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Q: What’s at the end of the rainbow? A: The Mesa Creative Arts Center. |
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Things happen at The Mesa Creative Arts Center in Burgettstown, PA-- unusual things: One of the premier Spiritual, Art, and Healing Centers in the Pittsburgh area, “The Mesa” is a place where people hug each other, beat drums, sing, act silly, and have fun. Children make crafts, play, and learn about the Natural World. Clay pots are made, beads are strung, red-hot metal is forged, and flutes are carved. Men and women cry, breathe, meditate, hear their Spirit Guides, become healers, and open their hearts. Often, people surprise themselves by successfully making a drum, learning to sing a song in Lakota language, feeling energy from a crystal, or releasing the pent-up emotions of a trauma from long ago. It is a place for transformation where minds expand, energy flows, and new ways of Being sprout and take root. Here, curiosity, experimentation, play, and “mistakes” are not only tolerated but encouraged. It is a place of possibility where sometimes pain and suffering evaporate and permanent healing occurs. Within its walls shines a vision of a New Earth where miracles are possible and magic happens every day.
This vision began in September of 1999, when artist and healer Brad Silberberg had the opportunity to visit blacksmith friend Uri Hoffi on the Ein Shemer Kibbutz in northern Israel to teach metalworking techniques to Hoffi's students. Brad was impressed with how the collection of remodeled farm buildings had been turned not only into a kind of community center for the arts, but also a place for people of different cultures and walks of life to meet, socialize, and share. Metal artists came to take a class, teach, or use studio time. Residents of the Kibbutz wandered in to see what was happening, chat, or help out. Artists from other creative fields were brought in to take part in special events or display their work. There was an energy there, a feeling there that touched off a spark in Brad’s heart. It became his dream to establish a similar community center for the arts back at his studio in the Washington DC area, but Brad dreamed of something more. His center would be a place where spirituality could be discussed out in the open and not separated from Life or artistic creativity. Life circumstances, however, didn't permit this dream to happen at the time, but something magical was about to happen.
Students laugh during class in Mesa craft workshop |
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In 2002 at Touchstone School for Crafts near Uniontown, PA, Brad met Art teacher Kate Neal (now Silberberg) and was overwhelmed by her energy, compassion, generosity, inner Light, and beauty. Quickly recognizing that he had met his Twin Flame Soulmate, Brad somehow knew that she was to be a part of his dream. The knowing that the couple had some Spiritual mission to complete together was so overwhelming that he immediately took steps to join Kate in Pennsylvania. In April of 2003, Brad moved his art studio and workshop to Burgettstown, PA (Washington County) to live with Kate and leased space in the old Miller Airport on Rt. 18, near Frankfort Springs, PA, (close to the Post-Gazette Pavilion and Raccoon Creek State Park).
Standing on the wide grassy plateau that used to serve as a runway for small airplanes, Kate and Brad were struck by how this unusual high flat place backed by state game lands resembled the kind of flat-topped mountain formation called a "mesa" (Pronounced "May-sa"-- the Spanish word for "table".) they had seen in the great American Southwest. They noticed how good the Earth energy felt there and how the wide open space and big sky made them feel at peace and at home. Within days, they began referring to their new location as "The Mesa" and moved Kate’s art and craft supplies into the big hangar building as well. In Spanish “Mesa” is also a word for an altar-- a sacred platform for worship, sacrifice, or devotion and Brad and Kate quickly saw the possibility of establishing the spiritual and creative launch pad of Brad’s vision together there near their home in Southwestern Pennsylvania. In the Fall of 2003 The Mesa Creative Arts Center began to offer classes in art, crafts, Holistic & Natural healing, and personal Spirituality, rapidly attracting students from all over the greater Pittsburgh area and beyond. In October of 2004, Kate and Brad were married, cementing their relationship and demonstrating their commitment to a unified Spiritual path. In June of 2005, Kate ended her 22-1/2 year career in the public school system to join Brad full time as co-director of The Mesa.
“Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.”
Amelia Earhart
Q: What do you do from an airport? A: Take off and fly!
“The mission of ‘The Mesa’ is for it to be a place of experience, awakening, and enlightenment for people of all ages who want to develop their creativity and awareness, raise their Spiritual vibration, and engage in authentic relationships. It is dedicated to multiculturalism, Spiritual enlightenment, expanding consciousness, Oneness, Compassion, Peace, Love, healing, higher creativity, and the Native American concept of ‘All My Relations’-- accepting and welcoming all things as our relatives in oneness. Whether to take a class, teach, use studio time, buy gifts or crafts, receive healing, celebrate, meditate, pray, or just visit, you are invited. We are here to teach people how to be Human Beings again-- especially our children, and not just train them to fit in. We seek to fill in the blanks left when family, school, church, the government, TV, and the shopping malls fail to teach people who they really are on the level of their Eternal Essence. We remind people that they can only find real peace and belonging within themselves, not from some Guru or religious discipline “out there”. It is our desire to help those seeking the truth about themselves to remember that they are beautiful, eternal, and once sat at the side of God.”
Brad Silberberg
Airplanes no longer fly out of the old airport and The Mesa remains a green and peaceful place of Nature-- rural and quiet, where it's still dark enough to see the stars at night and quiet enough to hear the whippoorwills in the woods. Meanwhile, The Mesa Creative Arts Center has grown in energy and risen to a higher vibration. The heart of The Mesa is our 2,500 square foot Craft Studio and classroom, attached to our 800 square foot Metaphysical Store and Gift Shop and office area. We use the converted airplane hangar as a multipurpose space, rearranging the furniture to make room for hands-on classes, drum circles, Monday night Yoga classes, our Wednesday evening Meditation Circle, lectures, movies, and potluck dinners held after our Medicine Wheel ceremonies for 40 people or more. The Craft Studio is fully equipped with tools and supplies for wood working, blacksmithing, painting, leather work, ceramics, carving, stained glass, glass bead making, and much more. The 14 ft. ceiling allows the room to feel airy and expansive and permit large works of art to be moved around with ease. Green plants and healthy full spectrum lighting help make our workspace a creative indoor environment. Outside there’s plenty of room for even larger art projects, celebrations, and for children to run and play.
On the second floor of The Mesa (above the Gift Shop) is a converted efficiency apartment with a kitchen and full bath that serves as our Mesa Healing Center. The larger room of the Healing Center is a comfortable and intimate classroom space where we hold meditation, crystal, sound healing, Reiki, energy healing, and Spiritual advancement classes. It's filled with rocks and crystals and other good things that add to the healing energy. The smaller room is used for working privately with healing clients, helping people on an individual basis with a full spectrum of Holistic and Natural Healing modalities. Occasionally, we use the Healing Center as overnight accommodations for visiting teachers, students, or retreat guests who have come from far away.
Medicine Wheel in front of The Mesa Creative Arts Center |
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In front of The Mesa building is our Native American Medicine Wheel where we hold ceremonies for the Solstices, Equinoxes, Earth Day, and other occasions. The Wheel is a place for anyone to come for meditation, introspection, healing, learning, and prayer. We believe that it is a sacred place that creates a vortex of healing energy coming out of the ground. That energy radiates out from The Wheel in all directions, adding to the healing environment inside The Mesa and benefitting all things in the surrounding area. (Check our Calendar page for events scheduled in The Wheel.)
We refer to the whole area around The Mesa Creative Arts Center simply as "The Mesa" and it abounds in natural beauty. Hillman State Park, directly behind The Mesa, is home to deer, wild turkeys, blue birds, killdeer, barn swallows, kingbirds, orioles and other birds, and generously supplies us with natural materials for creative projects. The nearby lake has bass, sunfish, and snapping turtles and is visited by muskrat, geese, great blue herons, and the occasional osprey. It is often the site of Water Blessing Ceremonies, landscape painting classes, nature walks, and the like. In the Spring, the surrounding fields burst forth with over two dozen kinds of wildflowers, and the rains bring a small wetland to life with dragon flies, tadpoles and rushes. A couple of miles down the road is Frankfort Mineral Springs, a magical Fairy habitat and place to experience water in a natural energized state. The Mesa is close to Raccoon Creek State Park with it's camping facilities, wildflower reserve, and hiking trails, and is minutes away from two major concert venues, First Niagara Pavilion (The old “Star Lake”) and The Pepsi Road House. The Miller Golf Center offers a well groomed driving range in a pastoral setting that is within walking distance from our door. Our building faces West where our high vantage point (1,200 ft. above sea level) affords us a 270 degree panoramic view and frequent gorgeous sunsets. When the wind is blowing anywhere, it’s wailing up on The Mesa and since the old runway is one of the few wide open spaces around, it’s a great place to fly a kite.
We invite you to visit The Mesa and just experience its energy for yourself. Many visitors, students, and healing clients tell us that they feel uplifted, calmed and energized just from spending time in the building or on the grounds. That feeling is heightened when taking part in classes and activities. Consider coming for a weekend retreat of spiritual development, healing, introspection, and artistic exploration. We have had people come for classes and retreats from as far away as California, Ottawa Canada, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. We can make special arrangements for individual art instruction, spiritual coaching, and custom tailored healing sessions.
When are we open for a visit? We’re usually at The Mesa when a class or event is scheduled and for Metaphysical Store and Gift Shop hours. (Please forgive us when Life intervenes!) We welcome visitors and are available to spend time with you at other times by appointment. Since we often hold classes and events that run late into the evening, it's more likely to catch up to us at The Mesa in the afternoon. We are usually in the Mesa workshop creating our artwork, preparing for an upcoming class, restocking the Gift Shop or in the Mesa Healing Center helping others. Please call ahead to make sure we are going to be available when you want to stop by. We frequently check our message machine and always return calls-- so please leave us a message if we don't answer the phone. (724-947-3097) Please don’t email us in the middle of the day expecting us to get your message right away. We only check emails early in the morning and late at night.
Want to know where we are or how to get here? Click here for driving directions to The Mesa.
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