SOU’WESTER EVENTS!
Discover what’s happening during your next stay or plan a visit around our free live music, workshops, wellness offerings and more!
Workshop Series at The Sou’wester
Writing Through the Cracks: Self-Forgiveness & Compassion in Memoir Writing with Cooper Lee Bombardier & Gina Senarighi
‘Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”
– Leonard Cohen
To write about pivotal events from our own lives requires a reckoning with our pasts. How do we interrogate ourselves to get at the truth of our stories when the details do not always shine a glamourous light upon us? Writing Through the Cracks will give you tools to get vulnerable in your writing, scrutinize the past from a place of compassion, and help you to discover the story beneath your stories. Join educator, coach, consultant, and professional shame slayer Gina Senarighi and nonfiction writer and educator Cooper Lee Bombardier for an engaging, accessible, and intensive day-long writing workshop at the beautiful and historic Sou’wester Lodge. Writers of all levels are welcome!
Cooper Lee Bombardier is a writer and visual artist based in Portland, Oregon. His work appears in many publications and anthologies, most recently in The Kenyon Review, CutBank, Nailed Magazine, Original Plumbing, as well as the anthology The Remedy–Essays on Queer Health Issues, (ed. Zena Sharman) from Arsenal Pulp Press. Cooper’s visual art was recently curated in an exhibition called “Intersectionality” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. He teaches writing at the University of Portland, Clark College, Portland State University, and at various Portland-area high schools as a writer-in-residence through Literary Art’s program Writers in The Schools.
Gina Senarighi, MS, MA, CPC is a communication consultant, sexuality counselor and certified relationship coach specializing in queer love polyamory, open relationships, jealousy, and infidelity. She’s been leading retreats to build courage and slay shame in LGBTQ community across Washington and Oregon since 2003.
COST: $30 ($50 for both classes)
(This workshop will run on Tuesday August 15th and also on Wednesday August 16th. The cost for each workshop is $30, but if students wish to take both classes, the returning students on Wednesday would receive guided writing time. and both classes together would cost only $50.)
BRING: an open mind, a couple of pens and a notebook or paper to write in/on. A legal pad with a cardboard back is ideal! Please bring a sack lunch and/or snack. Hot tea and coffee provided.
All workshops are open to the public.
Workshop for students age 18 and older.
All Skill Levels Welcome.
RSVP via souwesterfrontdesk@gmail.com or 360-642-2542
Workshop Series at The Sou’wester
Writing Through the Cracks: Self-Forgiveness & Compassion in Memoir Writing with Cooper Lee Bombardier & Gina Senarighi
‘Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”
– Leonard Cohen
To write about pivotal events from our own lives requires a reckoning with our pasts. How do we interrogate ourselves to get at the truth of our stories when the details do not always shine a glamourous light upon us? Writing Through the Cracks will give you tools to get vulnerable in your writing, scrutinize the past from a place of compassion, and help you to discover the story beneath your stories. Join educator, coach, consultant, and professional shame slayer Gina Senarighi and nonfiction writer and educator Cooper Lee Bombardier for an engaging, accessible, and intensive day-long writing workshop at the beautiful and historic Sou’wester Lodge. Writers of all levels are welcome!
Cooper Lee Bombardier is a writer and visual artist based in Portland, Oregon. His work appears in many publications and anthologies, most recently in The Kenyon Review, CutBank, Nailed Magazine, Original Plumbing, as well as the anthology The Remedy–Essays on Queer Health Issues, (ed. Zena Sharman) from Arsenal Pulp Press. Cooper’s visual art was recently curated in an exhibition called “Intersectionality” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. He teaches writing at the University of Portland, Clark College, Portland State University, and at various Portland-area high schools as a writer-in-residence through Literary Art’s program Writers in The Schools.
Gina Senarighi, MS, MA, CPC is a communication consultant, sexuality counselor and certified relationship coach specializing in queer love polyamory, open relationships, jealousy, and infidelity. She’s been leading retreats to build courage and slay shame in LGBTQ community across Washington and Oregon since 2003.
COST: $30 ($50 for both classes)
(This workshop will run on Tuesday August 15th and also on Wednesday August 16th. The cost for each workshop is $30, but if students wish to take both classes, the returning students on Wednesday would receive guided writing time. and both classes together would cost only $50.)
BRING: an open mind, a couple of pens and a notebook or paper to write in/on. A legal pad with a cardboard back is ideal! Please bring a sack lunch and/or snack. Hot tea and coffee provided.
All workshops are open to the public.
Workshop for students age 18 and older.
All Skill Levels Welcome.
RSVP via souwesterfrontdesk@gmail.com or 360-642-2542
Come experience the therapeutic workings of a Finnish sauna in combination with a full body mask of wild foraged mineral clay. These natural therapies joined together, act as powerful means of detoxification, stress relief, muscle relaxant, skin cleanser, and more. Bring your bathing suit and a friend, be prepared to sweat it out with like minded folks, brave a cold plunge, and paint each other with some Skagit river valley clay.
$20 for Sou’wester guests $25 for general public.
Dress to accommodate the maximum amount of clay. Towels, clay, information hand-outs, tea and filtered water provided. There will also be an opportunity to purchase wild harvested mineral clay for future personal use.
Space is limited to 8 folks
Please RSVP. Any questions? Email mamookwellness@icloud.com
WEEKLY EVENT
A unique ambient sound experience, blending tiny ambient concert and harmonic healing in which participants are enveloped in the vibrational drones of various traditional healing instruments.
COST: Suggested donation $5-10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
RSVP: souwesterwellness@gmail.com
WHERE: Wellness Trailer
Space limited to 8 people
Workshop Series at The Sou’wester
Fermented Vegetables 101 with Sash Sunday
OlyKraut owner, Sash Sunday, will present the basics of vegetable ferments. You will each make a batch of sauerkraut and a batch of brined pickles before the day is done. We will go through the basic sauerkraut and pickle making process, take a little dive into the science of fermentation, and discuss why probiotics are so awesome. Sash will also answer questions and go over some troubleshooting for your home ferments. Come with some jars and lots of questions! Sash will bring the veggies and some know-how.
Sash Sunday grew up in the PNW and, in 2008, founded OlyKraut to put her fermentation fanaticism to work building a food system that supports healthy people and farms. OlyKraut makes delicious, raw fermented vegetables with mountains of local produce while sharing the wonders of probiotic foods with the community. She has a BA from The Evergreen State College, and an MBA in Sustainable Systems and Certificate in Sustainable Food and Agriculture from Pinchot University.
COST: $30 plus $10 material fee (Please pay material fee directly to the instructor.)
BRING: 2 Quart Jars – Wide mouth. If you have a nice sharp chopping knife please bring one. Please bring a sack lunch and/or snack. Hot tea and coffee provided.
All workshops are open to the public.
Workshop geared for adults.
All Skill Levels Welcome.
RSVP via souwesterfrontdesk@gmail.com or 360-642-2542
WEEKLY EVENT
A unique ambient sound experience, blending tiny ambient concert and harmonic healing in which participants are enveloped in the vibrational drones of various traditional healing instruments.
COST: Suggested donation $5-10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
RSVP: souwesterwellness@gmail.com
WHERE: Wellness Trailer
Space limited to 8 people
Workshop Series at The Sou’wester
Cedar and Willow Tray with Donna Crispin
We will use locally grown willow and red cedar bark. Learn twining and plaiting while creating a tray, about 9”x12”. Beginners will do an over/under weave, while more advanced students can pick a twill pattern. We’ll finish it with a lashed border around willow sticks from my garden.
“Eugene weaver and basketmaker Donna Sakamoto Crispin isn’t one to expound on the depth of meaning in each piece of her vastly diverse body of work. Rather, she is one of those rare, refreshing artists who allows a work of art to speak for itself–and, often, for her. Ms. Crispin’s art form utilizes traditional Japanese and Native American techniques passed down from generation to generation for hundreds, even thousands of years. She believes her work as artist and teacher is fundamental to preserving this craft which, outside of the realm of art, is largely obsolete.
But beyond these considerations–and we should hope every artist regards the heritage of their craft with such reverence–Ms. Crispin doesn’t get overly concerned with the details. “I’m just doing what I want to do,” she says. “I like to see what I can do with different materials. Often, I’m just responding to the environment.” This usually means she works with materials gathered sustainably, from leaves and pine needles gathered from the forest floor to painstakingly harvested strips of cedar bark.
But sometimes, Ms. Crispin creates a piece that seems to be in direct conversation with the world around her. As complex, intricate, and varied as all her work is, it is these landscape-inspired pieces that are arguably the best examples of Ms. Crispin’s artistry. While artist-in-residence at Playa Home in Summer Lake, Oregon, Ms. Crispin created Willow Pod, seen above, a living willow and red osier dogwood basket. The juxtaposition of basket and landscape reminds her, she says, of the Japanese concept of wabi, “a lonely sense of impermanence.” It is perhaps appropriate that all she need say in explanation of the piece is a single word, all others failing. Isn’t that, after all, why we create visual art in the first place: because explanations, summaries, generalizations–words–simply aren’t enough.” ~Luke Fannin
COST: $50 plus $25 material fee (Please pay material fee directly to the instructor.)
BRING: scissors, awl, water bottle, old towel, and please bring a sack lunch and/or snack. Hot tea and coffee provided.
All workshops are open to the public.
All Skill Levels Welcome. Open to students age 16 and up.
RSVP via souwesterfrontdesk@gmail.com or 360-642-2542
WEEKLY EVENT
A unique ambient sound experience, blending tiny ambient concert and harmonic healing in which participants are enveloped in the vibrational drones of various traditional healing instruments.
COST: Suggested donation $5-10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
RSVP: souwesterwellness@gmail.com
WHERE: Wellness Trailer
Space limited to 8 people
Workshop Series at The Sou’wester
Kinchaku Kago: Japanese Basket Purse with Donna Crispin
Weave a bit of Japanese culture into your day by making a “kinchaku kago” or Japanese basket purse, large enough to carry your phone and wallet. We will twine and plait with cane and reed to create this small purse, lined with handmade paper. The top portion will be a pre- made drawstring bag that we will sew onto the basket. This basket design by Donna was featured in Belle Armoire magazine.
“Eugene weaver and basketmaker Donna Sakamoto Crispin isn’t one to expound on the depth of meaning in each piece of her vastly diverse body of work. Rather, she is one of those rare, refreshing artists who allows a work of art to speak for itself–and, often, for her. Ms. Crispin’s art form utilizes traditional Japanese and Native American techniques passed down from generation to generation for hundreds, even thousands of years. She believes her work as artist and teacher is fundamental to preserving this craft which, outside of the realm of art, is largely obsolete.
But beyond these considerations–and we should hope every artist regards the heritage of their craft with such reverence–Ms. Crispin doesn’t get overly concerned with the details. “I’m just doing what I want to do,” she says. “I like to see what I can do with different materials. Often, I’m just responding to the environment.” This usually means she works with materials gathered sustainably, from leaves and pine needles gathered from the forest floor to painstakingly harvested strips of cedar bark.
But sometimes, Ms. Crispin creates a piece that seems to be in direct conversation with the world around her. As complex, intricate, and varied as all her work is, it is these landscape-inspired pieces that are arguably the best examples of Ms. Crispin’s artistry. While artist-in-residence at Playa Home in Summer Lake, Oregon, Ms. Crispin created Willow Pod, seen above, a living willow and red osier dogwood basket. The juxtaposition of basket and landscape reminds her, she says, of the Japanese concept of wabi, “a lonely sense of impermanence.” It is perhaps appropriate that all she need say in explanation of the piece is a single word, all others failing. Isn’t that, after all, why we create visual art in the first place: because explanations, summaries, generalizations–words–simply aren’t enough.” ~Luke Fannin
COST: $50 plus $25 material fee (Please pay material fee directly to the instructor.)
BRING: scissors, checkbook box (for a mold), awl, water bottle, old towel, and please bring a sack lunch and/or snack. Hot tea and coffee provided.
All workshops are open to the public.
All Skill Levels Welcome. Open to students age 16 and up.
RSVP via souwesterfrontdesk@gmail.com or 360-642-2542
Workshop Series at The Sou’wester
Ayurvedic Nutrition and Self Care for Autumnal Equinox with Elyssia Schaeffer
Learn how to use the ancient healing practices of Ayurveda and Yoga to keep your body and mind balanced as we transition from Summer To Fall. Seasonal beverages and snacks will be provided!
Elyssia Schaeffer is a Certified Wellness Coach and Registered Yoga Teacher from Portland, OR blending her knowledge of Ayurveda, Yoga and holistic nutrition to share person-centered seasonal eating and self care practices.
COST: $15
BRING: Yoga mat and a blanket. Please wear comfortable clothes.
All workshops are open to the public.
All Skill Levels Welcome.
RSVP via souwesterfrontdesk@gmail.com or 360-642-2542