It's hard to beat an evening of art, wine, dessert and great conversation!

The Musketaquid’s Fall Salon series opened last Thursday with gourds – one of the world’s oldest, most recognizable and universal plants.  When dried, their shell can be cut to make bowls, ladles, and other tools.  It is not certain where gourds originated or how they traveled the globe, but they can be seen in many a museum’s collection of cultural artifacts from almost every continent.

On Wednesday September 11 at The Umbrella clay studio, Caitlyn Marsh hosted a free bowl workshop. Participants made hand built and wheelthrown bowls with recycled stoneware clay. With only one person for the first fifteen minutes, we didn't start off with a bang, but soon enough the studio was packed with beginners, experts, volunteers, professionals, students, and friends of the Umbrella adult student population.

The Umbrella is always full of different sorts of people, from teachers to artists to performers and more.  But if you've ever come into our building, you know that there are other creatures who visit as well.  Many of the resident artists have animals and some bring them to The Umbrella quite regularly.  To recognize these non-human Umbrella goers, we decided to highlight a Pet of The Umbrella every Friday throughout the summer on our Facebook page.