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Days of Mindfulness clouds

January 8, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – Do you hope to start the new year with greater mindfulness and peace? You are invited to join the mindfulness community at Weber Retreat and Conference Center, which gathers monthly to deepen participants’ understanding and commitment to mindfulness.

Sessions are held on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at Weber Center and are facilitated by Sister Esther Kennedy, OP, a Dominican Sister of Adrian, retreat leader, and spiritual director. 

Upcoming sessions are as follows:

  • January 27, 2024, Now – The Only Moment. The present moment is the best of what life has to offer. Mindfulness helps us experience the present moment –pleasant or painful – with an open and tender heart.
  • CANCELLED: March 2, 2024, Learning to Be Honest. The point of mindfulness is returning to the present moment and to what is occurring within your mind. One can learn to be gentle and to love whatever energy arises.
  • April 6, 2024, Trust in Your Goodness. Sometimes, you might judge yourself endlessly and even harshly. Are you open to considering that within you lies all the creativity, possibility, forgiveness, and understanding you need to live well?

Each session is limited to 30 participants. The cost is $35 per session, which includes lunch. Registration is required and available at www.webercenter.org; click “programs.” Registration may also be made by calling 517-266-4000 or emailing webercenter@adriandominicans.org

Weber Center is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse, Adrian, Michigan. Traveling east on Siena Heights Drive, pass the Adrian Rea Literacy Center and turn left just before the solar panel-covered parking lot. Follow the signs to Weber Center. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.
 


Carlos Tobar stands with one of his many paintings

January 8, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – Beginning in early February, visitors to INAI: A Space Apart will have the opportunity to view artwork that ranges from intense commentary on current events or ordinary daily life to colorful depictions of life in Ecuador or in a land of fantasy.

Works by Carlos Tobar will open on Friday, February 2, 2024, and close on Sunday, April 21, 2024, at INAI, an art gallery adjacent to Weber Retreat and Conference Center. An opportunity to meet the artist is offered from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday, February 3, 2024. The Artist’s Reception is from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

A native of Ecuador, Carlos and his wife Rachel have been residents of Adrian since 1985. A retired graphic artist and commercial offset printer, Carlos has lived out his passion throughout his life: depicting world events, ordinary events, and the joy of life through painting and other media, including stone, wood, block printing, and mosaics.

“I always say I paint the truth,” Carlos said. “I want people to see what is going on in the world.” For Carlos, truth includes commentary on the difficult situations of life and current events. “One painting shows what a mother is feeling in Israel, the pain at the moment,” he said. Moved by the war in Iraq, he painted When Men Become Animals. “The feelings of my heart I put into that painting,” he said, adding that he used exaggeration in the faces, hands, and arms to depict his feelings toward the war.

But Carlos also sees the truth in people’s everyday lives – and his hometown in Ecuador. In one painting, Moments of Happiness, he used bright colors to depict people dancing for joy. He also painted scenes from Ecuador, such as the jungle surrounding the town where he was raised, an open-air fruit market, and the chickens raised on his family farm. “For me, it’s to have a good time remembering,” he said. He often uses his paintings from Ecuador to share his memories with his four children and eight grandchildren. At the same time, he also likes to introduce an element of fantasy into his colorful paintings. “In my paintings, everything is possible,” he said.

Despite his desire to depict the truth, Carlos never tells his viewers how to interpret his paintings. “I like it when the viewers interpret it themselves,” he said. “The paintings speak for themselves.”

Along with the paintings, Carlos will exhibit some of the many drawings that are often the basis for his paintings. “My mind is working, working, working,” he explained. “During the pandemic, I was very busy, using the time, and I produced many drawings. Some I will turn into a work on canvas, and some I will call a drawing.”

Visitors are welcome to come to INAI anytime to view exhibits or find a quiet place for reflection. INAI is open daily from 9:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. For other hours, call 517-266-4090 to make an appointment.

Weber Center is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse, Adrian, Michigan. Traveling east on Siena Heights Drive, pass the Adrian Rea Literacy Center and turn left just before the solar panel-covered parking lot. Follow the signs to Weber Center. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.


 

 

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