2024 Phenomenal Women Art Retreat

The Oaxaca airport is very small, manageable, and only about a half hour from the casa where we'll be staying. After retrieving your luggage, you'll head to the taxi counter and ask for a colectivo, which is the airport van service. Hand them the address to the casa, and you're off!

We're staying at the beautiful Casa Colonial! You'll recognize it from the big purple door with the sky blue trim, surrounded by the bright turquoise wall. Once there, ring the bell on the top right of the door (or knock), and Amado the manager, or Luz, the night manager, will arrive and see you to your room.

Settle in, walk through the beautiful gardens, and maybe even take a nap in the hammock! The retreat officially starts at 4pm on Friday with our opening ceremony and orientation!

We'll kick the retreat off with a casual opening ceremony in our outdoor art studio. We'll meet our sister travelers, get an overview of the retreat, and you'll receive your collectable apron, along with a few other little gifts to spark creativity!

At 7pm we'll head over to the cafe for a homemade Mexican dinner.

After dinner, you're free to have a delicious margarita on the veranda, settle in for the evening, or, get a jump on creating art with some open studio time.

We'll start the day with breakfast in the dining room at the casa, then we'll have a Morning Session where I'll give you a word or concept to focus on for the day. The word will be one of the elements of art. We'll discuss the word, its various meanings, and how connects with our life. 

We'll then head over to Santa Domingo plaza. Saturday is the best day to go because of the amazing wedding celebrations! This is not to be missed. The last time I was there, we took part in Carmina and Rodolfo's wedding. Who are Carmina and Rodolfo? I have no idea! But I was so swept up in the fanfare that I felt like I knew them. Oaxaca weddings are amazing! 

After the wedding we'll have lunch at one of the fabulous restaurants in the plaza, and there will be time for shopping, too (of course)! 

After a lovely breakfast at the casa, we'll have a Morning Session where we discuss the word of the day, how we connect with it, and how we'll look for evidence of it as we go about our day. We'll also do a bit of journaling and maybe even some art.

Then we'll head out to a fabulous art market where we'll meet local visual artists selling their work. Honestly, this was one of my favorite activities on the 2023 retreat! I love to talk art and creative process with other artists. AND it's always wonderful to support another artist and take home a piece of their work.

After the market we'll have brunch at el Restaurant Catedral. The restaurant is beautiful, the buffet incredible, and the service wonderful.

We'll head back to the casa for some chill out time before our painting workshop in the studio at the casa.

Cena (dinner) at 7pm in the casa's dining room, then free time.

Just outside the city is the breathtaking archaeological remains at Monte Albán! It features pyramids, terraces and canals, dating back to sixth century B.C. We'll take a private tour bus to visit these historical site with our amazing guide, Nico.

To preserve this ancient site, the number of visitors are extremely limited each day, so we'll have time and space to connect to with this sacred place.

We will also have lunch at the incredible restaurant on the site, overlooking the Oaxaca valley. The terrace at the restaurant is a perfect place to do a bit of sketching.

After lunch, we'll stop at the pottery studios of Oaxacan artisans Rolando Porras and Irma Blanco. We'll get a demonstration and artist talk and have the opportunity to purchase some of their wonderful art!

We'll hop on our private tour bus and head out to the village of Teotitlán del Valle, where we'll visit the workshops (and often homes) of some Zapotec families who create stunning weavings! The village is known for its textiles, especially the beautiful rugs. Weaving in Teotitlán del Valle dates back as far as 550 BCE, and the craft has been passed down from generation to generation.

We'll learn how the wool obtained from local sheep and hand dyed with natural pigments, and get demonstrations on how they use the hand loom. And of course there will be plenty of opportunities to purchase some beautiful textiles to take home! 

We'll stop for lunch and sketching before heading back to the casa for some relaxing and painting!

We'll have our final Morning Session after breakfast, then you're free to explore, do some last minute shopping, or just relax.

At 2pm, we'll turn our studio into a gallery, and do a gallery walk! Each woman chooses a few pieces of art that she created on the retreat to show and discuss.
If you’ve never done this before, don’t worry!! It's actually a fun and insightful process, and I walk you through it by asking questions, and telling you and the group what I love and appreciate about your artwork. This is a positive, fun experience!

One of the wonderful things about making art is that it brings us fully into the present. It forces us to observe the world around us with our "artist's eye". When you look at something with the intent of rendering it on paper or canvas, you see it in a different way. You might start seeing things in shapes, you might start naming the colors you'd use to paint it. And all the while you're creating compositions in your mind.

In three workshops I'll help express what you're thinking and feeling with paint. We'll focus on the elements of art as we explore Oaxaca to help us see the city through our "artist’s eye." We'll take in the sights, sounds, aromas and flavors of Oaxaca, let them flow through us, and out of onto the paper, using the elements of art as our guide.

Included:

• Three expressive painting workshops.
• Guidance, coaching, cheerleading and support from Tabetha and the other phenomenal women!
• Personal one-on-one coaching with Tabetha.
• Studio art supplies: paper, brushes, acrylic paints, charcoal, pencils, other mark-making tools.*

*All studio art supplies are included, however you may bring acrylic paints and brushes if you have some favorites you'd like to use.
You may also wish to bring a small (5x7ish) sketchpad and pencils to sketch while we are out and about.

Sketching is a brilliant, wonderful thing to do, even if you're not good at it (just like painting!) Sketching brings you fully into the moment, creates a great memory, and a recording of a specific place and time.

We will do some sketching on this trip! And if you don't think you can, stick with me and I'l have you sketching in no time! We'll take our sketchbooks out and about, and look for pockets of time to create quick sketches. And we'll have a wonderful evening sketching in the gardens at the casa where we're staying!