Seasonally, I really want to go to Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. I have volunteered the past couple of spring sessions to clean up and get the place open for the summer.
What do you love about a art retreats/workshops/conferences?
These are the things that I love about going on an artist retreat:
- Get up early in a beautiful environment
- Have someone cook all my meals
- Learn from other artists
- Have a break from TV, telephone and internet
- Make art my priority
I am working on the details of creating an artist’s retreat online workshop.
I am so excited about creating content that you can use to enjoy a printmaking retreat in the comfort of your own home.
It will be:
- inspiring
- action packed
- affordable
- structured but flexible
If this sounds interesting to you, then please tell me what would be important to you.
What would you need to create the time, space, structure and goals for a printmaking retreat for yourself?
Tell me in the comments or in an email. Linda@LindaGermain.com
Online art classes are good because they do tend to be more affordable, you can fit them round other commitments rather than have to take annual leave or find childminder/dog walker etc. But, I find it harder to devote that time to ‘me’, to create that time as ‘my time’. It always seems that if something changes ie school demands my time or a child is ill or I need to pick up items for my husband’s work then it’s me that looses time from ‘my time’ iyswim? So for me, I would need to think about how to block off time on the calendar and make it clear that it’s uninterruptible time, that bar illness (I can’t send a child to school with d&v!), that time is mine. Even just an hour a day (which is never enough!) is ‘my time’.
The other disadvantage of online classes is lack of contact with other students and the tutor. Online forums are not really the same! I miss the chat about the techniques, the inspiration and the ‘wow! Look at that!’ when new marks, pictures etc are produced. Also the discussion of artists who inspire or good books/websites to look at. Obviously this is something that can’t be changed for an online retreat but I wonder if a daily classroom and a daily picture gallery or collage of work (ie step by step pictures as they create) which are devoted to the lesson that day/session rather than general chat perhaps kept in a separate chat board would help give that sense of camaraderie and classroom inspiration?