Rooted Expression: A Creative Retreat for Writers & Artists
August 1st, 2nd & 3rd
Our intention is to co-create an in-person, immersive weekend retreat for writers and artists who are curious about nurturing their connection to the land and infusing the inspiration of the natural world into their expression as writers and artists.
We will collaborate with guest writers and artists to draw on their passion, knowledge, and experience to present lectures, activities, prompts, hands-on learning, creative expression, and somatic experiences. Program will include poetry, prose, reflective writing, storytelling, hiking, gathering plants, creating botanical watercolors, creating plant impressions in pottery, somatic practices, and more.
Plant Poems
Take a walk with your writing and get (re)acquainted with some plant friends and poetry! Join instructors, Erin Schneider and Michelle Seaman, for a wander around the lands of Keewaydin Farm, as they guide you with prompts and questions designed to engage your senses and connect you more deeply to the fascinating flora in your neighborwoods. After wandering, return to write free verse and form poems, and as an interdisciplinary bonus, to play with some examples of visual art inspired by plant poetry.
In Erin and Michelle’s Plant Poems workshop, participants will leave with:
- A resource list of writing prompts that combine the plant and poetry realms
- Drafts of free verse and form poems
methods for feeling present and connected to the plant communit - Ideas for combining plant poems with visual art projects
- Ephemeral gift packets (of paper, dried flowers, string, etc.) to inspire future projects
Watercolor Exploration:
Connect with Plants Through Sketching and Painting
Guest artist, Anne Butera, will lead an offering on botanical watercolors, and all skill levels are welcome. In this three-day class, gardener and self-taught artist Anne will introduce you to the beauty of capturing botanicals with watercolor. You’ll learn about the magic of watercolor as a medium while you experiment with techniques such as color mixing, layering paint and adding details to create realistic plant portraits. Anne will guide you through her process of choosing and studying a subject that most inspires you. While you sketch what you see you’ll be connecting with the plant and with nature itself. This connection is at the heart of Anne’s work and a grounding practice of mindfulness in her life. It is her joy to share this with you.
This Land – These Bodies
Please join storyteller, author & somatics practitioner, Tracy Chipman, for a somatic based, creative writing class: THIS LAND – THESE BODIES – being bodies writing.
In this emergent class we will let go of work-a-day, mind-centered ways and tap deeply into the sensorium of our bodies, listening powerfully with the alive land of Keewaydin Farms and playfully explore, discover, write and share our experiences.
Together we will favor our intuition, be with our bodies, be with the land into an inner harvest of experience.
Can you let the mind soften into the body and let your body be your guide to discovery?
What might your body wish to harvest through deeper connection with self and the land?
How might your life shift if you were fully present in your body, writing as a playful, sensory process of discovery?
Earth Element
Shanna will be sharing wisdom reflected by the Earth Element, discovered within the study of The Taoist Five Elements, shining light on inner & outer harmony & disharmony, rooted in an ancient philosophy of Chinese Medicine. Using the metaphors and teachings of The Five Elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal & Water, she will guide us into a greater understanding of how our true inner nature and the nature of the surrounding Earth mirror one another & how these connections may deepen our relationship with ourselves and the land that supports us. She will focus on the physical and metaphorical qualities of the Earth Element, highlighting our emotional, spiritual, and physiological connection with all that grows, through Taoist face reading & metaphor.
Somatic Practice
Somatics practitioner, Tracy Chipman, will offer a somatic movement class on Sunday morning of the retreat. All skill levels welcome. More program details coming soon.
Plants & Pottery
Potter, Charna Schwartz, will lead a workshop on creating plant impressions in a pottery tile. Each participant will return home with a decorative tile, impressed with the shape of a plant they choose from the land. All skill levels welcome. More program details coming soon.
Landscape Felting Project
Connect with the Driftless landscape and wool from local flocks during this needle felting workshop with fiber artist, Justine Zimmer. Participants will create a landscape out of wool using felting needles and small bits of embroidery. The land grows the grass, the sheep eat the grass and grow the wool, the farmers shear and process the wool, and finally the artists create a felted landcape with the wool. What a beautiful example of art immitating (and incorporating) life. A little needle felting experience would be helpful but is not necessary.
Curiosity Journaling with Joy
Join Driftless Curiosity Founder, Joy Miller, to explore your nature-inspired curiosities through journaling. We will walk the land to connect with what sparks our most childlike sense of curiosity, and then sit, find stillness, and go deeper. Like a 3-year-old seeking a greater explanation, we’ll ask “Why? Why? Why?” Draw connections between the natural phenomenon, processes, and patterns you see and the way you experience life as a member of the natural world. This is your opportunity to let your curiosity run wild on the page. What emerges may puzzle, surprise, or delight your inner child!
Hammock Forest Journaling
In this session, participants will hike to the Driftless Curiosity Hammock Forest to look up into the White Pines, listen to the wildlife, relax the nervous system, and connect to the self. Participants will be given writing prompts and a list of wildlife to look for to inspire a meaningful journal entry from the forest.
Tales from the Flock
Pasture Writing Adventure
For this session, participants will mingle with the Driftless Curiosity flock and spend the first hour in passive animal observation. The idea is to select one sheep or goat from the flock that you feel a connection with and follow them with a sense of curiosity (without disturbing them too much), take note of their behavior, cycles of routine, how they respond to their environment, their relationship to other flock members, etc. In the second hour, you will begin to write your version of this animal’s story. It can take whatever creative direction feels alive in your imagination. Throughout the writing process, check in with your selected animal, and allow your continued pasture observations to feed into your story as it develops in real time.
