Bonnell Project open house Saturday

The Bonnell Project will host an open house from 1-5 p.m. Saturday at the former St. Mary Catholic Church property.

The Bonnell Project, a Fairfield nonprofit organization, purchased the St. Mary property in October. The property, including the five-bedroom parsonage, the 15,000-square-foot DeCoursey Hall, with a large kitchen and dining hall, and a 1,500-square-foot workshop building on 1.7 acres of land, was purchased to serve as a community living/learning space, as well as a project to demonstrate urban permaculture and the possibilities for creating thriving, sustainable communities in existing urban environments.

The open house will feature several current projects housed in the hall and tours of the property at the top of each hour.

CMS Ceramics Chris Scamehorn will discuss his gallery, workshops, open studio hours for public access, lessons, commissions and more. He will be available to talk about the Artist Co-op being formed and conduct demonstrations on clay processing at 2 p.m. and wheel throwing at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Local animator Paul Morehead will be showing his space from 1-3 p.m., followed by an animating short films class he is co-teaching with Beauty Shop music residency artist Laura Goldhamer at 3 p.m. Goldhamer incorporates animation into her multimedia music performances.

Greg Holland will show his art and music studio space from 1-3 p.m. Holland works on his own initiatives and projects and offers lessons in drumming, drawing, painting and photography. His band, By The Light, will be rehearsing from 3-5 p.m.

For more information, visit the website www.bonnellproject.org/st-mary-s-project.