Greetings from Hallowell Gardens! I’m Renia Tyminski, and this teaching/training/networking centre came from my vision for the creation of a place where guests and clients could experience the exchange of ideas in a relaxed and stimulating atmosphere. I was lucky to find the Drew House, as it has been locally known, in late 2000, when I first succumbed to the charms of Prince Edward County. It had never been on the market before: the seller was the granddaughter of the family that, in 1901, had built the main part of the house on a large expanse of acreage that overlooked the Bay of Picton. The field stone used for the external walls, and the oak used for the interior trim and floors, was all collected and harvested on the land. The “bones” of the house therefore have been for connected to this piece of land for centuries.
Although by 2000 the size of the property had shrunk to 1.8 acres, there were 40 mature trees on it, and quite enough lawn when it came to mowing! In the first few years I busied myself with planting more trees and flowering shrubs, while establishing my vacation/study English immersion programme. Through it, students from South America, Africa, Europe and Asia have been introduced to the attractions of Eastern Ontario. Some have returned several times.
Other than language and crosscultural programmes, over the last 10 years I’ve hosted musical evenings; sound, dream, and massage workshops; a memory course; community group meetings; and more than a few kitchen parties and vegetarian potlucks. All of them have been excellent occasions for sharing on many levels, among participants from far and near.
When Guy Doucette and I started discussing the possibility of a collaboration, I could immediately see that his artistic trajectory, love of working with and in natural surroundings — all in addition to his background in theatre, music, and facilitating groups — presented a potential synergy between us that would widen our individual creative scope. That has indeed occurred, and the process has initiated a momentum for similar exponential sparking with the networks we both enjoy.
Since my interest in all things to do with language stems from my very early attraction to literature, the arts have always been firmly present in all of my educational endeavours. They also have influenced my work in the field of religious ideas, with symbolic interpretations of the sacred being high on my list of important themes.
The launch of our first public collaboration at Hallowell Gardens will take place on the upcoming Victoria Day long weekend. On Sunday May 22 we will be celebrating the set-up of an authentic Mongolian yurt as an addition to our diverse performance and networking spaces. Guy and I see the launch as being very much like an open air entertainment/information sharing event, allowing visitors the opportunity to come and go and catch different facets. The first will be a hands-on setting up of the yurt, under the instruction of Yves Ballenegger of Groovy Yurts (www.groovyyurts.com), which people are invited to watch or help with. In the evening Yves will be doing a presentation on some fascinating aspects of Mongolian culture (for some background see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia).
Yves loves to share his enthusiasm for that distant and ancient country, and is very connected to the people, especially the family that has been making the yurts for generations http://64.34.153.136/~groovy/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/mongolianyurtshomestretch.mp3. From a practical, resilience-building point of view, the buddhist and nomadic features of their daily lives can give us some valuable insights into how we might conceive of living in this part of the hemisphere in the post fossil fuel driven, less energy intensive future.
Last but not least, some of the many talented local musicians will be here to add to the festivities. May the weather gods favour us!
