Early community folk music festival.
As the Arts at Esalen matured, the Art Barn was developed as a workshop and studio space. During this era a variety of workshops were held and the Arts Center drew numerous talented teachers.
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musicians visual artists authors movement artists
artists in other disciplines or multiple creative fields
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1980s
Jerome Gary, film director and producer, visited and presented at Esalen regularly.
Michael Hedges, acoustic guitar master, began visiting the Institute in the mid to late 80s. He gave concerts at Esalen several times and performed with Chi Gung master Paulie Zink.
John Horler, batik artist, metalworker and ceramicist, created huge batik banners to decorate Esalen for the folk festivals that started in the early 60s. He lived at Esalen from the 60s onward and in the Art Barn in the 80s, using it as his private studio. Horler was commissioned by Esalen to cast the bronze tig bowl which rests today behind the Meditation House as a memorial to Dick Price.
Henry Kaiser, avant garde guitar player, played at Esalen several times, bringing along a group of musicians from Madagascar who performed with him throughout the 90s.
Fred Frith, composer and avant garde guitar player, performed at Esalen many times and was an artist in residence from 1990 to 2003.
Gabrielle Roth, inventor of Five Rhythms™ Wave dance, led the first movement arts workshop at Esalen and inspired many in the community to take up the practice of ecstatic dance. She was an artist in residence thoughout the 80s and 90s.
Babatunde Olatunji, Grammy-winning Nigerian drummer known for bringing African music, dance, storytelling and chanting to America, was an artist in residence at Esalen for twenty years. He was regarded as a cultural and spiritual leader in the community, as well as a cultural and musical historian.
Nina Wise, dance teacher, has led movement arts workshops at Esalen since the 80s.
Anna Halprin, dance teacher, has shared her innovative exploration of movement arts with the community and taught workshops at Esalen since the 80s.
Ysaye Barnwell, member of the vocal group Sweet Honey in the Rock, has regularly taught music workshops at Esalen for years.
Tandy Beale, modern dance teacher, taught workshops at Esalen in the 80s.
Michell Cassou and Stewart Cubley, teachers of The Painting Experience. Cassou founded an original approach to painting designed to stimulate and unblock creativity.
Annie Styron Leonard and Jackie Kirk taught Watercolor Painting and Energy Awareness in the mid-80s.
David Feldshuh, professional actor, teacher and director, taught The Performer in You: Achieving Stage Presence, in the mid-80s.
Paul Horn, flutist and jazz musician, taught Creativity Workshop in the mid-80s. He worked with improvisation and movement as a means to open the creative flow. Horn regularly offered workshops at Esalen.
André Gregory, theater director, actor, teacher and author, periodically offered workshops like Research Center for Human Disarmament in the mid-80s.
Bradley Bernstein, director of shows at Juilliard and other schools and theatres; Didi Conn, actress; Nancy Kaye Lunney, former vocal coach and accompanist who regularly led singing workshops at Esalen; and David Shire, Academy Award-winning composer of many film scores and the music for the Broadway hit Baby; taught Creating Musical Theatre in the mid-80s.
Rickie Wolf, professional clown and storyteller and director of the Tokyo Gestalt Institute, taught Clowning for Life: A Gestalt Workshop in the mid-80s.
Silver Mountain Foundation/Aperture magazine held the Photography '82 Symposium at Esalen.
Members of Roy Hart Theater, an international theater company known for its research into the use of voice in theater, and Jungian psychologists James Hillman and Patricia Berry Hill led The Sound of the Image in '86.
Rhonda Martyn, choreographer, occasionally brought a small group of daners to Esalen to experiment, develop new material, practice and perform. She was an artist in residence at Esalen in '84.
Ron Field, Tony award-winning Broadway director and choreographer, was in residence at Esalen with a company of dancers developing a Broadway musical he conceived.
Paul Winter, environmentalist, musician, recording artist and founder of Paul Winter Consort and of Living Music Foundation regularly offered workshops at Esalen.
Antero Alli, writer and producer for Inter-Media Theater, led The Ritual Theater Workshop in the 80s.
Tom Van Sant, painter, sculptor, environmental planner and the father of space art; Richard Feynman, physicist and advisor on art and technology for the LA County Museum; Faustin Bray, musician, media artist, director of Sound Photosynthesis and founder of Island School; and Brian Wallace, musician, composer, poet, media artist and director of Nomadband; led Art In Practice and Theory in '86.
Nancy Azara, sculptor, painter, psychic consultant and co-founder of the New York Feminist Art Institute Women's Center for Learning, taught Psychic Vision and the Creative Experience in '86.
Jean Lanier and Alexandria Kovats, faculty members of the Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality, taught Creativity and Mysticism in '87.
Food for the Senses, a book compiled by Chris Price with recipes, stories, photos and artwork by people of the Esalen community, was produced in '80. It included a story by Daniel Bianchetta illustrated by Stan Grof.
Moses Pendleton, co-founder of Pilobolus and director Momix dance company, and other leaders in various fields related to the human body discussed their work and their visions of the future during The Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Body: Methods of Transformation conference in 87. The results of the conference were presented to the public.
Esalen/Lan Ting Institute China Exchange, an annual collaborative cultural arts study group led by Chungliang Al Huang, sent a group of participants to a traditional Taoist retreat in southern China to study Chinese arts and philosophy.
David Streeter has taught martial arts and painting classes including Zen and Art Making at Esalen since the 80s.
Phil Cousineau, co-writer of The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell; Eric Lawton, award-winning photographer; David Darling, master cellist; and John Densmore, drummer for the Doors presented The Mythic Image: A Performance Piece, a live performance workshop blending storytelling with a slideshow and synchronized improvisational music.
Michel Petrucciani, French jazz pianist, performed at Esalen in the 80s.
1940s and 50s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s