Grunewald Guild

Grunewald is an Arts Guild in Washington state which hosts retreats and courses.  I just got to spend a few days there. The property has studios for pottery, weaving, glass arts, print arts and more.  Art is everywhere on campus.  Volunteers can help out on the property in exchange for taking classes.  Permanent staff fill multiple roles and guest artisans and teachers join them from time to time.  

Above is the buffet counter in the communal dining area with a thickly textured plaster wall.  Below is facing the kitchen and self serve hot beverage area.  Each post was painted.  Behind the closest post is a small coffee table with a mosaic top.  Dining tables were covered in colorful fabrics and guests picked one of a kind cloth serviettes for their meals.  Many cups and bowls had been made on site in the pottery studio. Meals were hearty, earthy and delicious.

Below is the central meeting area surrounded by shelves full of art books and created things.  Lofts above either side were piled with over sized cushions. The guild's core value is hospitality and is modeled after the Benedictine monastic order.  For group sessions candles covered most surfaces and the wood stove burned in the evenings.

A view over the dormant garden to the library building in the trees. Nice bit of architectural salvage in the fence.

The back wall of the central building with more architectural salvage from an old church and pottery chimes hanging over the back porch on long cords.

 The guild library with stained glass windows.  One wall of books was devoted to spirituality.  A medium sized section held fiction and the rest was overflowing with books on creativity and art.

A very large painting in the stairwell of the building where I stayed.  Interesting dripped paint effect.

                              These stained glass windows were in bathrooms/restrooms.

      A large window in the central lounge/meeting area, sometimes obscured by a power point screen when art images were being shown.

The people we met on staff and at the retreat were as varied as the artwork everywhere, as were their philosophies of life.  An inspiring but also mentally and spiritually challenging stay.