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Please help keep MERA scent-free
Friendly reminder that MERA is a scent free space. Do not use perfume, cologne, or other fragrances. Please help keep this a healthy and happy environment for everyone.
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MERA's Annual General Meeting was held at the Schoolhouse on March 20th. We are all looking forward to many more gatherings this year.
You can find the Annual Report, here.
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For the first time in two years we held a pop-up café at the school house. It was to be a fundraiser for the Ukrainian refugee fund. Many thanks to the 30 people who came to support us, we made $175 and the money was donated to the Red Cross for Ukraine.
A good time was had by all.
Rosemary, Christine and Ankaret
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SUMMER CAMPS FOR KIDS
We are excited to offer our most popular Summer Art Camp at MERA again.
MERA meraschoolhouse.org is holding two art camps this year on July 11-15 for ages 5-9 and August 8-12 for ages 10-14. This year we will explore the abundant 'Patterns in Nature' through printmaking, stamping, painting and sketching. The instructors are Jan Griffiths and Heather Vriends who are a renowned mother and daughter team and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the programme.
New this summer to MERA is a week long drama camp. Imaginative children will explore what it would have been like to be a student in a one-room schoolhouse at the time when MERA was built in 1860. We will explore local history through stories, songs and dances. This camp will be led by Alexis Scott and assisted by art camp expert Jan Griffiths. Alexis is passionate about sharing her love of creation and performance. With her guidance, children will create an original play to be performed at the end of the camp. The dates for this camp are July 25-29 for ages 10-14.
For more info or to register for these camps, please contact MERA for more information: meraschoolhouse@gmail.com.
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LOOK what we made!
Got anything you're working on? Take a picture and share with the community! I would like to make this a regular addition to the newsletter. Feel free to submit any photos of MERA groups, workshops or events to meraschoolhouse@gmail.com.
If you have an idea for a workshop or series to host at MERA, please contact the Program Committee.
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(Photo: Art Camp 2019)
The Program Committee is looking for members!
The Program Committee is the steering committee that takes charge of suggesting, vetting and arranging for activities, classes and special events. It meets 4 times a year. It is receptive to receiving ideas. Interested in joining? We’d love to have you! Please e-mail meraschoolhouse@gmail.com for more information.
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MEET THE ARTIST AT MERA April 10th
Victoria Laube: Visual fragments from daily life to reference
our current enigmatic times
Victoria Laube is a multidisciplinary artist who has lived in the Perth area for over 15 years. She is a recent graduate of the Photographic Arts and Production Diploma Program offered at the “School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa” (SPAO) and is currently involved in an artist’s residency there. She has received numerous visual merit awards and her photography was in the Top 200 of Photolucida’s Critical Mass international competition in 2021. In addition her first self-published book/portfolio PROCESS: death and discovery, was exhibited at the SPAO Centre Gallery in 2021.
Working predominantly in photo-based mediums but frequently incorporating other elements into her work, Victoria uses her camera to explore degradation, evolution and metamorphosis through a practice of ‘stream-of-consciousness’ shooting.
This exhibition, entitled THIS/THAT, is a compilation of 35 photographs taken over the past several years. Sandwiched between wood and encaustic medium, these visual fragments from daily life reference our current enigmatic times – uncertain in nature, not quite this and not quite that.
The exhibition runs from April 4th to the 30th. On Sunday April 10th, from 2 to 4, you are invited to come and meet the artist and view her work. The pieces are available to purchase as singles or in grouped arrangements. The MERA Schoolhouse is located at 974 Concession Road 9A Dalhousie in McDonalds Corners, ON.
Opening hours of the schoolhouse can be found at www.meraschoolhouse.org Exhibition viewings can also be arranged with the artist viclaube@storm.ca or contact Wayne Stryde gwstryde@outlook.com
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Telling Your Own Story: April Workshop and Performance at MERA
Storytelling is an important tradition. It is an art form that allows us to get to know one another, to share knowledge and to help us understand other perspectives. Storytelling can bring us together. Learn to tell your own personal true stories for performance. This workshop series runs for three weeks with a performance at the end. Led by Danielle K.L. Grégoire, who is highly experienced in creating supportive, inclusive spaces.
Danielle K.L. Grégoire is a parent, poet, comedian, storyteller, and proud Northern Manitoban. They stand at the intersections of many identities: Métis, French Canadian, English Canadian, queer, gender-fluid, rural and city. Danielle was a former co-director of the Capital Poetry Collective, the founder of Seattle’s Comedy Womb (now the Comedy Nest), former producer of the Seattle Moth StorySLAM and former organizer of LiPS (The Live Poets Society of Lanark County). Danielle is dedicated to helping people tell their own stories, and is runs a creative community space/shop in Almonte, ON called Curious & Kind for all spoken word art forms, podcasting, crafting, and soap pouring.
The workshop series takes place on Saturday April 9, 16 and 23 from 6 to 8 pm at the Schoolhouse. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to perform their stories on April 30 from 6 to 8 pm. All are welcome to attend the performance. For more information or to register please contact meraschoolhouse@gmail.com.
Danielle is asking that participants show proof of vaccination at this time.
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Garden Day at the MERA Schoolhouse:
Seedling Swap and Workshops on April 23rd
Spring is returning and whether you have a green thumb or not, there’s so much to learn about nature through gardening. Working closely in nature, can be a way to observe the miracle of life and to understand how important it is to protect it.
On Saturday April 23rd, MERA will be hosting a Garden Day with activities centered around growing food, creating beauty and building using found materials. There is a full day of presentations and hands-on demonstrations planned, including:
- A seedling swap: Bring your seedlings and exchange them for a variety of different plants or donate and pick-up something special to plant. You can exchange your seedlings at any point throughout the day.
- Bring your shovel and help build a pollinator garden on the MERA grounds
- Joanna Kowalczyk will provide a tree pruning demonstration. She will also be talking about the benefits of community gardening
- Tim Booth will be talking about the benefits of fungal dominant compost and Gerda Franssen will talk about composting and demonstrate different types of compost bins.
- Get your hands busy: learn how easy it is to create a pollinator hotel and build a natural fence with Ankaret Dean
The Wizard’s Café will be serving tantalizing coffee and treats! If it rains we will go into the hall, so don’t let that stop you.
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GENTLE YOGA AT MERA
The Spring 2022 session for Gentle Yoga will begin on Tuesday Mar. 15, 2022 at 10 am and run for 8 weeks until May 3, 2022. Thank you to all who supported the previous Yoga programs in 2019 through 2021.
All participants must show proof of double vaccination either with QR code or paperwork and follow all MERA Covid protocols including social distancing and masking on entry.
While planning for the new session, take the time to consider your personal wellness. Yoga is a popular and age old mind-body practice that combines movement, breathing, relaxation and meditation exercises to calm the nervous system and balance the body, mind, and spirit. Yoga has been shown to decrease reports of pain, improve quality of sleep, decrease overall fatigue, and improve depressed moods. Yoga has also been shown to improve lung function, strength of inspiratory and expiratory muscle as well as skeletal strength and endurance.
In gentle yoga, posture and breath work are emphasized. Supportive props and gravity assist can allow people to relax into postures and maintain them for longer periods to help reduce anxiety, increase energy and support physical and emotional well-being. Positions can be modified to allow full participation for a wide variety of participants. Gentle Yoga can also be a beneficial way for people to ease back into exercise.
Yoga Instructor: Marj Kennelly is a certified Yoga Instructor who has recently retired as a physiotherapist and moved to the McDonalds Corners region. Marj will not be practicing as a PT for this program but will bring her 30+ years of PT experience and knowledge to help guide a safe, healthy, Yoga practice.
Target Audience: Adults of any age are welcome. Must be able to independently get up and down from the floor. Participants are expected to bring their own Yoga Mat and dress in comfortable clothing. Any props like blocks or bolsters that you have used successfully in the past would be welcome in the practice.
Goals:
• To provide an accessible community based gentle Yoga program at MERA.
• To promote socialization through shared experience
• To deepen the understanding of Yoga and provide cues to further the individual’s practice.
• To provide a healthy physical challenge that promotes wellness
• To develop strategies to promote chest health and better mechanics of breathing
• To provide a chance for people to slow down and take care of themselves in a supportive healthy environment.
Times: Tuesday mornings from 10 to 11:30
All participants must show proof of double vaccination either with QR code or paperwork. Participants should arrive 15 minutes prior to the first class to fill out a brief participant questionnaire and discuss any health issues relating to the Yoga practice. Marj will be available 15 minutes prior to each class to address any ongoing questions about participation in the program.
Cost: $50 for 6 sessions for MERA members or 10 dollars/session as drop in or non-MERA member.
Should you have any questions please contact Marj Kennelly at mandmkennelly@gmail.com.
If sessions need to be cancelled due to inclement weather, Marj will contact registered participants either by Email or phone.
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DANCE FOR THE JOY OF IT!
at MERA Monday evenings
All participants must show proof of double vaccination either with QR code or paperwork and follow all MERA Covid protocols including social distancing and masking on entry.
What and why?: Come enjoy 1.5 hours of free-form dance to a wide range of energizing music: belly-dance to classic rock... world beat to pop ... with some Latin and other flavours thrown in. This is your evening out if you are looking for a way to turn on “delight” (or “da light”) in the darker months of the year. Especially for people who don’t like following the leader, in this gathering we move for the fun of it. We end with twenty minutes of luxurious stretching.
Time and Place: Mondays 7 pm – 8:30 pm in Dean Hall at MERA in McDonald's Corners
Dates: Mondays March 7th to April 4th.
COVID precautions: In accordance with MERA and the Health Unit guidelines, I will ...
- ask to see each dancer's proof they are double vaccinated
- collect names and contact info for each class
- make sure everyone has responded as needed to the covid screening questions before arrival
- ask all to wear masks in and out of the building (but this is not required while dancing -- I would say we would wear masks all the time, but we learned they quickly get wet and then are useless. The province allows people who are playing sports not to wear masks (see O. Reg. 364/20: RULES FOR AREAS AT STEP 3 AND AT THE ROADMAP EXIT STEP, ). The masks will also keep our faces warm if we indulge in stargazing as has happened before.
- Have a maximum of 8 dancers -- which is well above our usual turnout, but please be in touch with Christine if you are coming out for the first time.
What to bring: Wear clothes that allow you to move. Dance in bare feet or shoes if you wish. Bring a water bottle. Mats are provided.
Cost:
- MERA Members: $30 (for the 6 evenings); or $7 per evening drop in
- Non-members: $40 (for the 6 evenings); or $9 per evening drop in
Christine Peringer, who lives near Hopetown, will guide the dance. She loves moving to a beat and choosing tunes that make people want to dance.
While she has been an aerobics instructor, a belly dancer and taken Nia white belt training, she still finds free-form dancing the most energizing and fun.
Contact Christine for more information by phone 613.259.2073 or email christine@peringer.ca.
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Book Club meets on Zoom every month. Next meeting is April 26th at 7:00pm.
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
Named one of Time's Must-Read Books of 2020, and featuring stories that have appeared in Harper's, Granta, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review, this revelatory book of fiction from O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa establishes her as an essential new voice in Canadian and world literature. Told with compassion and wry humour, these stories honour characters struggling to find their bearings far from home, even as they do the necessary "grunt work of the world." (source: Penguin Random House Books)
If you are interested in joining the Book Club, please contact Jean Dunning.
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