Set aside time to disconnect from the day-to-day and give your creative side an opportunity to flourish. Through guided explorations with professional writers and artists, this retreat at The Morton Arboretum will provide a fun, interactive, natural setting to release your inner creativity, connect with nature, and find community.
Participants may sign up for one or two days. The workshops on Friday will focus on art, and those on Saturday will focus on writing. Instructors will provide means to see and experience the natural world in novel ways that will inspire you to think differently. Use pen, paper, and a variety of art materials to play and explore new ideas. Morning refreshments and lunch will be provided.
Take in the sights and sounds of The Morton Arboretum, and explore nature with fellow creatives. Appropriate for all levels, this retreat will help you strengthen your connection to nature through writing and art, no matter your starting point.
Friday Art Workshops
Morning
Roots and Branches: Crafting Your Personal Tree of Life
Join artist Cheryl Rausch for an enriching, hands-on workshop to create a stylized tree of life that symbolizes your personal journey.
Through guided reflection and creative exploration, participants will delve into the deeper parts of themselves, exploring the powerful connection between their inner strength and the way they express themselves by crafting a personal tree of life. The tree of life will reflect not only the qualities that root the individual—such as resilience, courage, and wisdom—but also the outward branches of confidence, kindness, and the gifts they offer to others. This process will help students connect with their inner self while celebrating the beauty of what they share with the world.
All supplies will be provided. Simply bring an open heart, a curious mind, and a willingness to explore your inner world through the transformative power of nature and creativity. Let your tree of life grow!
Afternoon
Sculptural Actions
Artist Richard Serra famously said, “drawing is a verb.” In this workshop, participants will reference Serra’s “Verb List”, in which he compiled a series of “actions to relate to oneself, material, place, and process,” to create a sculpture. Based on the principle of reuse, participants will collect and transform found objects into art, using provided fasteners and a verb of their choosing.
This workshop will help participants think about common objects in new ways, sparking creativity and adding fresh perspectives in their approach to art. When choosing material to work with, participants are encouraged to think outside the box by asking:
- Where do I see an excess of material in my daily life?
- How can objects considered to be trash have second lives outside their intended use?
- How could I use my networks and community to accumulate enough material to make it useful in a new way and help transcend our immediate understanding of the object?
See What to Know for required supplies.
Saturday Writing Workshops
Adventures in Wordplay
Listen to the timeless words of celebrated nature writers and enjoy dedicated time outdoors in nature with writing prompts to hone your observational skills. In this session led by nature writer Cindy Crosby, participants will experiment with different literary forms to express their thoughts, feelings, and impressions about the natural world in new ways. Come with inspiration and an open mind, leave feeling energized to write!
Writing W.I.L.D.: Reflective Journaling for Wellness
Winter reminds us that we can grow in stillness. It invites us to notice magic in the mundane and to recall the parts of us that lie buried, awaiting the right moment to awaken. In this session, participants are guided through a series of invitations to write W.I.L.D.—with wonder, intuition, love, and daring—and invite the winter landscape into our creative expression. We pause to visit with writers past and present, engage in guided writing prompts, and reflect on the places where inner and outer winter wildscapes meet. All workshop sessions meet in person at the Arboretum.
Instructors: Katie Vota, art professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Cheryl Rausch, illustrator and photographer; Cindy Crosby, author and naturalist; Kristy A. Belton, certified forest therapy guide, Prairie Pathways
Age: 16 and older
Course number: A096-A