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!
Peter Donovan : Presented by Sou’wester Arts
Peter Donovan is an astute musical storyteller. His perceptive songs span genres and feature narratives based on both real-life and fictitious characters, written with a contemplative heart. After finding success and a dedicated fanbase with Seattle’s All The Real Girls and his side project The Rose Petals (alongside Elijah Ocean), Donovan returns in 2022 with his first proper solo album, This Better Be Good.
His previous releases spun expertly-crafted character sketches that earned plaudits from Paste Magazine, Consequence of Sound, American Songwriter, and more. With This Better Be Good, Donovan spreads his wings, combining the plaintive soul of indie rock, the heartfelt sincerity of Americana, and the stirring studio pageantry of ‘70s singer-songwriters, drawing them together to explore more intimate depths.
This Better Be Good is Donovan’s most personal effort yet; a loose concept record about the ups and downs of an ultimately doomed romance between two people. The songs are more reflective than bitter; more nostalgic than sad. It’s an album about learning and growing from lived experiences and reflecting on past failures in the interest of future successes. Donovan has managed to create an album that is sonically nostalgic and modern at once, both soul-stirring and dripping with heartache. It’s a roadmap of his past seen through fresh eyes, and a triumphant first step in this new chapter.
New Victorian : Presented by Sou’wester Arts
New Victorian is the ethereal, small-rock project from Portlander Scott Taylor.
4th Annual ARTS WEEK!
During Arts Week The Sou’wester hosts 30-35 artists and art collectives for a week of residency work culminating in a weekend (Friday and Saturday) of music, studio tours, performances and installations.
Over the past 9 years we have held an event around this time of year to highlight the creative process and the experiential nature of the Sou’wester Residency Program. Each year this event brings amazing artists to this neck of the woods and shines creative light into the darkest heart of winter.
The focus of Arts Week 2023 is SHIFTING CYCLES:
“Our reliance on a known occurrence has been disrupted. This shift is replacing existing patterns and problems. Collective action and individual insight paving our path forward.”
On the weekend, Friday and Saturday March 17th and 18th, 2023 the public will be invited, free and open to all, to tour the grounds and surrounding areas for a weekend full of installations, music, performances and open studios.
(The Sou’wester has regular residencies offered year-round in addition to residency events such as the annual ARTS WEEK. Applications for the Sou’wester Standard Residency are separate from ARTS WEEK and accepted on a rolling basis.)
Thank you to our Arts Week 2023 Sponsors!
Singing in the land: earth magic, song, and the body
Thursday, May 25 5-7 pmJoin bodyworker, musician, and animist priest ell rieke (they/them) in residency at the Sou’wester for a magical, musical exploration of connection with the earth, our ancestors, and the world of spirit. Part workshop, part participatory sonic experience, we will spend the first part of our time in conversation, talking through questions like: what is magic and why does it matter? Where do songs come from? Is the earth talking to us? How can sound and rhythm help us navigate this complicated, painful, beautiful world?In the second half of our gathering, ell will guide participants in using voice and body to connect with spirit and the earth. They will teach some songs of the season, from both folk and modern traditions, and then guide a gentle ritual of reverence and celebration for the coming of summer. You will be invited to sing or hum and move your body, and are also welcome to just sit and experience. All bodies, voices, and backgrounds are welcome, including kids!Please bring something to sit on, and cozy layers in case the evening is cool. You may want to bring a journal and pen, if you like taking notes, and are also invited to bring a special object (that will return home with you) and/or flowers for the group altar.
QUADRAPHONIC + ACUPUNCTURE + SOUND BATH
AUGUST 31 • 7PM
Featuring Sonic Ceremonies with Dr. Kade Rose (they/them) of Celestial Window Restorative Arts.
Harmonize your body with the healing waves of a sound bath combined with the flow of intuitive acupuncture.
- $88 WITH ACUPUNCTURE
- $44 SOUND BATH ONLY
Join us along with certified acupuncturist, Kade Rose, here at the Sou’wester Thursday August 31st for a unique wellness experience. This event will be held in our spacious Pavilion on the grounds of the beautiful Sou’wester and will be open to 15 participants. 8 reservations will be for a sound bath and acupuncture combination where Kade will be performing intuitive acupuncture while the sounds of her polyphonic analogue synthesizer offer deep relaxation and realignment. The remaining 7 reservations are for sound bath only where you can lay in a state of deep relaxation while the sound waves wash over you.The event will be an hour and a half long and we request you bring your yoga mats, blankets, pillows or anything that will make you more comfortable laying on the floor for an extended period of time. We are very excited to welcome you all to join us in wellness.
Grief Retreat with The Portland Grief house
Two night retreat with guided meditations and sound healing
Who/How much: w/Julia Francis and Laura Green of The Portland Grief House $498-807 includes lodging
What: We will spend the weekend in conversation with the non-human world; asking what medicine we can offer and what we can take. Except for grief spills and vocalizing during sound healing, we will keep conversation with humans to a bare minimum. We’ll use guided sound work, yoga practice and meditation to let spoken language shift away from the center of our attention. We’ll listen deeply, and talk sincerely with the world around us, and believe what we hear and learn. Retreat pricing includes various Sou’Wester lodging options. Full event details and itinerary found here: https://www.
Email: info@griefhouse.org
1:1 Wellness / Acupuncture Sessions
w/ Celestial Window Restorative Arts
$150 / 90 Minute Sessions
December 18, 2023 by Appointment | Text: 971-282-3891 to Book
My work is focused in the lineage of Worsley Five Element Acupuncture, however, in my 8 years of clinical training I studied many modalities and can offer a variety of treatment strategies. Acupuncture is a beautiful craft with techniques for bringing flow to stuck places, and fostering a deeper harmonization within the body. It is based on philosophy that sees the human being as whole, with the full potential for healing as innate. Acupuncture uses a network of physical connections to activate the body’s own healing potential and is supportive for all aspects of life, from pain management, fertility support, digestive disorders, to finding creative expansion and self actualization.
Solstice at Sou’wester
Tea “As Gentle Hospitality” Service
(by appointment) in the Tea Trailer | December 20, 2023
Hosted by Celestial Window Restorative Arts as part of their Creative Wellness Residency
Sessions by Appointment | $33 / Person for 75 Minute Sessions
Text 971-282-3891 to Book
Solstice at Sou’wester
Acupuncture + Sound Bath
“Sound Dérive (Drift)”
An Embodied-Listening-Acupuncture-Sound Bathing-Fluxus-Art-Exercise with Unity Garnish x Feast of The Epiphany
Wednesday, Dec 20, 2023 | 6-7:30pm
For this unique group “sound bathing” experience we are invoking the 1960s French Fluxus Art Exercise of the “Dérive (Drift)”, which in essence describes a meditation through which one is invited to “get lost on purpose”, in order to facilitate an embodied state of inspiration and wellbeing crafted through the blending of multiple creative mediums. Utilizing sound, visual art and the option of gentle acupuncture, participants will be guided to reset and renew into an evolution of self. In the vein of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, individuals will leave with a one of a kind art object to carry the experience with them into life and the remainder of their time at the Sou’Wester.
Solstice at Sou’wester
Quadraphonic Acupuncture & Sound Bath
With Star Child x Sonic Ceremonies
Winter Solstice | Thursday, December 21st | 3-4:30pm
