BOWSPRIT MENTORS

Beetree farm ​& woodsong dairy

Operating BeeTree Farm at Bowsprit, project founders, Graziella Cervi and Peter Brady, mentor program participants in vegetable production using bio-dynamic practices, growing field
crops and fruit. Sunniva Brady runs
her own goat dairy, WoodSong, and produces a range of delicious dairy products.

Renewal aboriculture​​​

Peter Brady is also an arborist, licensed in Maine who has been serving the mid-coast Maine area for the past ten ​years. Currently, as land manager at the farm, and as part of our spring  program, Peter introduces participants to the way we understand and manage our land.

PIA WALKER - POTTER

Pia​ is a sculptor and ceramic artist living in Liberty, Maine. Her first
season working with Bowsprit was
a courageous exploration of what is possible with few resources and
​a lot of creative imagination.
​Pia enjoys working with unpredictable materials, delighting in the learning and the discovery this affords, and effectively imparts her enthusiasm to young students of varying ability and interest. 

JOHN SHERMAN - WOODWORKER

John lives and works in Liberty as
​a furniture maker and timber framer with a focus towards pre-industrial woodworking techniques using only hand tools. After renovating Banks Garage in Liberty ME, he has started a small group shop space where community woodworking classes and music events are held. He possesses an empathy with young people that transcends differences, and draws the best from their individuality.

JOE HESSE - FELTED RUGS

Jo Hesse makes area rugs and sculptures using pre-industrial felt-making methods that she learned in Turkey from the UNESCO honored felt-maker, Master Mehmet Girgiç. Jo's rugs are firmly felted and functional, ranging from a quarter to half an inch thick. Jo’s commitment to traditional fabrication is juxtaposed with a playful, modern style and a raw, decisive approach to composition. She brings to her craft a precision attained from years living in the south of Germany, where she studied​ textile design, and an aesthetic sense developed at the Freie Hochschule, Stuttgart. ​In 2018 she and her father, Kent Hesse, established The Ram & The Worm, a Northampton MA-based boutique rug brand.

Tornado metals

B'anna Federico and Nate Smith have combined their blacksmithing and welding experience to produce large-scale sculpture. They look forward to sharing their down-at-home skills, and exciting wizardry, with Bowsprit youth, ​as guest mentors 'from away'.

Steve Murdock - Blacksmith

Steve Murdock grew up on a farm in Unity, Maine creating with whatever was at hand, but with a special interest in metal. He left to study Art in upstate New York where metal soon became his medium of choice. Steve received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ithaca College. ​For many years, Steve taught Blacksmithing at Colby College’s Colby-Hume Center in Sidney, Maine for their January Program. Steve and his wife, Chia, own and operate Unity Forge.

Louis Pontillo - Tai Chi

Louis Pontillo holds a B.S. in Professional Health Sciences and an M.S. in Oriental Medicine. He has been teaching mind/body exercises for over thirty years through yoga, qigong, and taijiquan. A certified instructor in QiGong, TaiJiQuan, and Kung Fu, and adjunct faculty at the Downeast School of Massage, Louis also coaches wrestling for kids, K-8, in the RSU3 community, Waldo Co, Maine, where he lives with his wife and four children. Louis sees "the value of teaching young people meditation and mindful exercise. They are tools that too few possess and can be used as a coping mechanism for all kinds of emotional and physical issues that may arise in one's life".