Grace Farms and the River Building

 

  This past Saturday, I visited Grace Farms and saw their new River Building, the farm and forest, where it is located. I got to learn about the ways they brought together people for nature, art, community and faith.

    The first thing I did was listen to the architects, Sanaa, talk about the new River Building. The main goal behind the building was to make sure that it didn’t take away from the landscape. They made sure that the roof was not built higher than the trees, so that you could see the whole forest from any place on the farm. The building was formed in the shape of a river to blend in with the area. It has glass walls and glass on the roof to reflect the blue sky. It was also made so that you could see the variation in the landscape. When you looked one direction you could see the wetlands, where as, if you looked another, you could see black locust trees. The main auditorium had the best view. Behind the stage you could see the whole hill side. They also hold church services in the auditorium every Sunday.

   A short walk down the hill, beneath the river ceiling, would bring you to a room where you can get food and listen to live music. Just downhill from there, you'll find a tea room. It is a small room with seating. You can order from a menu of different Japanese teas. Just outside of the tea room, is an underground basketball court. You can look down on it from ground level. The idea was that the basketball court would bring together community, but having it in the ground would not take away from the landscape.

 

Off to the side of the building, there are two barns that were converted into class rooms and other kinds of rooms for different purposes. The barns have been renewed and painted grey. This makes them look very modern. They sit facing each other, with a medium sized yard in between them. Connecting the two buildings are gravel pathways formed in a very artistic fashion. In the yard there are two stations with women selling apple cider.

 At Grace Farms their main focus was always nature, then came community and faith. They show this in many ways. They build a community centered around art. One piece of art was tiny little glass tiles that were placed on the wall. At night, the shadows on the glass look like the New York City skyline. You can see different kinds of paintings and drawings in rooms like the library and dining hall. 

Something that I found to be surprising, was that a place that appeared to be a very artistic and nature based would also have a church and basketball court connected to it. At first it seemed unexpected but after learning about it more, I saw that Grace Farms wanted to build a community and having stuff like a library, church or basketball court were great ways to bring people together.

Glass blowing in Kansas

   I had a great time this past week visiting family out in Wichita, Kansas. I did all sorts of fun stuff, but one of my favorite parts was when I went glass blowing. In a little town just outside of Wichita, called Kechi; there is a glass blowing shop with all sorts of cool glass stuff. In the back room there are a few guys making glass art. If you sign up, you can have them teach you how to make either a Christmas tree ornament or a heart shaped paper weight. I signed up to make an ornament. The next Monday, I came in to the glass shop and went to the back room. There I began to start the glass blowing.

   On the table in front of my instructor, there were small plastic boxes with little shards of glass in them. In each box the glass was a different color. The instructor then brought over a long metal pole with a hot ball of glass on one end. He dipped the hot ball of glass into one color of glass on each side. He then took it over to a huge oven and stuck the glass end in the oven while twirling the pole.

     When he took it out of the oven, you could see that the glass shards had formed a spiral on the hot glass. He then brought the pole over to a flat spot to keep it rolling. He handed me a tube that he had attached to the other end of the pole. I blew into the tube, which caused the glass to grow larger and form a perfect, round shape.

    The instructor took the glass ball and knocked it off the pole. He took the end of the ornament and formed a loop so it could be tied to a string. Then he put it in an oven where it cooled down from 900 degrees, for three days.  

    Early humans found that glass could be very useful to the making of beads and pots as well as other things. Sand and colored pigments we heated with other types of materials and then formed into a shape. When the glass cooled, they would be left with that same shape and color. This was proven to be very useful to the making of art and became an item often used in trade.  When glass is put in a oven it reaches about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.  After it is done being formed into as specific shape, it is put in a cooling oven that is 900 degrees and it cools down from there.

   I had a awesome time glass blowing in Kechi, Kansas and learning about the making of certain kinds of blown glass art. I enjoyed getting to learn about the history of glass and  the processes it goes through.