Artists' Retreats to Ireland

September 14- October 1 2024, Ireland 

Senegal TBD

For our fourth retreat to Ireland, we will be staying at the Donegal Thatched Cottages, offering traditional Irish cottages right on the seafront/beach on The Wild Atlantic Way. The cottages are located on Cruit Island right on the Atlantic Ocean. We invite you to warm your toes at a blazing turf fire; taste the salt spray on the sea breeze; experience the warm welcome of West Donegal, where time meets eternity, and the old ways linger on.

Full of character and charm, the cottages are just a stone’s throw away from a beautiful sandy beach and boast picturesque views all-year round. They are an ideal setting for our artistic retreat.

Local playwright and historian Martin Lynch will join us and share his wealth of knowledge about the area. The cottages have a detailed website https://www.donegalthatchcottages.com which you may visit for more information, including some beautiful photographs.

You are invited to step out of your day-to-day life and to be part of one of our artistic retreats. The retreats ask you to recognize that the role of the artist is meaningful enough to nurture. They revolve around bringing the creative into our daily lives, permitting life to revolve around the creative self.

Too often we accept daily life as a distraction rather than an invitation to our work as artists to reveal the deeper, often hidden meaning of our existence. Participants will be invited to be mindful that each moment in our lives offers us the material for creation.

During studio time artists work alone or near one another. During the retreat individual conversation will be held as the facilitators visit the artists. The surroundings provide magical settings within which the artist may work with the subject and in the style and form that most engages them. Opportunities abound to consider the landscape, architecture, figure, still life or simply the light as a subject. Artists work in many mediums on our retreats including painting,

mixed media, drawing, or sculpture.

Guided conversations are held on two afternoons (Dialogues with Art) and several evenings after dinner (Artist Vision), where the facilitators weave the community of artists together with elements of story, poetry, and the experiences of the day. These conversations may examine issues dealt with by artists such as: experiencing art, learning to talk about each other’s art, our role as artists in our society, accessing and recognizing our vision, special needs we have as artists, and talking about our work with others.

Last two night will be spent in Dublin ! 

For inquiries about the retreats, please contact us at: [email protected]

for more details vist https://www.spokeart.org/progr...