1) Dharma Jam with Harrison Blum
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | The Powerhouse
Dharma Jam is a modern Buddhist dance ritual. Beginning with collective intention and seated meditation, Jams progress through three phases aligned with the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Refocusing and inspirational comments are offered at the beginning of each of these phases. Jams close with a danced dedication and a seated reflection circle. The movement and dance period is supported by an arcing playlist of recorded music, with attention to fostering a sacred and celebratory soundscape. No dance or Buddhist experience is needed.
This program is limited to 60 people and registration is required. Use this link to sign-up! For accessibility concerns, please contact Harrison Blum at hblum@amherst.edu.
2) Illustrating the Past
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. | Beneski Museum of Natural History
The Beneski Museum of Natural History will serve as both backdrop and inspiration as folks explore some aspects of science in nature. Participants will first have an opportunity to learn and practice some key elements behind scientific illustration while examining real fossils dating back between 10,000 and 2 billion years. Following the scientific effort, participants will be cut loose and create something from their imagination based upon their scientific work. We may have the next Wayne Barlowe amongst us. (Think Avatar.)
For accessibility concerns, please contact Fred Venne at avenne@amherst.edu.
3) Writing and Reading with The Common
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Webster Circle, Tent 1
Spend an hour writing and reading with The Common, the literary magazine based at Amherst College with the goal of exploring modern senses of place. Participants will be able to explore past issues of the magazine, read and discuss their writing, and begin working on new pieces through a collection of prose and poetry prompts. Stop by for snacks and copies of The Common, or stay and use the environment as a place to begin a new creative project.
For accessibility concerns, please contact Olive Amdur at oamdur23@amherst.edu.
4) Cyanotype: Blue Recollections of a Difficult Year with Maureen Manning
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. | Science Center Teaching Lab B119
Join fiber artist and biologist Maureen Manning and STEM Student Programs Coordinator Sarah Mattison Buhl in creating a personal cyanotype fabric piece that expresses your thoughts on dealing with fear, anxiety, and the unknown around Covid-19. Your small fabric cyanotype will be incorporated into a larger, collaborative finished piece to be exhibited in the Science Center during the spring semester. The process uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. Participants should wear close-toed shoes and pants.
Each session is limited to 20 people and will take place for 30 minutes. Pre-registration is required. Please sign-up using this link. For accessibility concerns, please contact Sarah Mattison Buhl at sbuhl@amherst.edu.
5) cART Pilot with Olivia Feal and Mead Student Museum Educators
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. | Mead Art Museum
Looking for a hands-on, self-guided experience in the Mead’s galleries? cART has sensory-based activities that inspire different ways of thinking about and engaging with our works on view. All activities are designed by Student Museum Educators and range from creative writing prompts, speed sketching, scented scavenger hunts, back-to-back drawing, mindfulness doodles, soundscapes, and more.
For accessibility concerns, contact Olivia Feal at ofeal@amherst.edu.
6) SilkScreen Station with Paper City Clothing
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. | Keefe Campus Center
Stop by Keefe Campus Center to watch a silkscreen demonstration and make your own tote bag with Paper City Clothing. Paper City Clothing was founded in 2016 by Carlos Peña, as a social enterprise working to create creative and economic opportunities for youth in Holyoke, by offering the highest quality custom apparel services as well as original clothing lines printed in-house. Presented by Student Activities.
For accessibility concerns, please contact Paul Gallegos at pgallegos@amherst.edu.
7) Mural Making
12:00 - 2:30 p.m. | Book & Plow Farm
Visit Book & Plow Farm to help make a mural on their new 8x20 shipping container/ office. Stop by to participate in a paint-by-number style mural and brainstorm parts of themselves and campus that they want to nourish and cultivate. We will use our collective ideas to draft a design and invite folks up at a later date to finish the image. Participants should wear clothes and shoes that can get dirty. Expect to walk on grass and uneven terrain. In addition to mural making, you can also explore the Farm Core Site. This program will be co-facilitated by Maida Ives and Carla Costa with support from the Loeb Center for Career Planning and Exploration.
For accessibility concerns, please contact Maida Ives at mives@amherst.edu.
8) Planetarium Under the Tent
12:00 - 3:00 p.m. | Tent 5 on Valentine Quad
The Bassett Planetarium will be taking its portable planetarium on the road. Participants can drop by for a brief five-minute astronomy-themed music video or stay a bit longer and enjoy an immersive program featuring some of the best astrophotographers in the world. This sweet immersive program shows the brilliant creative synergy that can happen between science and art. Participants should wear clothes and shoes they feel comfortable with sitting on the tent floor.
For accessibility concerns, please contact Fred Venne at avenne@amherst.edu.
9) Improvisational Dance Class and Jam with Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance Jenna Riegel
12:30 - 2:00 p.m. | Webster Hall, Studio 2
Join Jenna Riegel for an Improvisational Dance Class and Jam. This class is open to everyone! No movement or dance training is necessary. We will experiment and play with movement and dance improvisation scores, some of which will be guided and some that will be generated together! This will be a class where you are invited to dance in the style/s that you love and socialize and commune with your Amherst College community through movement! Participants should wear clothes and shoes (or no shoes) they feel comfortable moving and grooving in!
This session is limited to 25 people and registration is required. Use this link to sign-up! For accessibility concerns, please contact Jenna Riegel at jriegel@amherst.edu.
10) Poetry and Plants
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. | Bailey Brown House (19 Hitchcock Road, near Pratt Field)
The Poetry Club and the Arts at Amherst Initiative present an afternoon of poetry & plants. We welcome all writers and invite you to submit poems that are inspired by nature or growth in some way. Please submit your works in PDF or Word to tpc@amherst.edu with your name and pronouns included. Come to read a poem or listen to some poetry while we plant seeds in the Bailey Brown House garden. Boba & pastries from Henion Bakery (vegan options included) will be served.
For accessibility concerns, please contact Theo Peierls at tpeierls19@amherst.edu.
11) Buttons, Zines, & Artists’ Books
1:00 - 3:00 p.m. | Frost Library
Drop by Frost Library for an afternoon with artists’ books, zines, and button-making. Explore unique and micro-published works from Frost Library’s collection of artists’ books and zines and try making your own zines and buttons. This is a drop-in activity.
For accessibility concerns, please contact Sara Smith at ssmith@amherst.edu.
12) T-Shirt Making for the Clothesline Project
1:00 - 4:00 p.m. | Book & Plow Farm Tent
Community members are welcome to participate in t-shirt making as a part of The Five College Clothesline Project which will be displayed on campus the following week! The Clothesline Project is an opportunity to break the silence about sexual violence by providing space for people to create shirts that give voice to personal experiences. The shirts are then hung shoulder to shoulder on a clothesline for public viewing. Survivors, allies, and community members are all welcome to make a shirt in solidarity! T-shirts, paints, and markers will be provided. This session is presented by the Department of Health Education and the Peer Advocates for Sexual Respect.
For accessibility concerns, please contact Lauren Kelly, Sexual Respect Educator, at lakelly@amherst.edu.
13) Chamber Music Live!!
1:00 - 4:00 p.m. | Music Department Tent (Cohan Lawn)
Stop by the Music Department tent on the lawn outside Cohan for a live music performance. Amherst College classical musicians will wow you with their virtuosity & artistry! The capacity for this event is limited to 40-60 people.
For accessibility concerns, please contact Mark Swanson at mlswanson@amherst.edu.
14) Art in a Box at the Mead with Annie Martin
1:00 - 4:00 p.m. | Mead Art Museum
Join Engaged Research Fellow Annie Martin (Class of 2022E) for embodied meditation sessions in the Mead's latest exhibitions, What Looms Large and A Room that Grew. After each guided meditation, there will be art in a box workshops. Art-in-a-box draws on shadow box and assemblage techniques to present different aesthetic forms that inspire one another in unique spatial arrangements. Visitors will use a variety of found objects and mixed-media materials, along with their own creations, to make collaborative assemblages and are welcome to take their creations home. Supplies are limited to 50 people.
For accessibility concerns, contact Danielle Amodeo at damodeo13@amherst.edu.
15) Creative Writing Workshop
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. | Multicultural Resource Center
Join other poets and writers at The Multicultural Resource Center to work on the craft of writing and critiquing. In our 90-minute session, students will spend time working on their own projects or responding to one of a number of prompts selected at the beginning of our time together. Then we’ll share our works in progress and receive constructive feedback from our peers to aid the revision process. Students should bring any pieces they are interested in having critiqued in the workshop style. Writing prompts, pens, and notebooks will be provided.
This program is limited to 8 people and pre-registration is required. Use this link to sign-up. For accessibility concerns, please contact Eboni Rafus-Brenning at erafusbrenning@amherst.edu.
16) Queer and Trans Life in Bloom
2:00 - 4:00 p.m. | Queer Resource Center
Join the QRC to celebrate LGBTQ+ identities by making your own bouquets! As we create we will reflect on the beauty inherent in our queer and trans journeys to this moment and all those to come. Honor how far you’ve come with the gift of flowers!
For accessibility concerns, please contact Jxhn Martin at jsmartin@amherst.edu.
