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On Parker Pond, Mount Vernon, Maine |
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places
A unique summer retreat center dedicated to the preservation and appreciation of
our natural environment. Weeklong workshops are offered for youth and adults
that explore the natural world through the lens of creative arts and sciences.
Bearnstow is located on sixty-five acres of wooded land on Parker Pond in Mount Vernon, Maine, at the headwaters of the west branch of the Forty Mile River, part of the Androscoggin watershed. Our 2,400 feet of shoreline and twelve rustic buildings, most nearly a century old, are protected by conservation easement by the Kennebec Land Trust. Our oldest structure, the Lodge, was the only building
on the lake on the 1880 geological survey. Bearnstow is located at Spruce Point Camps, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Founded in 1946 by Ruth Grauert and Frances Reid, Bearnstow has had a rich history of arts-related activities linked to a practice of environmental responsibility. Throughout our history the resonance of place in all activities has been central to our mission. Our unspoiled environment provides an alternative freedom for aesthetic expression away from the constrictions of city life. Our attention to the care of place, land, and spirit is central to our daily practice.
Bearnstow’s current summer programs, directed by Ruth Grauert and Bebe Miller, for both adults and children, emphasize the connection between environment and learning. The immediacy of our natural surroundings affects the breadth and depth of the learning that takes place, for both teacher and student. For adults we offer weeklong workshops in movement studies for professional and pre-professional dancers taught by a world-class faculty. For a snapshot of a dancer's summer experience at Bearnstow, read Stories From Camp by Susan Douglas Roberts. For children we offer a two-week Day Camp session in arts and creative physical activities, with classes in dance, art, swimming, and horsemanship.
In addition to Ruth Grauert and Bebe Miller, our Board of Directors also includes:
- Nicolaus Bloom, a free-lance events producer in Portland, ME;
- Vernon Dunn, designer of industrial trusses in Belgrade, ME;
- Bobbie Gottschalk, founder/director, Seeds of Peace, in Washington, DC
- Suzanne Jones, Ph.D., a psychologist n Arlington, VA;
- Susan Liebling, a realtor in Mount Vernon, ME; and
- Jim Van Abbema, Webmaster and wildlife biologist in the Bronx, NY.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the following for contributions and/or in-kind services to Bearnstow during the 2010 season: Pamela Blake, Nicolaus Bloom, Mary Therese Duffy, Vernon Dunn, Janet Erickson, Laura Faure, Barbara Gottschalk, Ruth Grauert, Phillip Gregory, Howard Lake, Margery Lieber, Susan Liebling, Suzanne Dalton Jones, Bebe Miller, Sandra Merrick, Donna and Kevin Oliver, Panera Breads, Jeff Pidot, Shamou, Alan Stone, Linda Tarnay, Joanna Tibby, Jim Van Abbema, and Clyde Walton.
Bearnstow’s 2010 programs were made possible in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission.
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Bearnstow also publishes the online Bearnstow Journal,
offering articles and discussion on the Nikolais esthetic and the arts. |
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