Please join us for an off-site afternoon at The Bower: Native Plant Landscape and Sculpture Park. The Bower is a 36-acre meadow and woodland site on a north slope of the northern Appalachian Mountains in Perry County. It is a sanctuary where art and the natural world co-exist harmoniously. The Bower landscape features wild and introduced native plants in abundance throughout an enhanced open landscape and woodlands complimented with large-scale sculpture and land art. Bill and Jane Allis, owners of The Bower, will share their experience of living in and creating this extraordinary space. Lifelong lovers of the visual arts, their vision was to sensitively renew, enhance and diversify their meadow with persistent stewardship and new plantings. Sculptures provide structure, contrast and focal points within the landscape and are designed to start conversations about our place in the Appalachians and the processes that occur within the landscape.

In 2019, they worked with the landscape architecture firm Oehme, Van Sweden (OvS) of Washington D.C. to create a conceptual master plan for The Bower. It was their desire to create a sanctuary space with a strong sense of place and natural history. Design work began in 2020 and The Bower opened in 2022. There is no fee to visit, however, if you care to support The Bower, you can visit their Donate page.  We will be the only visiting group in the garden on Thursday afternoon, providing a unique experience to view, sketch, paint, or just meditate within this beautiful sanctuary. 

This off-site experience is open to 30 participants. Parking is limited and we will meet at registration at the Hershey Lodge at 12:15 PM, then carpool to the site. It will take approximately 45 minutes to travel to the garden. There are currently 12 large scale sculptures specifically designed for the garden, created by 5 men and 5 women. 6 of the artists are from Pennsylvania. Click here if you want to learn more about the artists: https://thegardenbower.com/bower-artist/ 

Enjoy a guided yoga practice while surrounded by the beauty of the Bower's rural public garden setting. Participants will be invited to journal before and after the mindful movement practice. 60-minute [or whatever fits/ makes sense], beginner-friendly mixed-level class, led by an E-RYT certified instructor. Feel free to bring your mat and discover a sense of grounding in nature before the conference officially begins.