Mary Holmes Festival - Event Registration
As a part of the Mary Holmes Festival, there are several salon style intimate events that will happen at the Cowell Provost House. Seating is very limited for these evetns, and RSVP is required.
Below you will find a calendar of events, with details outlined by date and RSVP information listed further down the page
List of Events
Thursday, April 17th - Annie Boutelle Reception
Sunday, April 27th - Cowell Brunch
Thursday, May 8th - Woman's Mysteries
Thursday, May 15th - Mary Holmes as an Artist by Coeleen Kiebert
Thursday, May 22nd - Mary Holmes as Family by Becky & Michael O'Malley
Thursday, May 29nd - Mary Holmes and Animals by Rachel O'Malley
7:30pm at the Cowell Provost House
Click here to RSVP for April 17th.
This will be following Annie Boutelle's poetry reading from 6-7:30 at the Humanities Lecture Hall sponsored by the UCSC Creative Writing Department. Light snacks will be served at the reception.
10-11:45am at the Cowell Provost House lawn
Click here to RSVP for the brunch on April 27th.
Please join us for a free brunch welcoming all Cowell alumni and friends. This is an opportunity to gather on the lawn of the beautiful Cowell Provost House, enjoy the company of the Cowell community, reminisce with alumni, and mingle while reveling in the breathtaking views of the Monterey Bay.
Service of Remembrance
11:45am-12:15pm at the Cowell Provost House courtyard
Following the Cowell Brunch, we invite you to an intimate gathering of remembrance to honor all those who have passed in the last year. This service will be in the private courtyard of the Cowell Provost House directly preceding the Dizikes Concert at 12:30 p.m. at the Mary Holmes Fireside Lounge.
Woman's Mysteries
6-8pm at the Cowell Provost House
Rosalind Wholden ThomasLecturer-in-Art EmeritaCollege of Creative Studies, UCSBRosalind G. Wholden taught at the College of Creative Studies where she developed a curriculum combining art, literature, mythology and Jung's alchemical writings.Click here to RSVP for May 8th.Rosalind will discuss Mary Holmes and present on Mary's 4 paintings in The Lady Chapel.
by Coeleen Kiebert
6-8pm at the Cowell Provost House
Click here to RSVP for May 15th.
Local Santa Cruz artist Coeleen Kiebert will reflect on the art of Mary Holmes. Coeleen is a renowned artist who works out of her private studio creating works of ceramic and bronze. Coeleen teaches ceramic sculpture through University of California Extension Division, Santa Cruz. She is also author of All of a Sudden: The Creative Process. There will be a light dinner served at the event, please RSVP to the link above as seating is limited.
by Becky & Michael O'Malley
6-8pm at the Cowell Provost House
Click here to RSVP for May 22nd.
Son of Mary Holmes, Michael O'Malley and his wife Becky will speak about Mary Holmes as family. Becky and Michael O'Malley are based in Berkely, California where they run the Berkeley Daily Planet. There will be a light dinner served at the event, please RSVP to the link above as seating is limited.
A brief history by Michael O'Malley:
Family history often shapes lives.
In 1640, Obadiah Holmes was horsewhipped in Boston because of his beliefs and stubbornness. When his descendant, Mary’s grandfather Holmes, was looking for a wife in the 1860s, he went to the Ohio successor to the Seneca Falls women’s suffrage convention, where he found Sara Stratton (Holmes), whose obituary described her as “a lady abolitionist and classical scholar.”
Mary’s father, born in 1869, was a lifelong abolitionist Republican and a lapsed Quaker free thinker who followed the frontier from New Jersey to Ohio to Iowa to South Dakota, ultimately ending in California. At the turn of the 20th century, his cousin Jesse “Ducky” Holmes, professor at Swarthmore College, was a frequent Socialist candidate for national office and a force in leading the Quakers back toward their historic social activism.
Mary’s mother, on the other hand, was a southern lady, a firm Democrat, an Episcopalian and a Montessori mother. No wonder that Mary often spoke of herself as “Mary, Mary, quite contrary”.
As a single mother with no more credentials than an undergraduate philosophy degree from a small women’s college and a studio art MFA degree, no interest in publication and a confrontational personality she nevertheless made her way in the highly competitive academic world. Rarely the favorite of her peers, she ended her career as a full professor at UCSC. Along the way she taught UC’s first television course for college credit, introduced horror movies on late night television on Columbus, and made art compulsively and continuously, painting from her wheelchair in her last decade.
Her son, Michael Holmes O’Malley, and other family members will share some of the stories handed down through the years about Mary and her remarkable family.
by Rachel O'Malley
6-8pm at the Cowell Provost House
Click here to RSVP for May 29th.
Rachel O’Malley is one of the grand-daughters of Mary Holmes. While a doctoral student at UCSC, Rachel lived with Mary on the Ranch. Rachel now teaches at San Jose State University and lives with her family in Santa Cruz.
There will be a light dinner served at the event, please RSVP to the link above as seating is limited.
by Addi Somekh
6-8pm at the Cowell Provost House
Click here to RSVP for June 5th.
Self-taught Balloon Artist, author, musician and Cowell Alumnus Addi Somekh will talk about the lasting legacy and impact Mary Holmes has left on many of the indivduals who crossed her path at Cowell College. There will be a light dinner served at the event, please RSVP to the link above as seating is limited.
Thursday, April 17th - Annie Boutelle Reception
Sunday, April 27th - Cowell Brunch
Thursday, May 8th - by Rosalind Wholden Thomas
Thursday, May 15th - Mary Holmes as an Artist
Thursday, May 22nd - Mary Holmes as Family
Thursday, May 29th - Mary Holmes and Animals
Thursday, June 5th - Mary Holmes in My Heart
If you have any questions regarding the festival or individual events, please email holmesday@ucsc.edu.
