirits. This workshop is for professionals as well as beginners – teaching not only how, but of what, and why (which might include that Solstice isn't far off, and homemade gifts are nice).
HARVEST CELEBRATION and MEMBERSHIP MEETING
September 28, 2 to 11 PM
An Open House with access to studios, fields, woods, river, and pond. Time to do what you'd like, potluck supper, and various entertainments will note the season's change and provide an end-of-the-season backdrop for seeing old and new friends, meeting supporters, and electing a board member from the crowd. This last dip in the river is technically for members, and it's easy to become one. Please do. Membership levels and ways around them are given on the "Who We Are" page of our website.
FRANCISFEST: MAKING PEACE, MENDING SEAMS
October 5, in Lexington, 3 to 5 PM, Place TBA - no-charge and open to all
A day of cooperative games, storytelling, and visual arts addressing the theme of mending what's broken – within a growing network of people consciously working for peace in their own lives, those of their families, and the world as a whole. Everyone is more than welcome – please come! Sponsored by the Franciscan Peace Center in cooperation with other activist groups. Contact FPC for information: (859) 230-1986, FranciscanVision@aol.com, www.FranciscanVision.org
INDIVIDUAL ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Various lengths - $40/day
For anyone wanting unfettered time to listen to internal voices and the world around, and to respond through any medium. Open Ground is both a stimulating and restful environment, and being here allows easy access to studios, meadows, wooded hillsides, river, and pantry. Typical residencies last a week or two, April through November, but privacy might suggest you avoid dates for programs listed above. Buildings are wheelchair accessible, and one young man, starting out on a converted lawn mower, almost made it to the river. The experience might have given him much to write about had he been an author, but his real art is mechanics - it didn't change his general direction, but powerfully affected the design of his vehicle for expression, as well as his trust in creative problem solving skills. There are many good reasons for a residency. What are yours?
DESIGN YOUR OWN
...for friends, family, community or club. Tell us what you need, and together we'll shape the place and program to accomplish shared goals.
Registration
Sign up by sending needed or useful information about yourself and what you'd like, plus half the program cost, to the address below. Early registration will help us enormously. The listed cost covers program, housing, food, and most materials and tools. Youth 10 and younger are half-price for most events. Scholarships and trade-for-work arrangements are available if needed - apply with a letter describing your need.
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