Erica Wheeler

Erica Wheeler Upcoming Events:

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Second Annual Monadnock Literary and Arts Festival

Marlborough, NH

website: http://www.glenbrook.org/events/ML_and_A.aspx

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Sterling School

Sterling, CT

Soulful Landscape Residency 7th grade class

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Sterling School

Sterling, CT

Soulful Landscape Residency, 8th grade class

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Sterling School

Soulful Landscape Residency, 8th grade class

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 TBA

Trailwood Under the Harvest Moon

Connecticut Audubon Society

Hampton, CT

phone: 860-928-4948

website: http://www.ctaudubon.org/visit/trailwood.htm

About Trail Wood: This beautiful 168-acre sanctuary is the site of Edwin Way Teale's home and the subject of many of this Pulitzer Prize-winning author's writings on nature. The woodland, field, wetland and pond habitats abound with wildlife. The property offers well-developed trails and a small natural history museum with Teale memorabilia.

Monday, October 4th, 2010

National Land Conservation Conference

The Soulful Landscape Workshop

Hartford, CT

website: http://www.landtrustalliance.org/learning/rally/rally

Friday, October 8th, 2010

The Soulful "Cityscape" Concert

Westcott Community Center

Syracuse, NY

phone: 315.673.1350

website: http://www.baltimorewoods.org/

Part of a special series of programs focusing on the urban landscape. Sponsored by the Baltimore Woods Nature Center.

Thursday, October 21st, 2010 thru Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Soulful Landscape Restorative Retreat

The Murie Center

phone: 307-739-2246

website: http://www.muriecenter.org/

Join Erica for an all-inclusive retreat at the beautiful, historic Murie Ranch in Grand Teton National Park. Imagine spending 3 nights and 4 days at a historic ranch at the base of the Teton Mountains. Sleeping in a cozy cabin. Gathering for guided writing sessions beside a crackling fire. Ample time to work on your writing and develop your ideas. Delicious meals crafted from local and sustainably grown food. Guided hikes and time to rest and recharge in the beauty of wild nature.

This workshop explores how your life and the land are interconnected and gives you tools for expressing that connection. You’ll uncover your own stories of place and belonging and generate ideas for further development. If you’ve been longing to write, rest and deeply recharge your life and reconnect with the land this workshop is for you. Late October is the perfect time to visit the park, when the tourists are gone and wildlife is abundant!

Dates: October 21-24, 2010
Location: The Murie Ranch – A National Historic Landmark in Grand Teton National Park
Description: For writers and non-writers alike. All levels of experience. Join Erica Wheeler for a weekend exploring what place means to you.
Price: $495 includes lodging in a Murie ranch cabin for 3 nights, all meals and tuition; $295 includes all meals and tuition only. Limited to 15 participants.
To register call 307- 739-2246 or online at The Murie Center

Registration fee includes:
• Three nights lodging in your own private comfy, cozy historic cabin. Double occupancy discount available, additional nights available for just $75 per night!
• Nine hearty, healthy home-cooked meals, plus snacks
• Writing sessions, individual time with instructor, naturalist led hikes
• Time to write and enjoy the beauty of nature

You’ll experience:
• Four days to write, hike, rest and play in the Teton Mountains
• Delicious, nourishing meals
• Writing inside the Murie’s historic homestead cabin beside a crackling fire
• Quiet reflective time in nature right outside your door
• Community and conversation about people and their relationship to the land

You’ll gain:
• A method of writing that connects people and place
• A deep understanding of how your life and the land are interconnected
• A well of fresh ideas generated during the workshop, and support to develop those ideas
• An understanding of the role of “place-based” arts in land conservation
• A renewed sense of self and place

Workshop Overview
“ If you don’t know who you are, you don’t know where you are.” Wendell Berry

For all levels of experience and all genera of writers. Find your stories of place and belonging.

Beings with a presentation exploring “place-based arts” and their role in land conservation. Followed by a series of writing prompts and activities designed to uncover your own creative voice. You’ll generate material you can use in the creation of stories, songs, poems, essays, talks and other writings. You’ll receive support to develop your ideas and spend time rejuvenating your soul in the beauty of nature.

Workshop Outline
Schedule subject to change to take advantage of the best weather for planned outdoor activities.

Thursday, October 21
5:30 pm – Welcome reception
6:30 pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin
7:30 pm – Introduction to the Murie Legacy and the Murie Center
8:00 pm – Introduction to each other, outline for weekend, writing our intentions

Friday, October 22
8 am - Breakfast at Homestead Cabin
9 am – 12 pm Writing session: Finding the relationship between your life and the land
12 pm – Lunch at Homestead Cabin
1 pm– Nature walk on Around the world Trail/Finding metaphors in the land
2 pm to 5 pm – Writing session: Generating metaphors and ideas
6pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin
7:30 Optional video “In the Light of Reverence” and discussion about sacred landscapes or time to rest and write on your own.

Saturday, October 23
7 am – Breakfast at Homestead Cabin
8 am –Naturalist led wildlife hike/Field Journal writing session
12 pm – Bag Lunch
2 pm – Writing session: Developing your story of place and belonging
3pm to 6 pm – Individual writing time and/or individual meeting time with instructor
6 pm – Dinner at Homestead Cabin
7:30pm –Celebration—sharing writings, songs, poems, laughter and other inspirations

Sunday, October 24
8 am - Breakfast at Homestead Cabin
9 am – Writing session: Integrating your experience
10 pm– Closing circle by the Snake River
Noon– Lunch at the Homestead Cabin

Optional after workshop activities: In the past people have been interested in a Sunday group outing, which we can arrange for an additional fee. Activities can include another guided hike, a wildlife tour of Yellowstone, a rafting trip or horseback-riding trip.

Additional Details

Lodging. Three nights lodging are included in your registration fee. This is an amazing deal in an amazing location. Lodging in Jackson can be expensive and for less than the cost of a room at Motel 6 you can have a cozy, private historic cabin in Grand Teton National Park. Additional nights available for $75. Hiking and wildlife are right outside your door. (A huge moose walked by the window during dinner the last time I was there.)

Meals: Nine meals are included in your registration fee. (Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch.) The Murie Center chef uses local and sustainable foods whenever possible. Healthy, hearty, seasonal and delicious. Vegetarian options available.

Getting there: Getting to Jackson is easy because several airlines fly full size jets into town daily. The Murie Center is just a few miles from the airport. Free shuttle pick up available.

Weather: With an elevation above 6,000 layers are important. October temperatures range from nighttime lows in the 30’s to daytime highs in the 70’s. Expect sunny days with chilly nights and snow possible.

The Murie Legacy

Mardy Murie is a personal hero of mine. The Murie Center is the original homestead where she lived until 2003 when she died at age 101. Mardy was a naturalist, author, adventurer and conservationist. Many consider her to be the “Grandmother of the Conservation Movement.” Her husband Olaus was a visionary wildlife field biologist and the first president of the Wilderness Society. Together they worked to establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and when Olaus died in 1963, Mardy carried on his conservation work, writing, travelling, speaking and surveying potential wilderness areas in Alaska.

Mardy had a way of winning people over with tea and conversation. It was her tireless spirit and love for the land that transformed many who passed through her front door. As we write in her homestead cabin we will be drawing on her legacy for inspiration.

Mardy also loved music. John Denver was so inspired by her story that he wrote and recorded “A Song for All Lovers." Erica actually got to sing a song for Mardy once too, when Mardy was age 99!

Limited to 15 participants. To register for the workshop please call 307- 739-2246 or visit www.muriecenter.org

About the instructor

Erica Wheeler is an award-winning singer-songwriter, established keynote speaker and dynamic workshop facilitator. Her gift for connecting people and place is apparent in both her music and her inspiring workshop and keynote programs.

Erica's work is grounded in the belief that we all have stories of place and belonging waiting to be remembered and revealed. She helps us to tap into why places matter to us and shifts the way we relate to the land, each other and ourselves. One result is personal engagement in making sure the places we care about are there for future generations.

Erica has presented her Soulful Landscape programs at conferences, events and learning centers across the country, from Yosemite National Park (CA) to the Thoreau Institute (MA). Her work connecting people and place has been featured in national publications such as Orion, Yankee, and Yes!, and she has been interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered.

She has six critically acclaimed recordings to her credit, and her most recent CD, Good Summer Rain, was sponsored in part by the Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization. The CD won first place in the "Best Interpretive Music" category at the National Association for Interpretation 2008 Media Awards.

This is the third time Erica has taught her Soulful Landscape workshop at the Murie Center. We’ve heard so many good things about from previous participants! We’re thrilled to have her back.
Workshop Accolades
“ I gained confidence. A sense of community. A feeling of empowerment. Tools to help me focus. A better sense of how to access creativity and inspiration. Hope. A lot of intangibles. It was exactly what I was looking for.” Participant, The Murie Center, Jackson, WY

“Erica creates a kind of alchemy in the room where even the most timid of us is inspired to find the writer within. She gave us new tools and reminded me of tools I once knew and had long forgotten. She inspired me to get back to an interpretive project I had put aside which I am now working on with renewed enthusiasm and focus.” Julia Clebsch, Interpretive Naturalist, Brooklyn, NY

“With its emphasis on integrating writing, music, and a sense of place, Erica’s workshop was incredibly inspiring... [She] gave us all an invaluable opportunity to reflect on our connections to the land, our personal history, and our best selves.” Walter Poleman, Faculty Director, University of Vermont