overview
We are very excited to roll out some fun workshops, camp days and programs —ALL IN-PERSON— for adults and young people this winter and spring!
Below are detailed descriptions of each program, including fees and how to register
If you’re looking for information about our spring break camps or one of our weeklong spring camps for adults (Artful Life, Women’s Week), please visit our Spring and Summer Camps page.
2024 covid protocols
Our in-person programs and workshops in 2024 will be mask and distance optional for most people. We will continue to actively support people who choose to mask and distance. We will run a survey for symptoms and exposures the weekend before each camp, and people who have tested positive or who have had known exposures will have guidelines they need to follow. Please read our COVID response page for all the details.
scholarships
We have a “no one turned away” scholarship policy at Clapping Hands Farm. We do not want money to be an obstacle to attending camp.
If you would like to contribute to our scholarship program, please see our donate page. There are also places on your camp registration form to let us know if you need a scholarship or if you want to make a donation.
introduction to felting. sundays, jan. 7-28, 2024 (four week session.) 1-5 pm. for teens and adults*
Dates: Sundays, January 7-28, 2024 (four-week session)
Time: 1-5 pm
Fee: $240/$200 (beginner/experienced felters, $40 supply fee for materials included.)
Drop-In Fee: $50/$40 per class (beginner/experienced felters) + $40 supply fee for materials (supply fee for experienced felters will be assessed depending on cost of materials, no fee for small projects). Scholarships available.
Instructors: Louise Omoto Kessel and Casey Hayes
*Children 9-12 y.o. are welcome with an adult
Ever put a wool sweater in the washing machine on hot by accident? And it shrunk and got really thick and tough? That is felting! Except we will do it on purpose using colorful wool to make wonderful things. Felting is the art of harnessing those same scientific principles that made your sweater shrink (with a little more technique and artistic control) for making whimsical or functional objects from wool fibers.
Each week we will demonstrate a specific technique or project for both WET FELTING and NEEDLE FELTING and you will have a chance to practice both in the studio. Each camper will be given a felting kit with basic tools for both needle felting and wet felting. A little bit of felting experience opens the door to a huge variety of projects. . . . fun felted animals, beads, jewelry, backpack charms, patches, decorations on clothing, wall hangings, pillows, pouches and bags, felted soap, and more! This 16 hour introduction to felting will give a structured tour of what’s possible; and campers will have a lot of room to follow their muse when choosing and designing projects.
Felt is the first cloth that people made; it is an ancient art form, and a contemporary one!. As part of your introduction to felting Louise will share some stories and images of felting traditions from all over the world; introduce the fiber plants and animals that provide our materials; and explain the science behind why it works!
This workshop is appropriate for people who are brand new to felting or who have had some experience and would like to build their skills.
Experienced felters who want studio access and companionship are also welcome to sign up for this workshop at a slightly reduced cost and work on their own projects. Instead of a beginners felting kit, experienced felters will receive a budget for materials that they can choose how to “spend”. (and if you want more materials after that you can continue to purchase).
Caveats: beginning felters will have enrollment priority if space becomes limited and beginning felters will get instructors attention first.
Register for Winter & Spring Programs
wearable felt! and other advanced felting projects. sundays, feb. 4-25, 2024. 1-5 pm. ages 13+*
Dates: Sundays, February 5-26, 2024 (four-week session)
Time: 1-5 pm
Fee: $240 ($40 supply fee for materials included.)
Drop-In Fee: $50 per class (supply fee will be assessed depending on cost of materials, no fee for small projects). Scholarships available.
*Children 9-12 y.o. are welcome with an adult.
This workshop will feature felted creations you can wear! HATS, MITTENS, and SLIPPERS! These are usually wet felted projects that are then formed to fit a specific person’s hands, feet, or head! Unlimited design possibilities abound with choices about form, shape, color, ornamentation etc.
If you have felted before, feel you have mastered the basics, and are eager for more — this is the workshop for you!
In addition to the featured projects that Louise and Casey will demonstrate and teach, experienced felters are welcome to use this space to work on their own projects with support from instructors and inspiration from fellow campers.
Supplies: Your $40 supply fee gives you access to materials in the CHF studio. If you are making something very large, we might ask you to order wool from suppliers we can recommend or to contribute more for supplies.
Register for Winter & Spring Programs
building diverse community, arts and activism workshops. dates tbd. ages 18+.
NOTE 1/31/24: These workshops, planned for Spring of 2024 have been put on pause. We hope to get them back on the schedule in the future and would love to hear from you if you are interested in this type of work. There is a place for you to indicate interest on the registration link below. Or you can let us know by email and we will add you to the list!
These one-day retreats are designed for white members of our camp community to focus on building connections across differences in our real day-to-day lives. If you identify as white; enjoy mixing up creative process and life-visioning; and want your personal community to include people of many races, religions, classes, regions, sexual orientations, gender identifications, ages and more—- this workshop is for you!
Each retreat day is limited to no more than 12 participants. You can sign up for one or both.
GUIDES for these day-long retreats are Sara Graybeal and Louise Omoto Kessel.
Sara Graybeal is a writer, a teacher, and a diversity coach. She’s a white single mom to a son of white and Puerto Rican heritage, and she has a chosen family network reaching from Ecuador to Philadelphia to Ghana. Sara is a lover of creativity as a primary tool to fuel connection; she thinks we’re all both more alike and more different than we think we are; and she believes the best place to do diversity and connection work is together–in community. She can’t wait for this workshop!
Louise Omoto Kessel is a storyteller, an artist, and the founder and artistic director of Clapping Hands Farm. She is Japanese-Buddhist on her mothers side; Russian-Jewish on her fathers side. She is the mother of two young adults who are adopted and African American. “I love creating spaces where imaginative processes and our real lives inform each other. I hope these workshops leave people feeling eager to go home and take that next courageous, joyful step.
WORKSHOP #1 KINDLING CONNECTION
An Arts and Activism Workshop focused on Building Diverse Community
Date: tbd
NOTE 1/31/24: If you are interested in this type of work, there is a place for you to indicate interest on the registration link below. Or you can let us know by email and we will add you to the list!
This one-day retreat is designed for white members of our camp community to focus on building connections across differences in our real day-to-day lives. If you identify as white; enjoy mixing up creative process and life-visioning; and want your personal community to include people of many races, religions, classes, regions, sexual orientations, gender identifications, ages and more—- this workshop is for you!
Through storytelling, fire-making, and supportive conversation, we’ll dig into our connection-building experiences and resources and discern next steps in building a more diverse community for ourselves and our families.
KINDLING CONNECTION will feature FIREMAKING as an extended metaphor for our connection building processes. We will meet outdoors around a fire, weather permitting, or around a wood stove otherwise. We’ll demonstrate flint and steel firemaking, and we’ll talk about the Sparks, the Char Cloth, the Tinder, the Fuel, Tending the Fire, and Cooking on the Fire as a vivid metaphor for all the steps and resources needed to kindle connection in community!
What generates sparks of possible connection?
Why do some sparks create a flame and others go out?
What do we need to gather and have ready before we try and kindle a fire?
What kind of fuel does a brand new fire require?
What happens when we put a huge log on a tiny fire?
How do we keep our fires tended so they stay alive?
How long does a fire need to burn before it’s optimal for cooking and can provide warmth and nourishment to ourselves and others?
WORKSHOP #2 OUR GIFTS AND TOOLS FOR THE WORK
An Arts and Activism Workshop focused on Building Diverse Community
Date: tbd
NOTE 1/31/24: If you are interested in this type of work, there is a place for you to indicate interest on the registration link below. Or you can let us know by email and we will add you to the list!
This one-day retreat is designed for white members of our camp community to focus on building connections across differences in our real day-to-day lives. If you identify as white; enjoy mixing up creative process and life-visioning; and want your personal community to include people of many races, religions, classes, regions, sexual orientations, gender identifications, ages and more—- this workshop is for you!
Through storytelling, art-making, and supportive conversation, we’ll dig into our connection-building experiences and resources and discern next steps in building a more diverse community for ourselves and our families.
In OUR GIFTS AND TOOLS FOR THE WORK, we’ll tap into our personal stories of building connections across race, class, age, gender identity, and more–the times this has gone well, and the times that left something to be desired! Through visioning, journaling, and sharing, we’ll look deeply at the many shared feelings that come up when we tell these stories, and the ways we can hold space for each other as we honor the experiences we bring. We’ll also devote ample time to the practical tools and skill-building that can take this work from just “another conversation” into the realm of productive and joyful action.
Through conversation, writing, a guided Story Journey, and a candle decorating ceremony, we’ll make our tools and gifts for this important work tangible and deeply satisfying. We’ll head home with those tools and gifts in hand, along with fresh ideas about our unique resources for connection and how to apply them.
women’s camp for a day. saturday, march 16, 2024. 9 am-4 pm. ages 18+.
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024
Time: 9 am-4 pm
Fee: $65 – early bird special thru Jan 31 ($75 regular price). Scholarships available.
Women’s Camp is creativity, relaxation, and sisterhood in equal measure. We want you to feel rested, nurtured, befriended, and inspired. Our day will include movement, thanksgiving, play, a selection of different workshops, a leisurely lunch, a check-in with a small group, and circles to begin and end the day. Along with lots of permission to do what YOU are called to do, including a lot of beautiful “nothing” if that is what you choose!
We want to create, stretch, get messy, sing, move, reflect, play, rest, try new things, listen, share, and invite you to bring home a new commitment to yourself and the things that make you happy.
This DAY-LONG camp/retreat is designed as a way for new people to see what women’s camp is all about! And as a reunion for returning campers.
Trans, non-binary, gender-fluid, and gender-creative humans who would like to participate in Women’s Camp for a Day are welcome.
Louise Omoto Kessel will guide this camp along with stellar guest artists!
ARTISTS CONFIRMED SO FAR:
* Louise Omoto Kessel- storytelling, sashiko embroidery, felting and more!
* Angela Davis- Natural Healing, including fermentation, salves, tinctures, and more!
* Andrea Lara- Latin Dance!
* Also Khallori Cosmey will be there as a stellar (and talented) counselor!
