Paint & Printmaking: explore intuitive mark-making and mono-printing using gel plates and acrylic paints. Create layers of vibrant papers for collages, books, or mixed media works. Stitch Exploration: Integrate hand-stitching techniques to embellish and transform painted surfaces. Use thread as a drawing tool and stitch as a narrative element. Bring together the elements you’ve created and collected—painted and stitched papers, handmade paper—into personal art books or create artwork that refers to the traditions we experience. Cultural Immersion: explore local markets, taste traditional foods, visit artisan studios, absorb the rhythms of daily life. Field trips include artisan studio visits with a master weaving family and a papermaker, Sunday market, women’s red clay collective, famous art center, and gallery walk.
 
Location: Oaxaca, Mexico
Instructor: Lisa Pressman + Susan Stover
Cost: $3500 (lodging included)
Sponsor: Talismán Oaxaca
Website, email, 707-529-9050

Paper arts workshop focuses on mask making with "barro papel" (clay paper) and mixed media/collage incorporating paper ephemera. Handcraft a barro papel mask – a blend of paper pulp, clay, glue. Then, visual storytelling with mixed media collage, plus mark making experimentation to develop your unique visual voice when playing with handmade brushes and India ink. Create a simple artist book using exquisite handmade paper crafted by a master Oaxacan papermaker. Field trips include studio visits with a master weaving family and papermaker, a women’s red clay collective, guided street art tour, visit to a famous art center housed in a renovated textile factory, plus the renowned ancient tree of Tule – a mix of cultural immersion and creative playtime.
 
Location: Oaxaca, Mexico
Instructor: Pedro Cruz Pacheco + Corrie McCluskey
Cost: $2595 (lodging included)
Sponsor: Talismán Oaxaca
Website, email, 707-529-9050

Join textile artist Davana Robedee in South West France for a week of experimentation with shibori techniques to create patterns on cloth. For thousands of years and all across the world, people have been fascinated by the magic of indigo dye. In this five-day retreat, students will learn how to create graduations of blue from light to dark, and do a deep dive into shibori exploration. We will start with folded and clamped resist using Itajime shibori and then learn several stitch resist shibori techniques. Davana will introduce techniques with step-by-step demonstrations, but will also discuss methods of creating depth, perspective, and imagery to develop one of a kind artworks. Each student will leave with beautifully dyed fabrics, scarves, or wearables.
 
Location: Pau, France
Instructor: Davana Robedee
Cost: 1895€ to 2995€ for accommodation + $950 tuition fee
Sponsor: Atelier Clos Mirabel
Website, email, +33.6.79.59.04.91

Over the course of this week-long retreat, participants will have opportunities to explore the Le Marche region of Italy, visit regional food producers, and sample local culinary delights. All these materials and experiences will influence our work and find their way into our mixed media art journaling – which we’ll do in a handmade concertina journal, on paper, and on wood panels! You’ll work intuitively, allowing yourself to be influenced by the day’s experiences and materials discovered. Learn to be on the lookout for materials that will add “local spice” to your encaustic and mixed media creations. And you’ll be guided and supported each day by Bridget Benton with excursions, lessons, and exercises to delight your senses and help build your mixed media vocabulary.
 
Location: Montelparo, Italy
Instructor: Bridget Benton
Cost: €3199
Sponsor: Hotel Leone
Website, email, +39 340 4166054

Join visual artist Sarah Grace Dye in South West France for a fun week of paper making, mark making and book arts. You will also learn about natural ink making and develop the skills to create one or many keepsakes that capture the essence of your time in this beautiful place. Telling a story is always done through layers. Memories are always formed through a collection of layers drawing together the unique insight of our five senses. During this course we will consider each of the layers that make up a place. How do we recognise, acknowledge and document these layers?
 
Location: Pau, France
Instructor: Sarah Grace Dye
Cost: 1895€ to 2995€ for accommodation + tuition fee
Sponsor: Atelier Clos Mirabel
Website, email, +33.6.79.59.04.91

Join the Venice Art Biennial 2026, Bologna and Milan Tour, a unique 10-night art history trip in Italy open to everyone, from artists and art lovers to students and lifelong learners. The cost of CAD $ 4700 (around US$ 3450) includes 10-night double accommodation in well-rated and centrally located hotels in Venice, Bologna and Milan; daily breakfast, train ticket from Venice to Bologna and from Bologna to Milan, group transportation to sites on schedule (vaporetto, taxi, subway) daily discovery walks, two-day entrance to the Venice Biennial, entrances to all museums and galleries on schedule, and the constant service of a qualified art historian guide and a logistics responsible. We offer single rooms for a supplement of CAD 1475 (around US$1080).
 
Location: Venice, Bologna and Milan, Italy
Instructor: Prof. Yves M. Larocque
Cost: US$ 3450
Sponsor: Walk the Arts
Website, email, 800-611-4789

Join Cathy for an unforgettable art retreat in the heart Le Marche—where golden hills, winding cobblestone streets, and the warm hospitality of Hotel Leone create the perfect backdrop for artistic inspiration. Each day, you’ll dive into Cathy’s signature layered mixed media botanical techniques, using the Italian landscape as your muse. You’ll learn how to build rich, expressive pieces filled with color, texture, and story—infused with the joy of intuitive painting and the magic of place. But that’s only the beginning… Your adventure includes a special botanical eco-printing workshop at a family-run weaving farm, a curated tour of three local, family-run producers of wine, cheese, and olive oil—with a delicious lunch included, and a “pizza-giro” evening at a nearby trattoria!
 
Location: Montelparo, Italy
Instructor: Cathy Nichols
Cost: €3799
Sponsor: Hotel Leone
Website, email, +39 340 4166054

Dyed and Gone to Heaven is all about play, experimentation and exploration. It is especially helpful for people who want to break out of a rut and reconnect with their creative spirit. During this week we’ll dye just about anything we can get our hands on. Liz Constable will guide you through a fun filled week of creative paper dyeing, book making and book binding. Liz has taught this technique to beginners through to accomplished artists. As she will be in the class to help and guide, those who want help will be able to enjoy her attention and those who want to free wheel will be left to do so.
 
Location: Pau, France
Instructor: Liz Constable
Cost: 1895€ to 2995€ for accommodation + 1500 NZ$ for tuition
Sponsor: Atelier Clos Mirabel
Website, email, +33.6.79.59.04.91

Join textile artist and instructor Vicki Assegued in South West France for a week of playful experimentation. In this workshop, you’ll begin by wrapping a fiber core of your choosing with beautiful fabrics, yarns and strings, and then coiling it into any shape that you choose. You’ll learn to create and add all kinds of decorative elements, such as fringe, tassels and pom poms. We’ll also make other fun fiber parts to add to our baskets. You can attach additional embellishments, such as beads, jewelry parts, buttons, etc. Your basket will be unique to you. No experience is necessary. A lovely selection of gorgeous fabrics and yarns will be supplied, and you’re most welcome to optionally bring your own.
 
Location: Pau, France
Instructor: Vicki Assegued
Cost: 1895€ to 2995€ for accommodation + $750 for tuition
Sponsor: Atelier Clos Mirabel
Website, email, +33.6.79.59.04.91