Stained Glass Class at Ghost Ranch

 Ghost Ranch is one of the three Camp/Conference centers owned by the PCUSA. Though given independence in its running in recent years Ghost Ranch has been a special place that embraces God in a very tactile way holding Arts and Nature at the core of its identity.   Famous for surrounding the Georgia O'Keeffe estate, you'd recognize many of the sights from classic movies like Indiana Jones and City Slickers 2 (Curly's Cabin is still there) and currently the set of Up 2 (if you zoom into the the picture with the crane you can see the balloon house.). Needless to say it is a beautiful place and after GA I really needed a change of pace to get back into my sabbatical mindset.

As seems to be a theme for me in education, I really lucked out in the art class I chose. Tough by Joseph Cavalieri, he walked us through the process of creation step by step and with his calm and almost zen like presence all the anxiety and fear quickly left this class and we were able to enjoy and laugh through the various mistakes and experiments with creating glass works.  The people in the class were amazing. The youngest was a college student who goes to Stone Church and the oldest was in her late 70's with every age group represented. It was also fun to just be creative with no expectation of perfection. while my works were not something that will bring me millions, I like them.  On the left from top to bottom  "perfect imperfection," "first and last," "Sacred Sky" On the Right from top to bottom "Change is Hard" and "Proud Beer"  two are already hanging in my parents home and Proud beer with proudly be displayed in my bar.  

I was surprised at the end of the class to find out that Joseph had taught classes at the School of Visual Philosophy and that the marketing team behind the Business Association (Ani and Cat) had done a documentary on him.  How cool is that!

Going back to Ghost Ranch was something for me on a psychological level since the last time I was there I endured a summer that was not what I was excepting. Having been hired as the chaplain to the college staff, My role was supposed to be a support position for the college staff, basically being like a youth director, having vespers and doing activities. Unfortunately, the dysfunctional leadership lead to me having a much bigger role and having to lead in areas I had no experience with. Though it turned out fine and kept relationships with a few of the staff, it was not the most pleasant summer and so I had always wanted to go back and enjoy Ghost Ranch for what it is not the politics of the camp, and thankfully that is exactly what I got and am really excited about what the future holds for Ghost Ranch.

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