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. Morning refreshments and lunch will be provided. 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.
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 (Section A)
Self-Mandalas: Discovering Your Inner Universe
A mandala is a circular piece of art with sections radiating out from a central point. Born from Hindu and Buddhist tradition, mandalas have symbolic and meditative meaning beyond their appearance. It is a visual representation of the universe as well as a representation of our own internal journeys.
In this intuitive art workshop, participants will create their own, unique “inner-self mandala” using line and color to express who they are on the inside, thereby showcasing the beauty that lies within. All art supplies will be provided.
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 modalities of reuse, participants will collect and transform found objects into art, using provided fasteners and a verb of their choosing.
This workshop will guide participants to think about common objects in new ways, sparking creativity and fresh perspectives in their approach to art. Participants are encouraged to think outside the box in their material choices by asking,
- “Where do I see material excess in my daily life?”
- “How can objects considered to be ‘trash’ have second lives outside their intended use?”
- “How do I use my networks and community to accumulate enough of something that it transcends our immediate understanding of the object?”
Examples of objects include bike inner tubes, cardboard paper towel tubes, tabs from canned drinks,Styrofoam packing peanuts, well-worn T-shirts, plastic tubes, such as those at the center of plastic bag rolls.
Saturday Writing Workshops (Section B)
Writing W.I.L.D.: Reflective Journaling for Wellness
We all hold within us the words to create, shape, and live our life story. Too often, however, we fall into the role of characters. We respond to external processes, events, and people, forgetting that we are capable of authoring our life narratives. In this session, participants are guided through a series of invitations to write W.I.L.D.–with wonder, intuition, love, and daring–to (re)discover the space where their life author resides. Invitations include contemplative practices, breathwork, and writing prompts that take place through a gentle journey on the Arboretum grounds.
Exploring Interior and Exterior Landscapes Through Words
Open your senses to the natural world. Explore connections between your interior landscape and the exterior landscape around you. Listen to readings from a diverse collection of nature writers, and consider how their work might inform and inspire you in your writing journey. Expand your comfort zone by experimenting with different writing forms. Then, try a variety of writing prompts, both written and visual, and see where they take you!
This program meets in person at the Arboretum.
Instructors: Katie Vota, art professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Cheryl Rausch, artist; Cindy Crosby, author and naturalist; Kristy Belton, certified forest therapy guide, Prairie Pathways
Age: 16 and older
Course number: A096
