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Mr. McKenna, who made some of the tea served to the 20 or more, said that he had been a long-time student of the tea ceremony, beginning 20 years ago in Japan. "It's a wonderful hobby, a strange hobby," he said.
Mr. Jarvis said that the tea ceremonies are very ancient, derived from ceremonies practiced in Buddhist monasteries.
The teas served are very seasonal, he explained. The bowls offered that afternoon were from Kyoto and featured fireflies and willows. "They are very appropriate for a spring ceremony," he said, "but would not be used a few weeks from now."
The handle-less bowls all had designs on them and he advised the guests that the designs should be turned away from the drinker as an act of humility. The cups were not a matching set, he explained, because it is more in the Japanese ethos to "put together interesting things just for one day."
The ceremony performed that afternoon was an informal one that would have been used among friends. "It's meant to be informal," he said, "and is offered in the spirit of friendship."
Because the tea he prepared is bitter, each guest was offered a small sweet as he ceremonially cleaned the utensils he would use.
Tea, he said, came from China, used by monks to stay awake while they were meditating. The Chinese steeped the tealeaves to make the brew, but the Japanese, "who like things a little less touched by human hands," ground their tealeaves to a flour-like consistency.
"If you don't use it quickly, it turns brown," he said, "and loses its nutrition."
He said the teas can be fluid and frothy, as he served it Saturday, or can be thicker when consumed with a meal, achieving almost the consistency of brownie batter. In the latter case, the bowl would be shared by five people and would be passed in a prescribed way.
"A tea ceremony can range from an informal event like this to something operatic in length," Mr. Jarvis said.
A Japanese tea ceremony is not something to be taken lightly. Mr. Jarvis said they are designed for artistic environments and that Japanese tearooms once had sword racks where weapons would be left outside. "There are things you say and some things that are better not to talk about" at a ceremony, he advised. A "chief guest" would assist the host in directing the conversation.
"That said, a good host and a good guest will throw the rules out the window," he continued with relish. "The rules are just for beginners. Great teas are really events where you walk in with all your whiskers extended in anticipation because you know the host has been planning what will happen for weeks. It just unfolds over hours."
As with so many things in the highly stylized world of Asia, there are different schools of tea ceremonies. Mr. McKenna said that these are not deep-seated philosophical differences, but rather variations in movement. He described a tea ceremony as "meditation in movement."
"There is very little discussion and a lot of communication," he said.
Ms. Brown, who was raised by missionary parents in Japan and who studied ceramics there, said the purpose of the Still Mountain Center is to facilitate an artistic exchange between East and West. "We provide an opportunity for people to come together in the arts," she said. "In my life art comes out of integrating the East and West in me. I was busy being a potter, but eight years ago, Denny Cooper, Still Moutain's founder, was able to articulate what I was doing and he made the structure of the non-profit, creating a community of people interested in living on that creative edge."
The center is open to anyone interested in the arts. "People involved in Still Mountain are from all walks of life," said Ms. Brown. "We have artists, carpenters therapists, museum operators ... It is like the town where I studied. Everyone was involved-some dug clay, some made pots, some wrapped the pots and others took them to the museum. In our modern Western culture, we can be so isolated as artists."
Ms. Brown said Still Mountain reaches out to bring the arts into the lives of others. "We have a children's workshops and have done some mask-making workshops with city kids from Danbury. Clay just naturally pulls you into the material and you can't stay in your head when you are working with clay."
"We had a pot-firing with the kids and they dug the hole themselves and these little girls in mini-skirts were bounding through the woods gathering stuff to fire it. It was encouraging a kinesthetic connection to art."
To facilitate such workshops, the ground floor of her barn is being finished off as a studio for them. Other plans are also afoot. A sculpture garden is being created on the land where "sculptures of other artists who esthetics are compatible with our mission" will be shown.
The group's next major function will be Nov. 3 when it holds its annual Still Mountain
Center Celebration dinner. "Each fall we have our benefit," said Ms. Brown. "It's another event to bring people together in different ways. Last year we had two quartets joining together to play Mendelssohn. They had not played together before and for them it was a creative process. Another year, we had two people from Kent who grew organic food and a potter. They served their food in her pottery so the dinner became one of the activities of Still Mountain Center."
For more information about Still Mountain Center contact Ms. Brown at joy@artwthin.net.
