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2006 HONOREES
"GREAT GRANDMOTHER"
The 2006 Grandmother Council Commemorative Painting by Jessica
Carper
Each honoree will recieve a copy of the 2006 Grandmother
Council Commemorative Painting. This Year's painting, titled
"Great Grandmother" was done by talented local artist,
Jessica Carper. Please read the
Artist Statement to get the full
meaning behind this amazing piece of artwork. (click on the
picture to see a larger version) |  |
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WORKSHOP:
The Alliance of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers
1:30 - 2:30
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Agnes Baker Pilgrim
The oldest living female
member of the Rogue River Indians, Takelma Band, originally
from Southern Oregon, Agnes was chosen by her tribe as a “Living
Legend. Agnes is an ambassador for our Mother Earth. She is
a spiritual elder of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and
granddaughter of Chief George Harney, the first elected chief
of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. She is a world-renowned
spiritual leader, elder mentor to the Native American Student
Union of Southern Oregon University, and keeper of the Sacred
Salmon Ceremony. For more information and to support her work,
please visit: http://www.agnesbakerpilgrim.org
WORKSHOP:
The Alliance of
the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers
We are the International Council of the Thirteen Indigenous
Grandmothers. From Alaska, America, Mexico, Central America,
the Amazon, Brazil, Africa, Nepal and Tibet, we have united
as one. Ours is an alliance of prayer, education and healing
for Mother Earth and all her inhabitants, all the children,
and the seven generations to come.
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Anne Stine
Anne has fully and gratefully
enjoyed a life as a teacher, mentor, transpersonal psychotherapist,
ecopsychologist, wilderness rites of passage guide, trainer,
lover, friend, practicing Tibetan Buddhist and now a grandmother.
She is founding director of the Wilderness
Rites, which offers initiatory Earth-based
healing rites, and practices that assist people to reclaim
their true place within the wisdom and cycles of nature. Anne
now guides elder women into the wilderness for extended ceremony
to mark this vital stage of life. Being a grandmother is a
culmination of her life experience up to this point.
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WORKSHOP:
Conversations about Life, Truth, Healing, Art, and Spirituality
2:50 - 3:50 |
AnwaWilanci
My true name is AnwaWilanci
(Isham). I am a native Californian of the Indigenous Al'lik'lik
Peoples, also known as Ta'taviam, "People facing the
Sun", of the California Western Shoshoni Nation/ Chumash
Nation, I am of The Black Bird Clan. I also carry Bavarian(German)
Celtic ancestry I was raised into my traditional teachings
on The Chumash Reservation in Santa Ynez by the spiritual
leader at that time. The Coastal Peoples of California are
called " Western Gate Keepers", my Indigenous Ancestors
come out of the Santa Clarita Valley, Lake Castaic, Lake Piru,
Ventura,Frazier Park, San Fernando Valley and the Malibu areas,
all the way up to San Loui Obispo and over to Bakersfield.
I practice traditional healing ways joined with contemporary
medical theory. I am a traditional dancer, a Dolphin dancer,
in my peoples style as well as a traditional woman dancer
in the intertribal powwows I am a ceremonial leader and a
Clan mother. I am an artist also, my work is based on my Clan
history, mythology and cosmology. I also dabble a bit in writing.
WORKSHOP:
Conversations about
Life, Truth, Healing,
Art, and Spirituality
AnwaWilanci, “Willow,”
is an elder native Southern Californian of the indeigenous
Al’Lik Lik’ Peoples of the California Western
Shoshoni Nation/Chumash. Raised in the traditional teaching
of her indigenous heritage on the Chumash Reservation in Santa
Yenez, CA. Willow utilizes her indigenous ancestral knowledge
and healing techniques into a modern practice that encompasses
all aspects of life as wholeness. Willow brings a unique view
of our universe and how we fit into it to this informal gathering
of conversations, questions, and answers about Life, Truth,
Healing, Art, and Spirituality.
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WORKSHOP:
Theatre and Ritual
1:30 - 2:30
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Barbara Rosen
Born in 1929, I grew up
in England during WWII, I edited a book of Elizabethan witch
trial documents, taught at the University of Wisconsin, married
Bill Rosen in 1960. Together at the University of Connecticut
Bill and I wrote, taught, edited, raised children, and protested
war. In 2003 we moved to Mountain Meadows retirement community
to be near our two activist daughters, Judith Rosen and Susan
Moen. After Bill’s death in 2004 I continued teaching
Solir courses, edited the Mountain Meadow
monthly newspaper, represented Friends’ Meeting at Interfaith
activities and resumed old loves, acting (OSW) and writing
poetry.
WORKSHOP:
Theatre and Ritual
Acting things out seems to have been part of all cultures;
it can be part of religion or pure entertainment. Barbara
Rosen guides us on a journey to answer ‘why acting is
so important to all beings?
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WORKSHOP:
Intergenerational
Conversations Outside the Box: Feminism, Aging, and Other
Hot Topics
2:50 - 3:50 |
Bethroot Gwynn &
Jean Mountaingrove
Bethroot Gwynn
lives at Fly Away Home women’s land in Southern Oregon,
where she has been writing, growing food, tending to the land,
making theater and ritual since 1976. Her most recent theater
work is Women: The Longest Revolution. A Performance
Documentary (2003). She has created a poetry chapbook with
CD recording, and her poems and essays have been published
in several journals -- including the We’Moon
Datebook for which she is a Special Editor.
Bethroot is a long-time creator of women’s culture and
feminist spiritual practice, working within and from the extended
community of women-serving lands in Oregon.
Jean Mountaingrove,
now 80, lived “off the grid” on women’s
land in Southern Oregon for 30 years. Her focus is on living
close to nature and empowering herself and other women through
creativity. She helped produce WomanSpirit, a magazine of
feminist spirituality from 1974-84. She also co-hosted 15
years of annual Dyke Art Camp, helped with 3 years of Photography
Week, which resulted in The Blatant Image magazine. She wrote
regular columns for Country Women, MAIZE,
and Crone Chronicles, a magazine
of conscious aging.
Changing times bring challenges.
Jean hopes to understand and accept different needs for these
different times, avoiding the stereotypes of “old”
so she may grow an authentic life ahead. To connect with her,
call 541 472-0416.
WORKSHOP:
Intergenerational
Conversations Outside the Box: Feminism, Aging, and Other
Hot Topics
A hot video will spark our discussion. Called "Look Us In the
Eye," it
takes us into the streets with a group of anti-ageism activists. Then
we'll
talk--hopefully with enough mix of ages that we will surprise each
other and
leave with new understandings. So come, and if you can, bring along
someone
older or younger than you!
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WORKSHOP:
Creative 'Now' Consciousness in a 'Then' and 'When' World"
2:50 - 3:50
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Charu Colorado
My art and subject matter is governed by
my intuition as well as by my emotional responses. It is apparent
that unconscious archetypal energies are a strong influence
in all that I do. It is these energies that govern and mold
my personal philosophy, my subject matter and my emotions.
Although the subject may be mythical or realistic,
I cannot avoid revealing my personal philosophic viewpoint.
This is shown through the colors or materials I choose, as
well as the kind of brushstroke I employ. My philosophy shows
up through all the choices I make, which like most behavior
is unconscious. Although I am aware of what I'm doing, the
doing is from a place below my conscious will.
Trusting this kind of knowing has propelled
me into periods of exploration and freedom. There is no need
to plan everything or be in control all the time. I can let
go and let a piece emerge. Even when painting from life, I
find that the painting often will do itself. Whether using
acrylics, collage, mixed media, or making found object sculpture,
I am having fun and surprises all the time. In the past five
years, I've been building sculptural mobiles and table pieces
from tree branches, nylon pantyhose, and other fabrics that
I coat with acrylic paint and sometimes color with silk dyes.
I see enfoldment of my expression as I play
with the materials. The mobile fabric-wrapped branch and root
sculptures become installation pieces; the bamboo roots in
layers of cheesecloth with leaves, twigs, and dried insects
become either floor or free-standing stabiles.
Listening to the voice within allows me freedom
from obsessive perfection, as the perfection of intuition
guides my art experience. www.charucolorado.com
WORKSHOP:
Creative 'Now' Consciousness in a 'Then' and 'When'
World"
The workshop will be largely experiential. I
will present processes that are aimed at eliciting awareness
of how we shift our focus toward and away from the present.
The mission of the workshop is to discover how to stay in
the here and now - even while utilizing our memories of things
past.
Some of the processes I am creating for the workshop are:
Group Poems, 'The Story Writing Game', 'Seeing Something In
Nothing', 'The Remembering', and 'Seeing the Edges of it All.
I will utilize drawing materials, writing materials, music
and recorded sounds as part of the stimuli for the exercises.
I will provide all materials. No previous art or creative
writing experience is required to receive maximum enjoyment
of all the processes presented.
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ChoQosh Auh’Ho’Oh
ChoQosh Auh’Ho’Oh was named by the Seneca and
Chumash elders. She is herself an elder of Coastal Native
Indian descent. She is a giver of spiritual tools, divine
and practical, and a messenger of ancient prophecies and sacred
stories. ChoQosh taught for the Cross Cultural Communications
program at University California Berkeley for 19 years, and
classes in the great teepee at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz,
California. Having lived in the Canadian wilderness for many
years, she passes on the knowledge of how to harvest the wild
for food and medicine. She is the teacher of the moving prayer
“The Dance of Life”, which will be offered in
her workshop. ChoQosh was host for KAZU-FM’s award winning
radio program Songs For The Earth/ Mending The Sacred Hoop
(1985-1990).
In 1990, at the invitation of the Maori King Hukapa Mateau
of Aotearoa/ New Zealand she was asked to come to share her
knowledge and sacred stories. It was there she received the
name “Te Wahini O Nga Ho O E Wah- Woman Of The Four
Directions Who Call The People To Action”. Sky Eagle,
the Chumash elder, caller her one of the great teachers of
these times. She teaches a primary course in Wisdom of the
Elders. Her words have been published in many books, including
Ceremonial Circle, The Feminine Face of God and the magazine
Women of Power. ChoQosh will bring to us the Blanket of Hope*,
its knowledge, comfort and challenge.
*To read the full story of the Blanket of Hope, please visit
www.theblanketofhope.org.
WORKSHOP:
The Tsalagi Dance of Life
The ancient and sacred dance which is 7 points of balancing
and empowerment. Conscious breathe, conscious movement honoring
the four directions, embodying sacred marriage of Mother Earth
and Father Sky and our own true heart. This is a moving prayer.
The Dance of Life was taught and brought out of secrecy in
1984 as part of prophesy by Dhyanni Ywahoo Etowah band of
Cherokee/ Tsalagi. Lasts one hour of movement- slow motion
(loose clothing recommended). The workshop will last 1 hr
and 15 minutes.
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WORKSHOP:
Listening to All Voices
4:10 - 5:10
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Dot Fisher-Smith
Artist, counselor, group facilitator, networker,
social agitator, follower of Gandhian principles of non-violent
direct action, 35 years of Soto zen practice and hatha yoga.
WORKSHOP:
Listening to All Voices
How do we listen to people whose views differ
from ours and respond in a way that brings us closer to our
common ground and shared interests? This is the challenge
of social artistry in a polarized society. Are we ready to
begin?
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Gangaji
Gangaji is an American
born teacher and author, who has traveled the world since
1990, offering a simple yet profound invitation: that true
peace and lasting fulfillment are our essential nature,
available to all of us, now and always.
Gangaji is the author of
The Diamond in Your Pocket: Discovering Your
True Radiance, You Are THAT! Vol.
I and II and Freedom and Resolve:
The Living Edge of Surrender.
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Harriett Rex Smith
I grew up in Valparaiso,
Indiana on the edge of town. I spent much time out in the
woods, mostly happy. I had the blessing of good parents.
After high school, where music and art were well taught,
I went to The Iron School of Art in Indianapolis, though
I did not graduate due to WWII and a family crisis. Instead,
Is took a job with Foot, Cone and Belding, and advertising
firm, and moved to Chicago. Later, after marriage, children,
and divorce, I reentered formal education and earned a Bachelors
of Fine Arts from Iron School, now with Indiana University,
three years later earning a Masters of Fine Arts from Notre
Dame.
I fell into teaching because
it is one of the best ways to learn. I taught summers at
The clearing, Ellison Bay, Wisconsin, and later at Purdue,
Indiana, and Valparaiso Universities. Then I developed a
health challenge.
I moved to Oregon, established
a studio, and taught in the Artist-in-the-schools program
where I learned that creativity is everyone’s birthright
and is not just for "talented and gifted" individuals.
Still preparing for experience, I reads books that open
my mind, especially, "A Course in Miracles" by
Foundation for Inner Peace. I changed my direction from
a competition-oriented artist to a contemplative one. I
feel I owe so much to so many that that in thanking the
holy one, I thank all my teachers. I shook off the fashionable
in art, putting my mind to exploring what I believe in-
Beauty as being as aspect of God. This has NOT been fashionable
in my lifetime. In my elder years I seem to spend much time
in the woods, mostly very happy.
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Helga Motley
Helga started photographing
at the late age of 35, when her partner gave her a camera.
It was an immediate attraction, with many hours devoted
to walking the city of Boston to photograph people in an
unobtrusive almost invisible manner. Life itself was an
endless changing opportunity to observe and to select significant
moments that told stories. The first three years were exclusively
devoted to working with black and white photos and creating
her own darkroom work.
After moving to Ashland 25 years ago, she started working
with color. And a few years Helga began using digital photography
as one of her artistic tools, which she uses a lot now.
Computer skills must accompany photography now, and even
at 64 years, she enjoys tackling new learning challenges.
Even though Helga maintains a studio, her favorite way of
working remains being in the midst of life and activities.
You've seen her at every Ashland parade, at almost all peace
events, at conferences, and for six years she was part time
staff at the Daily Tidings. Her approach to weddings is
as a photojournalist, and she loves to just immerse herself
into all the whirl of the wedding day, to record relevant
moments as photos.
When she was in college,
she spent many hours pouring over art books in the library,
but it took her years to recognize and acknowledge that
she was a very visually oriented person. She mistook her
inclinations in college and studied foreign languages, but
life made her develop and use many other skills.
After menopause, she realized
she wanted to be around children, and has developed Helga's
Playhouse. This after school and summer camp program teaches
kids hand skills with polymer clay, sewing for dolls, and
Lego construction. She has the most elaborate miniature
play-world in the region, set up in her home, so that kids
can have open ended play.
The older she gets, the
more her abilities, skills and interests multiply and fill
her life. Contact her at (541)488-0155 or helgamot@mind.net
www.helgasplayhouse.com
www.helgamotley.com
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Irene Kai
Irene Kai author of The
Golden Mountain: Beyond the American Dream. Her autobiography
received three national awards in 2005, and it's being used
as a textbook in colleges and universities. Irene is also
co-publisher of Silver Light Publications - A Bold Voice,
where they publish literary art that advocates, provokes and
inspires positive change in seeking truth and compassion.
Irene is an accomplished artist, taught Graphic Design at
Penn State University and traveled extensively around the
world. She moved to Ashland from Los Angeles nine years ago
to redefine her dream; to live in her passion, and realize
her vision of sharing her journey of self-realization with
the world.
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Jaya Opela
Jaya moved to the Rogue
Valley in 1984. She has been walking the Red Road for many
years, running the Sundance Kitchen in Goldendale, Washington.
Having cooked in such a sacred manner her teaching is that
food is our number one healing medicine. Jaya is an advocate
for teens that have drug, alcohol, and domestic violence
issues, sharing her experience of recovery with them. She
is a member and student of the Foundation Shamanic Studies.
Jaya enjoys cooking, beading, drumming, and spending time
with loved ones.
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Lama Pema Clark
Is a resident teacher
at Kagyu Sukha Choling Buddhist meditation center in Ashland.
She has studied in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
for twenty-five years, and completed a three-year cloistered
meditation retreat in the late 90s.
The lama (teacher) instruct
in meditation and Buddhist principles for a regional meditation
community -- a community open to all. The primary tenets
of Buddhism include the practice of kindness and compassion
among all living beings, and a commitment to deepen the
mind's calm and insight.
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Lama Yeshe Parke
Is a resident teacher
at Kagyu Sukha Choling Buddhist meditation center in Ashland.
She has studied in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
for twenty-five years, and completed a three-year cloistered
meditation retreat in the late 90s.
Lama Yeshe Parke instructs
in meditation and Buddhist principles for a regional meditation
community -- a community open to all. The primary tenets
of Buddhism include the practice of kindness and compassion
among all living beings, and a commitment to deepen the
mind's calm and insight.
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WORKSHOP:
Wisdom of the Crone
4:10 - 5:10
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Lani Phillips &
Melinda Pearlman
Lani Phillips
is a photographic artist and gallery owner in Mt. Shasta,
California. Her business Rare Images and The Eternal Art
Gallery have become a hub for artists of all genres and
a gathering place for women.
Melinda Pearlman
is a writer/poet from Greenview, California. Her diverse background
includes poetry, prose, and plays. Her desire has always been
to empower and enlighten women in all stages of their lives.
WORKSHOP:
Wisdom of the
Crone
The creators Lani and Melinda will introduce
Wisdom of the Crone, a deck of 54 cards based on the adage,
"If you seek the truth ask a wise woman." Discussion
#1 "Finding Your Inner Elder", Discussion #2 "Arch
types and The Elder Female", Discussion #3 "Ordinary
Women Leading Extraordinary Lives", Discussion #4,
Card Readings, Discussion #5, "Our Part in The World."
Open discussion to follow.
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Coyote Marie Hunter-Ripper
Marie is a native Oregonian
with ancestry in the South Eastern area. She’s been
described as a healer, Shaman, intuitive, and is known for
ridding homes, properties, people, and animals of what some
call possessions and ghosts. She would simply describe herself
as someone who helps exchange energy forces.
Marie has always had a talent
for teaching others even as a young girl playing teacher with
the neighborhood children. She has a background in early childhood
education and was a volunteer in starting the first HeadStart
program on the Flathead Reservation in Montana.
Drawing on her Cherokee
and Choctaw heritage, Marie is revered for assisting those
passing over and loved ones grieving their passing. As a mediator
with the natural and supernatural world Marie offers sessions,
clearing, blessing, hospital visits, and facilitates a range
of ceremonies. She is an ordained minister. Marie resides
in Ashland near her four children and two grandchildren.
Marie participated in Volunteers
in Mission (VIM) in Centaral America - working with Mayan
Women to help set up sustainable economic programs. One of
the weavings made at this time will be on display along with
photographs.
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Meera Censor
In face of violence that
was present in her youth Meera Censor discovered the power
of compassion. This inspired her to study lives of compassionate
humanitarians that have shaped our world. Her interest in
the extraordinary people, combined with her love for artistic
creation has led her to create a series of sculptures of
persons who are exemplary representatives of nonviolent
social change and/or service to humanity. It is her sincere
hope that this series of sculptures honors, and stimulates
interest in, the lives of those who have so inspired her.
Meera has had the good
fortune to train under accomplished portrait sculptors Christopher
Pardell and Vladimir Medenica, Cicero D'Avilla of Brazil.
Additionally, she was
a trainer/mediator with the Center For Nonviolent Communication
for ten years. www.cnvc.org
Meera plans to continue
her series, including representatives from many diverse
cultures and countries; she has donated funds and her works
to support various humanitarian causes, and hope to continue
to do so.
She is the mother of
five grown children and six grandchildren. Her sculpture
of Danilo Dolci, "the Gandhi of Sicily", is located
in the town of Trappeto Sicily, where Dolci dedicated his
life to the people their. Her sculpture of Chief Joseph
can be seen at the Lolo Pass Visitors Center in Montana
on the Lewis and Clark Historical Trail. Her latest sculpture
of Meena Heroine of Afghanistan and founder of RAWA has
been sent, as a gift to the women of RAWA, all profits of
any sales of that sculpture will go to their organization.
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WORKSHOP:
Experience The Power Of Your Own Voice - Singing For Power
4:10 - 5:10
“The
Singing for Power workshop was truly magnificent. You are
a master at what you do. You worked with our hearts and souls
to bring out our voices, and you demonstrated mastery and
genius. I thank you deeply and sincerely.”
Peter Powers, M.D.
“I
refer to what you taught me on a daily basis. I am decidedly
better at all I do
because you care.”
Janice L.
“You
have helped me to express myself with an integrity that I
had only vaguely known was possible.”
Mark Cook
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Mouna Wilson
Mouna Wilson has evolved
during her 50+ year singing career from professional performer
to master teacher. Classically trained, Mouna’s continual
years of additional study and experience in many forms of
bodywork--including Feldenkrais, Rolfing, acupressure, orthobionomy,
Trager, and Biodynamic Psychotherapy--allow her a wide range
of approaches in her individual and group work. She incorporates
methods of relaxation, breathing, and “sounding”
to strengthen the voice, increase breathing capacity, and
expand vocal range. Through observing and exploring the
singer’s own experience, Mouna draws forth the singer’s
natural place of power. Here are some of her students’
impressions:
“Mouna Wilson’s unique approach
assures that everyone experiences growth, opening, and a sense
of possibility, and that all learn from all in a seamless
flow from style to style, level to level, and dream to dream.
The mysteries of the voice come forth in the space she creates,
and take participants far beyond the flat worlds of self-judgment
and self-consciousness into a space where the body’s
automatic willingness to express virtually flies through the
room.”
Paul Wagner
WORKSHOP:
Experience The Power
Of Your Own Voice - Singing For Power
Mouna Wilson presents a class so unique you’ll be wishing
it were longer. Come join Mouna for a time of joyful expression,
risk-taking breakthrough and FUN! It’s your chance to
explore:
• The voice as a tactile
sensation and a heightened awareness of the body as the vocal
instrument
• How to listen without judging sounds with the critical
outer ear
• How spontaneous, authentic expression can enhance
self-image and self-confidence
• How to break through your perceived limitations into
aliveness, passion, and power
• The inter-connectedness of the “audience”
and the “performer” striving together toward a
common goal ……AND MUCH MORE…
Whether you sing off-key
in the shower or perform professionally, you will experience
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Shoshana Rose |
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Susan Brady
Sometimes words have a way of opening the
heart, other times they are mute, incapable of expressing
the truth of one’s experience. Biographically when
reflecting on her life, Susan believes that both aspects
are at play. She has grown through the experience of being
a mother, midwife, and grandmother. She is passionate about
the way new beings are welcomed onto this planet, and is
grieving that the legacy of work by women and midwives,
seems to have generated less compassion and tolerance within
the world than ever dreamed would be manifest for our children
and grandchildren to inherit. Susan is also passionate that
healing occurs for individuals and between family members
who are facing into death. This fall through a practicum
at Southern Oregon University, where she is a student, Susan
completed hospice training and volunteers at Ashland Community
Hospital Hospice and Palliative Care Services.
Learning how to love and serve the divinity
in all manifest life forms, strips away who Susan thinks
she has been, and who she thinks she may become, bringing
her into a fresh moment, a newness with every breath. Susan
is grateful to know life as a sacred trust, and ever challenged
to embrace each moment as precious.
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(see
honorees from 2005) |
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