Archive for the ‘MERA Schoolhouse’ Category.

2015 MERA CHRISTMAS FAIR

Sat, Nov 28, 2015, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Always on the last Saturday every November, the MERA Christmas Fair is a day we all look forward to. Since 2005, local artisis and artisans – who pass our jury – offer wonderful and unique hand-crafted items for sale including creations of the MERA Heritage Weavers and Potters. Other vendors incluide organic chocolate by Ludwig, Strawberry Cottage candles soaps, jewelry by My Gem Creations, Poittery by Jan Conley and more!  20% of gross sales go to MERA so come and support our local artists and artisans and MERA at the same time! New vendors this year include handwoven clothing by Heather Sherratt, and woodwork by George Fisher.

The MERA fibrearts, knitters, weavers, potters and, new this year, the gardening club who are making terrariums, donate many items to the MERA room where 100% of sales go directly to MERA. All proceeds from the Wizard’s Café also go to MERA as well as sales from the bake table and popular Raffle Bags (with items all donated by vendors).

Please come out and support local artists and MERA at the same time and give gifts that you will not find anywhere else.

For information contact Marilyn at meraschoolhouse@bell.net   If you would like to help Marilyn on the day of the event or to set up or take down, or would like to be Coordinator-in-Training to take over this event, please  contact Marilyn.

Bread Making Workshop

Making Bread  - many different kinds! with Alice Hinther 24th OctoberSaturday, October 24th from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m.

Are you intimidated by the idea of making your own bread? Join Alice Hinther for a fun-filled afternoon of bread making and learn how simple it really is! In this four hour session, you will learn how to make a basic white bread dough, cinnamon buns, pizza dough, whole grain bread, French bread as well as novelty shaped breads like Alice’s Alligator bread, meat stuffed buns, pizza buns and more!
 

Don’t eat before you come. Lunch is on us! Please bring a cookie sheet or storage container as you will be bringing home lots of goodies as well!

Alice is a local artist/craftsperson who divides her time between Ottawa and Maberly. Check out her website at ahinther.webs.com or her Facebook page Alice Hinther Design.

Cost: MERA Members $30, Non-members $40

Register by contacting Marilyn at meraschoolhouse@bell.net

Fibre Roads Mini-Festival

Dyed Yarn (2)_0Welcome to the McDonalds Corners Farmers Market where you can buy locally-grown food. On July 25, you’ll also be able to buy locally produced yarns, spinning fibre and beautiful artisan-made garments.

When: July 25th

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Place: MERA Schoolhouse

 

 

 

Local fibre producers and spinners, knitters, weavers and felters have formed a group called Fibre Roads, with the aim of promoting the ‘buy local’ concept in the fibre arts. After all, Eastern Ontario was once a major centre of textile manufacturing – and now, people in this area are raising fleece-breed sheep, alpacas and llamas, and creating the heirlooms of the future.

6980014136_e809c7d762_hOn July 25, Fibre Roads members will be selling at a mini-Fibre Festival at MERA. While you’re at the Farmers’ Market, come round the other side of the Schoolhouse and see the work of local fibre artists and watch them demonstrating spinning, weaving, carding, and other fibre work. You can even try your hand at some of those techniques!

The Comedy of Errors

Event-Photoa Company of Fools is back with the ever popular Torchlight Shakespeare – bringing Shakespeare to Ottawa parks all summer long! This season’s production is the farcical play The Comedy of Errors.

When: July 22, 2015

Time: 7:00pm

Where: MERA Schoolhouse

Cost: Pay What You Can, suggested donation of $15/person

 

More info and to see other dates and locations visit www.fools.ca

The Farmers Market will be serving food from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

About The Comedy of Errors

When two sets of identical twins separated at birth are brought to the same town by circumstance, mistaken identities abound! Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, the result is a series of wildly comical mishaps which challenge the notion of truly knowing one’s friend, spouse, neighbour and self!

 

Meet the Fools – Our Cast and Crew

Directed by Catriona Leger, this season’s case includes Warren Bain, AL Connors, Scott Florence, Gabrielle Lazarovitz, Geoff McBride, Katie Ryerson. Featuring costume design by Vanessa Imeson and set design by David Benedict Brown.

Do good things really come in pairs? Will the real Antipholous please stand up? Double the trouble means double the fun in The Comedy of. Bring a lawn chair or blanket, bug spray and your sense of humour. Pass-the-hat donations are collected at the end of the performances and can be submitted in the form of cash or check More information and a detailed park schedule can be found at www.fools.ca or by phoning 613-863-7529.

 

See you there! Bring a chair and bug spray and your appetitie for food and great outdoor theatre.

Flamenco Guitarist Jorge Miguel

Flamenco Guitarist Jorge Miguel

Sunday, June 28th at 2:00 p.m.

WHO: Jorge Miguel Ensemble

WHAT: Sunday Schoolhouse Concert Series

WHEN: Sunday, June 28th, 2:00 pm

WHERE: MERA Schoolhouse, McDonald’s Corners

TICKETS: Series tickets (3 concerts) $55 ($50 for MERA members ) $22 advance. $20 for MERA members  (plus service charges) Tickets Please, 39 Foster St. in Perth (Jo’s Clothes), 613-485-6434 or www.ticketsplease.ca

“Full-contact, hard-core” Flamenco guitarist performs at MERA

The final concert in MERA’s Sunday Schoolhouse Spring Concert Series, on Sunday, June 28, will feature award-winning Spanish/Canadian flamenco guitarist and composer Jorge Miguel, in an ensemble that includes a flamenco singer and dancer.

Miguel’s new CD “Guitarra Flamenca/Flamenco Guitar” is an exploration of the depth and breadth of Flamenco Guitar by an artist that has dedicated his life to this art form. Eight diverse songs styles, known in Flamenco circles as “palos”, are performed with precision, passion and originality yet remain firmly rooted in tradition.

Miguel’s family is from Cadiz, Andalucia, Spain, his parents moved from Seville to Toronto just one year before he was born. After years of trying to ignore his Spanish roots, Miguel realized his true calling was playing Flamenco. Miguel moved back to Spain in 1995 to immerse himself in the study of Flamenco Guitar, and he has not strayed from that path since.

Miguel has studied with maestro’s Manolo Sanlucar, Cañizares, José Antonio Rodriguez in Cordoba, Gerardo Nuñez in Sanlucar, Pepe Russo in Cadiz, Don Antonio Villar in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Carlos Del Rio in Madrid,  Augustin “Bola” Carbonell in Seville and attended workshops w/ Diego Del Morao and singer Rocio Marquez in Toronto. Miguel has also accompanied renowned dancers such as Esmeralda Enrique, Soledad Barrio, Isabel Bayon  and Maria Serrano.

In 2002 the Jorge Miguel Flamenco Ensemble was formed with the mandate to take true Flamenco to audiences across Canada and beyond. The Ensemble combines the three pillars of Flamenco, the guitar, the dance and the song (el Toque, el Baile y el Canté). Miguel has performed over 1000 shows from Whitehorse, The Yukon to Antigonish, Nova Scotia as well as in the U.S. and Europe.

Miguel’s Ensemble was nominated in 2011 for Capacoa Touring Artist of the Year and Miguel was awarded the 2013 Canadian Folk Music Award for  World Solo Artist and Instrumental Artist of the Year.

“He performs with a gusto he calls ‘full contact, hard-core’ flamenco. …the tempo-shifting Alegrias en La and the spirited Rumba Tangos are take-no-prisoner affairs, full of rousing vocals, percussive handclaps or “palmas” and Miguel’s fleet-fingered guitar playing. Even quieter numbers like the meditative Trocitus (Solea) and the gentle Silencio por Alegrias are brimming with emotion.” – Nicholas Jennings, Penguin Eggs Magazine

“When the musician is Jorge Miguel…you’re talking serious flamenco. He went right to the source—Seville in Spain – to learn the intricacies of the music.” – Fresh Air, CBC Radio

MERA Upcoming events May 2015

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Art Espresso! Painting Workshop

(Having fun while you learn how to work and play with your paint!)

Saturday, May 9,  2015 with Gloria Shoebridge

Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (bring your lunch and snacks)

Cost: $40.00 for MERA members, $60 for others.

Cost of supplies: $20, which will include all paints and acrylic materials

 

A Mother’s Day Concert at MERA featuring Triola

A Blue Jeans Classic event

Sun, May 10, 2015

Time: 2:00 p.m

Mother’s Day, May 10th will see the MERA Schoolhouse in McDonald’s Corners filled with music for grandmothers, mothers, wives and others, played by Triola, an exciting classical music trio, comprised of mothers and grandmothers.

 

Clean Up Day 2015

Wednesday, May 6th from 4 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Every year a large group of volunteers comes out and helps to clean up the yard after the winter, raking, planting, painting if necessary. Bring your rakes and gloves and energy!

We provide pizza at about 5:30 – courtesy of John Parks – and a few people bring a dessert to share which is much appreciated.

 

Arts and Crafts for Home Schooled children

Third Tuesday mormings of April, May and June, 2015

9 a.m. until 12 noon

Some parents of area home-schooled children have requested that MERA organize a  program for children, about Grade two level and up, to learn some of the things MERA does so well: weaving, knitting, spinning, pottery, basketry, bead work, etc.  The third Tuesday of the month from 9 a.m. until 12 noon has been set aside for creative activities for home-schooled kids.

 

WHO: The Bombadils

WHAT: Sunday Schoolhouse Concert Series

WHEN: Sunday, May 31st, 2:00 pm

WHERE: MERA Schoolhouse, McDonald’s Corners

TICKETS: Series tickets (3 concerts) $55 ($50 for MERA members ) $22 advance. $20 for MERA members  (plus service charges) Tickets Please, 39 Foster St. in Perth (Jo’s Clothes), 613-485-6434 or www.ticketsplease.ca

CIVITAN CHRISTMAS CRAFT & GIFT SALE

ID-100165685The CIVITAN CHRISTMAS CRAFT & GIFT SALE takes place on Sunday, November 30, 2014 at the Civitan Hall (Hwy. #43 outside Perth), from 10am to 3pm. Featuring unique, hand-crafted items from local artisans and crafters, along with a special selection of gift items. Lots of parking, refreshments available. For information or to register a booth, call Jane at 613-267-5952.

Boxcar Boys Concert

THE BOXCAR BOYS appear at MERA Schoolhouse on McDonald’s Corners on Sunday, March 30, 2014 at 2pm. The band plays a veritable gumbo of musical styles, from Klezmer, to jazz, to folk and gypsy.

Advance tickets are $22 (including service charges) and are available from Tickets Please at 39 Foster St. in Perth (Jo’s Clothes), by phone at 613-485-6434 or online at www.ticketsplease.ca.