A forum for sharing knowledge and skills across cultural borders.
From gardening and meditation, to art, craft, and media, The Branch offers time and space for sharing, learning, and growing together. Workshops and events are facilitated by Suhee and Patrick, along with a cast of local and international visiting practitioners.
All workshops are offered on a ‘pay-it-forward’ donation basis. This means your workshop experience is supported by a donation from the person who took the workshop before you. If you found the workshop valuable, you are encouraged to pay it forward for the next.
Upcoming Events
Recent Events
Springtime: Urban Herb Foraging & Herb WhiskeyA typical, old Japanese neighborhood, Kitakagaya has a few urban farms, and other various nooks and crannies hiding all sorts of herbs and edible wild plants (also known as ‘weeds’ to some). For our urban herb foraging event, Suhee prepared a ‘herb map’ of the neighborhood, and slowly guided our participants on a walk to discover these plants, and how we can use them.
(more…)
A Nature Mandala: Growing Seeds in a Shopping MallAs much as we could—and albeit, it’s not much in a Japanese shopping mall—our experiment in engaging with holiday shoppers at MUJI this past weekend offered subtle notes: nothing is permanent, slow down, listen to nature, be closer to nature, play with nature, you don’t need to buy anything to do this.
(more…)
Alicia Bay Laurel Acoustic Live & The Real Sharing EconomyAlicia Bay Laurel is an American artist, author, and musician, well known for her bestselling 1970 book Living On The Earth, a notable guide for participants in the American back-to-the-land movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Having become good friends with Alicia in the past few years, we’ve starting making use of the real sharing economy together.
(more…)
Event Recap: Herb Tea Blending WorkshopSuhee has been happily working these days, to cultivate, wash, harvest, and dry herbs from several neighborhood gardens here in Kitakagaya. After some months of preparation, last Saturday we debuted the “Herb Tea Blending” workshop at The Branch.
(more…)
Event Recap: Song for Summer TreesOn July 7, 2018, Korean musician BomNunByeol (봄눈별) joined The Branch’s Patrick Lydon (art film) for the premiere of their live music and film meditation concert.
Exhibition Recap: Heeyoung ParkOur second artist in residence, Heeyoung Park focused on some very introspective works, and in looking so closely at the self she inevitably brought to life observations about our connections with the nature and universe around us.
Exhibition Recap: Jeongran ChoiOur first artist in residence at The Branch, Jeongran Choi brought with her, some painstakingly created works of otchil (natural lacquer) and enamel, however she also packed our small gallery full of tiny drawings, most of them gifts for anyone who stopped by to take home.
Event Recap: Making Instruments with TrashA nice sunny day met us for our first workshop here at The Branch, where we had two Turkish instrument makers guide us through uncharted territory, making musical instruments of things we found thrown on the street and in trash bins.