The criteria we’ve gradually come up with (mostly over drinks at the Craig Street Brew Pub) are:
female: because when a group of women come together, it’s interesting and unusual. Men change the dynamic. And the skills we want to learn will likely be different from what men want to learn. Or maybe not. But let’s stick with girls-only for now.
communicators/artists: because we want this project to impact more than just the participants. Participants will commit to sharing their experience each month through a blog, photos, artistic creation, or audio/video piece.
around 30 years old: because we share similar limitations and life-skills, although some of us are married, have kids, are self-employed, and have other uniquenesses to keep things interesting.
sorta strangers: because this isn’t just the usual bunch of friends getting together. To ensure a diversity of experiences, we want a diversity of participants. We are “acquaintances” to begin with.
Meet to brainstorm the skills we want to learn.
Decide on commitment requirements.
Assign re-skillers to organize each month’s experience.
Name ourselves the Renaissance Women!
Wine appreciation with Alfons Obererlacher, the Vancouver Island Sales Representative for Free House Wine & Spirits Ltd., and Mike Gelling, a sales representative for International Cellars Inc.
December 2011:
Cookie decorating party and hot-toddy lessons!
March 2012:
Had our “Annual General Meeting” (hee hee) and discussed what we liked about the Renaissance Women and wanted to keep for 2012. We like it a lot, so it’ll stay the same for now.
April 2012:
Met and brainstormed workshops for 2012.
Assigned workshop organizers.
May 2012:
Made pinch pots with Tara of Tara Firma Studios. (So much fun that we decided to go back for a second and third evening and pinch more pots.)
June 2012:
“Ladies Learn to Fish” workshop at the Cowichan River Wilderness Lodge. Learned to fly fish and use a reel line, plus lots of random interesting freshwater fishing facts.
Canning lessons from the Somenos Women’s Institute. We made apple jelly, peach salsa and pickled vegetables. Amazing.
October 2012:
Life-changing lacto-fermented sauerkraut and vegetables workshop with Holly Howe.
January 2013:
Weaving and felting workshop at Leola’s Studio, where we learned to use a loom. Leola emphasized art as a lifestyle, rather than just a hobby we (sometimes) make time for. She got our mojo flowing.
We all contributed to making a rag rug on Leola’s loom. I loved this!
February 2013:
Art month! We were inspired by Leola to take on the challenge of creating a piece of art every day in February, as a group. Check out our results here.
April 2013:
Our “AGM”! We brainstormed a whole new year’s worth of skills to learn, ate Maeve’s award-winning chocolate chip cookies and drank multiple cups of Teafarm tea. Some of our original Renaissance Women members have since moved on to new adventures (and/or cities), which left room to invite some of our more frequent guests to join us as permanent members. The Renaissance Women were excited to welcome Sheila Z., Linda and Cindy!
Heather McLeod is a mystery writer based in British Columbia, Canada.
