Camphill Village

One day for lunch Cindy and I went to another house where Sebastian and Sula were eating lunch.  I can’t remember the house name or the name of the House Father that we ate with, but from the moment we stepped in the door I felt welcomed. In the days before I had eaten at Sycamore and other than the others villagers who were very friendly and talkative, the house felt very cold. The House Mother, Taya, was very stiff and seemed constantly stressed. So when I went to lunch I wasn’t expecting to have much of a conversation with anyone but Cindy, Sebastian, and Sula.

I really enjoyed making this portrait and having Cindy help me choose the style of drawing and the type of horse. In the portrait she is with her horse Winston and they are both thinking about skiing together. Cindy was in the Special Olympics for skiiing so I drew her with her special olympics medal on since she was extremely proud of it.

There are so many moments at Camphill that ran through my head when I first read this prompt. Our week at Camphill Village was incredibly rewarding and incredibly challenging for me personally. My experience with my villager Gaby was also full of ups and downs. One moment that particularly stood out happened when Gaby gave me a tour of her house, Helios.

I enjoyed our time with the villagers today. They had such interesting assertions about the campus, especially after we told them about the Harry Potter dinner. It meant a lot to me to show them Thomas Great Hall and the Cloisters. I felt genuinely satisfied to welcome them to our campus when they had so graciously welcomed us into their families and homes. I wish I had heard more from the villagers about what they thought of Bryn Mawr. We took a lot of time looking critically at our feelings about spending time at Camphill and I hope they did the same about our space when they returned. How did that experience compare to their usual field trips? What did they think of visiting a college?