When Ann Emerson, the founding director of the Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts, died this summer at her home in Maine, the lights flickered for everyone who was involved in that brave undertaking 32 years ago which now thrives as The Umbrella Community Arts Center.

Ann was at the core of its creation, directly (as the director) and through the immediate and extensive friendships and trust that she engendered in her fellow artists and the Concord community.

Last Thursday the clay studio opened for a final bowl making workshop just our resident artists. Being artists, our ceramics program coordinator Caitlyn Marsh anticipated their willingness to freely explore the clay and tools with less instruction or demonstrations. Other than a brief how-to on the slabroller, that pretty much was the case.

This past Friday, The Umbrella staff took a break from our desks and ventured up to Salem.  We drove through the brilliant fall foliage on what may have been the last warm day of the year, eager to explore the Peabody Essex Museum.

Did you know the state of Massachusetts funds more arts and culture organizations than any other state? It's invigorating to live in a community in which so many people and organizations advocate for public funds in arts and culture. This past July marked a major milestone in that advocacy, when the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) benefitted from a $1 million increase to its state appropriation, approved by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.

The first thing you notice when you enter Barbara Willis’s sunny corner studio at The Umbrella is a dazzling rainbow of spooled fibers: bold jewel tones, glittering metallics, delicate pastels, and smoky earth hues. Silk and cotton yarn sits beside chenille, bamboo, wool, mohair, and rayon on shelves, tabletops, and windowsills.

Artists tend to be visually oriented, more comfortable with shapes and colors than sounds and words, which means that many of them view talking about their work with a certain trepidation.  But yesterday three of The Umbrella's resident artists took the challenge and stepped forward to share the inspirations, stories, and processes behind their artwork.

On July 15, two cars headed from The Umbrella down to Worcester for Mass Creative's Create the Vote forum.  Several resident artists, Representative Cory Atkins, and Executive Director Jerry Wedge joined members of the Concord community to listen to Massachussett's gubernatorial candidates discuss their positions on arts advocacy.

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.