Sensitive Fluidity Conference

Dear Fellow Colleagues,
The water conference here in Blue Hill in July of 2024 was incredibly rich and gave us many new insights into water as an element for life. Building out of the work of Theador and Wolfram Schwenk and John Wilkes we were able to begin to discern the fullness of water's capacity to serve life.   Out of this meeting there was the impulse to begin working on one or two venues for publications, articles, and work updates of researchers worldwide working with water to keep it as an element which serves life in all its manifestations. The echoes from this conference keep on coming and it has been very nourishing.  Check back for updates as people are sending in photos and impressions of the conference and queries for further work.

There are many who made this conference possible, but, I would like to extend my deep gratitude to Jennifer Mitchell and David Putnam for their steady and wise support for this work for many years.  

There are various threads emerging from our collaborations and we will bring you up to date on these shortly.

Jennifer Greene, Water Research Institute 9/1/24


Your Hosts / Workshop Leads

Simon Charter, MEd

Simon Charter started work after university in the fields of engineering and particle physics, then followed 4 years of biodynamic farming and gardening and further training with artistic therapeutic work .  His artistic, ecological and practical interests came together in his early 30’s in working with water in the environment. Over the last 34 years this has focussed on landscape projects involving Flowform water sculptures (as discovered by John Wilkes). These have included waste water systems for sewage and agricultural effluent, therapeutic and educational environments as well as garden landscapes just for their beauty.  He have made some original Flowform designs and continue to run a small business , Ebb and Flow Ltd , bringing rhythmically flowing water into the world in many contexts and many ways.    See more...

Jennifer Greene

Jennifer Greene is the Director of the Water Research Institute in Blue Hill, Maine.  In 1965 Jennifer was inspired by Schwenk’s themes from the classic book Sensitive Chaos. In the 1980s she invited John Wilkes to the United States where the Flowform work was inaugurated. Jennifer was later fully trained in Switzerland and Germany in Schwenk’s Drop Picture Method which describes micromovements in water flow that relate to water quality. Years of water phenomena experiments and studies have been born out of this work. Schwenk’s work forms the basis of Flowforms, metamorphic thinking, and deepening phenomenology.   See the Water Research Institute page for more on Jennifer's work.

JOIN US - Tuesday, July 9th at 7:00pm

for a talk by Dr. Branko Furst
The Heart as a Sense Organ
As macrocosmic life depends on the circulation of water, made possible by the sun, so does the heart, sun of the microcosm, endow us with life and warmth by way of the circulating blood. In this presentation we will examine the prevailing mechanistic model of blood circulation and show how to overturn it through ‘fluid thinking’ and phenomenological observations.

Central Hall - 306 Falls Bridge Rd., Blue Hill.
FREE WILL DONATION


COME ...

Meet Water in A New Way

The Water Research Institute in Blue Hill, Maine, is thrilled to host this exciting and timely participatory science conference. In a world that is increasingly deaf to the intrinsic being of natural phenomenon, water can be our teacher, and we must learn how to look and listen. 

We will do this by:
  • Enhancing observation skills

  • Schooling our Imagination

  • Experiencing Flowforms

  • Reading the Book of Nature:  Water in natural settings

FOR:
Naturalists, Educators, Scientists, Designers, Farmers, Water Lovers

We will engage in water experiments, studies of metamorphoses in water and plants, artistic activities including modeling a clay meander, and working with Wilkes' understanding of fluidity as is expressed in the development internationally of "flow forms".

Field trips to Acadia National Park and to observe local reversing falls phenomena will
give space for being actively present with the water that surrounds us.   See conference background page for more...

Program Schedule

Program Schedule is in it's formative stages. We work within fluidity to ensure the experiences flow within our environment and community. As new activities come into form we will be updating the schedule.

Registration & Logistics

Register by June 1st.
Please be aware that we live in a beautiful summer travel destination and accommodations are in high demand. Register early for best options. Early bird discount on registration available until May 15th.

The Blue Hill Peninsula

Area information for your travel to our community.    The Blue Hill Peninsula is in the Downeast Maine region. The main airport in Bangor about an hour away. Cheaper flights may be available to Portland with a three hour drive.  Additionally, You can Explore the Chamber of Commerce Site here.

Contact us

 
Address

2 Huckleberry Lane

PO Box 1675 (mailing)

Blue Hill, Maine 04614

United States