Visitors are now able to access Esalen as well as other businesses and trails in northern Big Sur via twice-daily convoys on Highway 1 operated by Caltrans.
Convoys run only at 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day. These are the only opportunities to travel into and out of Big Sur, so visitors must plan accordingly.
Tom Birmingham is an artist, photographer, and teacher living and working in Big Sur, California. As a founding director of the Big Sur Arts Initiative, Tom has provided instruction and enrichment in the creative arts in a variety of mediums. For ten years, he taught art in the summer children’s theater program StageKids. He has taught photography and drawing at Rancho la Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, and for years, he and his wife, Erin Lee Gafill, taught painting and sketching on their annual retreats to Italy.
Tom was the director of the Big Sur JazzFest, a founding member of Big Sur’s Hidden Garden’s Tour, and he currently manages Studio One – Big Sur.
More recently, Tom is the founder of 26 Letter Press, a small publishing company dedicated to printed materials celebrating and inspiring creative expression.
In the summer of 2020, Tom designed the museum exhibition Color Duets – Kaffe Fassett | Erin Lee Gafill, the headlining show for five months at the Monterey Museum of Art.
Tom Birmingham is an award-winning artist, writer, photographer, and teacher. In 2009, he and his wife, Erin Lee Gafill, were honored as Champions of the Arts by the Arts Council for Monterey County and the United States Congress for their community arts and education work in Big Sur. He is the founder of 26 Letter Press, a boutique publisher.
Esalen Institute
55000 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
US: 1-831-667-3000
info@esalen.org
