The Living Art of Learning at SOLA

The Living Art of teaching, one that rests on a true understanding of the human being, has a thread of strength running through it that inspires individuals to participate so that it is not necessary to keep their attention through force. ~ Rudolf Steiner

Sanctuary of Living Arts, or SOLA, is a learning environment located on a 200 acre nature preserve in the Western North Carolina mountains, just west of the bustling, culturally vibrant town of Asheville.  Surrounded by beautiful Pisgah National Forest, our campus includes acres of biodynamically tended orchards, fields, gardens, forests and animals. Our beautiful classroom structures and areas of activity function together much like an ‘learning ecology’, supporting meaningful study, presence and practices with Living Earth that are essential to the lives and wellbeing of our own and the greater community.

We view the Living Arts as enlivened pathways for learning that place emphasis on ‘learning relationships’, and the infinitely diverse ways that human beings enter into these realtionships - through cognitive, embodied, intuitive, imaginal and relational pathways. SOLA’s curriculum is inspired by the developmental and pedagogical indications of Rudolf Steiner and more fundamentally, by the spiritual and physical ecologies that comprise a divinely designed, Living Cosmos. Our deep reverence for the sanctity of childhood, and recognition of the sacred nature of our relationships with self, others and the world around us are the guiding light of our learning relationships with children, and partnership with families.   We believe that learning is life-long process that, ideally, enlivens not only the learner and their family, but also the teacher or mentor, and the wider world.

At SOLA, we recognize the natural world as the primary context for learning, where children, young adults and adults are integral participants in a co-evolving, creative process with Earth and Cosmos. The essence of the learning journey at SOLA is the nurturance and preservation of an authentic human identity and true freedom, which is achieved through living thinking, feeling and willing, (head, heart, hands). The cultivation of the free individual’s capacities for relationship, or inter-being, are the connecting compelling forces of education at SOLA.

SOLA’s curriculum and faculty are agile enough to meet a diverse community of learners through a truly holistic understanding of each child’s unique physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual relationships with learning. SOLA’s approach develops thinking through thematically presented, inherently relevant academic studies; cultivates feeling through compassionate and contemplative participation in Earth’s living community; and engages will-forces through active learning and meaningful, practical work and service. 

Through our reverence for the sanctity of childhood and child development, we are deeply child-centered. 

LORE- SOLA’s adolescent learning experience for ages 13-18, provides a truly holistic ‘heart-hands-head’ learning experience. LORE- school students are invited into deep inquiry and understanding of themselves and the world around them through thematic Liberal Arts, Living Arts, Relational Arts, Open Source Learning, internships, and domestic & international expeditions. Click here to learn more.

In addition to offering programs for SOLA students, Sanctuary of Living Arts provides Living Arts Discovery Days. These seasonal workshops invite students and adults to explore farm, food & folkways, 2 & 3d fine art, healing & wellness arts, and more.  SOLA also offers these experiences to other programs or educational organizations who are aligned with the SOLA vision and mission. Click here to learn more.

What makes SOLA unique?

SOLA provides learning experiences that nourish life through artfully presented, deeply meaningful learning experiences.  We strive to offer a truly holistic learning journey that allows each learner to discover the the truth of who they are and to confidently carry that essential truth with them into a complex, ever-changing world. Essential elements of our approach include, but are not limited to:

• Enlivened and thematic presentation of subjects by passionate and gifted teachers who view their work with children as a sacred endeavour, and carry a cultivated love for teaching.

• A focus on relational learning and life skills that nourish physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing, and class time devoted to the relational arts, personal and interpersonal development, and mentored individual and group contemplative activities

• A deep and expansive understanding of child development, as indicated by Rudolf Steiner, Thomas Berry, and other luminaries, that informs what we bring to learners, when we introduce new concepts, and how we meet each learner’s unique approach to learning.

• A recognition of the importance of embodied learning through the presentation of practical, fine, and performing arts; outdoor activities, games, movement, domestic and international learning adventures.

• A holistic presentation and experience of the sciences that honors the integral, sacred qualities of the living universe through reverence, observation, direct experience, practice, and phenomenological understanding.

• Deep and daily engagement with the animals that live on our campus and the forests, fields, and natural environment that sustains us and our learning

• Cultivation of reverence and relationship with Earth’s community of life- our fellow humans, animals, plants, water, soil, the mineral kingdom, and the visible and invisible threads of vitality within and around us.

• Internships and meaningful service learning opportunities for adolescent learners.

How is SOLA organized?

SOLA is part of an emergent movement called Community Supported Education. The CSE approach was inspired by Community Supported Agriculture programs, where members pay a fee for services/farm products, while providing economic and participatory support to the the farm- purchasing, picking, planting,sorting, etc.   Working within the CSE framework,  SOLA and its programs provide the learning environment, and our member-families reciprocate by gifting their time, energy and resources to SOLA. Click here to learn more about micro-schooling, homeschooling, and co-operative learning in NC.

SOLA's Vision & Mission

Our Vision
To create a sanctuary for learning in which we support learners of all ages and abilities to:
 ~cultivate a love for learning~
 ~collaborate with others~
~connect with one’s own inner guidance~
~commune with the natural world~
Our Mission
The illumination and refinement of each individual's innate gifts through enlivened education for the whole being.

 “In reality there is a single integral community of the Earth that includes all its component members whether human or other than human. In this community every being has its own role to fulfill, its own dignity, its inner spontaneity. Every being has its own voice. Every being declares itself to the entire Universe. Every being enters into communion with other beings. This capacity for relatedness, for presence to other beings, for spontaneity in action, is a capacity possessed by every mode of being throughout the Universe.”- Thomas Berry