Join us for an event at Mesa Refuge! On May 31st, former Mesa Executive Director and teacher Susan Page Tillett and author Elizabeth Fishel will lead this half-day workshop for writers of all experience levels, at the Mesa Refuge, which was originally the home of well-known California Abstract Expressionist painter Sam Francis. The symbolism of color and a sense of place will be our twin themes, introduced through a series of writing prompts, inspired by Sam's bold palette of primary colors and his wife Margaret's garden design.
When: May 31, 2025 1-4:30 pm
Where: Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes Station
Cost: $25, some scholarships available (email [email protected]). Thanks to the generous support of the @sam_francis_foundation , we are able to offer this workshop at a reduced fee.
Registration is limited to 15 people, so secure your spot soon!
Click our link in bio for more information about this event and where to register.
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1 week ago
Join Mesa alum Liese Greensfelder and Tom Killion at the Dance Palace in Point Reyes Station as they discuss her memoir, Accidental Shepherd: How a California Girl Rescued an Ancient Mountain Farm in Norway.
When: April 12, 2-3:30
Where: The Dance Palace (503 B Street, Point Reyes Station)
This event is free and open to the public.
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In May 1972, Liese Greensfelder arrived in the small Norwegian town of Øystese to startling news: Johannes, the farmer who hired her for the summer, had just been hospitalized after a stroke. Could she please watch over his place for a month or so, until he got back on his feet? Twenty years old and with no farming experience, Liese was dropped off the next day at a centuries-old mountain farm at the end of a dirt road high above the magnificent Hardanger Fjord—with 115 sheep, two cows, one calf, a draft horse, and a Norwegian herding dog to care for.
From moments of levity, such as sampling a neighbor’s fruit wines, Christmas parties, and skiing; to soul-battering challenges, including the directive to kill a fox, sending sheep to slaughter, rotten silage, and vicious weather; to the yearnings of a young woman awash in a sea of masculinity, Accidental Shepherd is a candid account of Liese’s year in a remote farmhouse. Confronted with dangers and obstacles for which she was utterly unprepared, she tells a story of remarkable resilience and records the fascinating but rapidly vanishing traditions of the community that took her in.
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2 weeks ago