Anahata Katkin

Sabrina Retreat In Mexico!

 Dia de los Muertos!  MEXICO!  Sabrina Ward Harrison!  A treat for sure...Let me know if you're going.

Mom's Mandala

I just wanted to let you all know that there are a few spaces left in our Ashland Painting Retreat June 6,7,8th. This is my mother's FIRST painting ever that she did while on retreat with our teacher, Paul. Since then she has been jamming away on all sorts of new art projects. This image hangs in our PaPaYa! office these days. She used to say that I was the artist between us. But as you can see that is certainly not the case. I'd say it runs in the blood!

As Promised

As promised the Bali retreat is official! I am so excited to make this journey. This retreat is going to be a full-on creative adventure.
Tuition Includes:
FOUR DAYS OF Hands On WORKSHOPS:
Workshop 1: An extended Wallpaper Panel Workshop (Spanning two full days!)
Workshop 2: Mixed Media Mandala's (One Day)
Workshop 3: Creative Instincts -(One Day) A two part workshop that takes place both outside while we create nature altars surrounded by the beauty Bali has to offer and in the second half of the day we return to the workshop space as we make mixed media pieces that reflect the nature altars.

-7 NIGHT ACCOMODATIONS, double occupancy at the lovely Apakabar Villas (www.apakabarvillas.com)

- EXCURSIONS INCLUDING:
1. A day trip to a local textile weaving factory with excursion to Ubud, the culture arts
center of Bali- with lunch included.
2. Group snorkeling, beach excursion
3. A private one 1 hour massage
4. An evening of Traditional Balinese Dance Performance
5. Bali temple excursion
6. Hiking through Balinese Rice Patties
-All transportation to and from excursions that are included in the workshop week
-Daily, fresh prepared breakfast and Dinner's
- Time for swimming and enjoying the pool and grounds of Apakabar Villa's
-Transportation to and from the airport at Dempasar, Bali
It will be held at The Apa Kabar Villas owned and operated by our hosts at Arcangelo Productions. This will be my first trip to Indonesia and I cannot wait to get my passport stamped there. I look forward to infusing our artwork with the intense artistic atmosphere of Bali. The classes I've chosen will be perfect for playing with local traditions and creative customs.
It's a ways off I know but this retreat can only hold an intimate group of 20 or so participants so consider your plans this year and see if this is the right way for you to visit Bali! I have a very good feeling about this trip and I feel it will be the highlight of my year. I plan to stay to explore the markets, temples and culture. It seems like a cornucopia of inspiration. Click here for more details or email Arcangelo Productions directly at arcangeloproductions@gmail.com.

PAINTING RETREAT UPDATE:

I will updating blogville this week with upcoming events since there has been a lot of interest on the heels of Artfest this year. Below is details for our June retreat and I will be adding details about a Bali, Indonesia art intensive with me for 2009. So bear with me this week folks as I get everyone the info needed.
As some of you know we are hosting painter Paul Huessenstamm (click here and watch his little video cast to check him out.) here in Ashland June 6,7,8th. We have about eight spaces left for this event. It will be on private acreage in the mountains outside of town in a historic, converted "barn". Paul is a generous teacher who truly has the gift of supporting artist at any stage of their expression. I have seen first time painters (Including my own mom) create incredible works in just three short days.

And if you are like me I know what you might be thinking: "But that's not really my style. I don't know if I can do paintings like that etc, etc."

This was the painting I did while with him in Kauai and it's nearly 4 feet high. I was so thrilled to have someone help me slow down. As a mixed media artist it can be hard to have the patience for fine arts again. I've become a quick-fix artist. So this was a wonderful departure for me.
anyhow click here if you want to check it out and here if you want to join us!

Finally!

Finally I have some pics to share with you from Artfest last week. 2008 was a fantastic experience for me. I came home refreshed and happy. A tall order for a traveling ad teaching marathon. It was great. So many wonderful people and giving participants. Thank you to everyone! In three days myself and nearly 90 students worked our butts off making Mixed Media Mandala's,

Symbolic Icon's and Wallpaper People. Thank you for a truly touching time

with a mind blowing amount of artwork in three short days. For more pictures pleae visit my flickr page. (they are grouped into classes on the right side there) And I'm afraid I have to appologize in advance since I took photos of each person as they were talking to us as a group. Love those. So sorry gang. But I think they turned out cute.The image on the upper portion above is a my class demo from Funky Wallpaper People. I'm looking forward to finishing it one of these weekends. I tend to work alongside participants so that I can demo as we go along and it helps me to remember small steps I might forget. Plus it forces me to practice what I preach and work on the fly.
Here is just a small sampling of the mind blowing panels people made that day! Aren't they wonderful. Each class was only about 7 hours long and each person pushed themselves to complete these works in a single sitting! Amazing. This is Rose, a dear friend who made the journey with me and helped me so I could get classes settled, supplies cleaned up, vendor night in order etc. She is also an incredible artist (quite the panel eh?!) and I was so thrilled to have her creative juju with me at Artfest this year. (Thank you girl!)

as Rose would say...Good times folks...Good Times!

Art In Ashland -Update

There has been a lot of locals asking for art retreats here in Ashland. But the ART IN ASHLAND workshop is already officially half full (20 and counting!) and the flyer hasn't even left blogland let alone made it to the Co-op bulletin board yet (I fear the local wrath of late discovery)! I feel so much gratitude to all of you. Where else could three ladies be more well received. It's really miraculous. This community continues to be such a wonderful balance of giving and receiving. Sharing and experimenting. I am touched by the interest and support and we are so ready to BRING IT gals!
Artsy Mama emailed about an inquiry to the PaPaYa! warehouse, which is of course here in town as well. So I will indeed be arranging a field trip to our newly expanded warehouse row and studios outside of class times. Participants can also shop at the PaPaYa! warehouse at wholesale costs if you choose to bring home some goodies. And speaking of goodies check out Amy's picture above showing her new pieces. Pam just posted this on her site. Looks like her Etsy store is full of new beauties. Go take a look and get inspired for ART IN ASHLAND!
Also just a quick note that there are still a few spaces left for the MANDALA PAINTING RETREAT that PaPaYa! is also hosting here in town in June. It will be at the historic Old Siskiyou Barn on private acreage outside of town.
That's all for the big updates. I am thrilled to bits and I have been doing my dork dance all day!

ART IN ASHLAND! August 2-5th

(UPDATE: In just 24 hours this retreat is 1/3rd sold out! Thank you to everyone who jumped in with us!)
Recently Pam Garrison, Amy Hanna and I had the pleasure of teaching together at Art Nest in Utah as many of you know. It was one of many stays together and anchored our joy of co teaching and down right fun of being on retreat together. I had such a fantastic time taking each of their classes myself that it simply wasn't enough. (Pics of that retreat here) No...Not for me and not for the many folks who were unable to get in to the sold out retreat. So we've decided to team up again. This time we will be in my little town, Ashland, Oregon. It's home of the famed Shakespeare Festival and a hoppin' little place in the summer. Pam will be doing her "What Lies Inside" workshop and giving her secrets to her layered style and ultra vintage appeal. Making journals and pages from old ledgers and making personal heirloom books.
Amy Hanna will be weaving her wondrous jewels and infusing us with her vixen skills and jewelry magic. Her class is called "Rejuvenated Jewels". ( I took this class with absolutely no idea how to even wire wrap and ended up making three kick bootie pieces that day!)
And I will be promoting my usual approach to the creative process. Using focal faces and pushing the time limits to create personal icon's and letting go of creative resistance.
And one of the things I am most excited about is that we will be in the ballroom (and the rose garden...and the garden room!) at the Historic Ashland Springs Hotel in the center of town. That means you will all get to see my favorite store of all time, PRIZE (Previously in SF) and also be close to the theatre restaurants, bead, fabric and antique stores, nightlife and cafe's. It's also two blocks from Lithia park with a creek, swimming, hiking, manicured grounds and duck ponds. Everything is walking distance. So it's eeeeeasy. YES! I'm super pumped up! This retreat will fill up quickly so we hope you will jump in with both feet and join us! You can see all the details here. And register right here.

The Art Nest Retreat 2008

This was another demo piece from my Symbolic Icon's class on the first day.
And here's the rest of the demo I showed you before.
I tend to work alongside participants in my workshops so that I can demonstrate how many outcomes there can be. It also helps inform me of things I might otherwise forget to share.
Candice and Julie kept us fully stocked on gourmet and pretty chocolates. (The image on the right is by Julie on the first day)Day two was a fantastic day with Amy Hanna. The talented jewelry vixen with extreme talent. Her class was called "Rejuvenated Jewels". This image was my stash of findings for the day and the image on the right is some finished work of mine from the day.
Pam sat next to me this day and so I had a chance to drool all over her boxes of goodies. Can you believe this loot?!
The image here on the left is a sampling of some of Amy's bracelets she brought to share with all of us in class. She also had tons of goodies for sale.

Day three was Pam's day to shine and she really took us all on an incredible journey through binding, and her incredible process. Her workshop called "What Lies Inside"
also had the most amazing hand made manuals for all of us. (That's it looking all cute)

We used old ledgers (here's a great reproduction Pam recommends) and books to bind and create some fabulous new books.
We all filled our pages with doodles and paint colors and those who are not sewing challenged (No really-they made sure I wasn't sewing unsupervised!) We made all stages of pages so that when we revisit our books we have different places for when the varied moods strike. That was so freeing for me to play with. It's awesome to have these blank-ish pages to go back and celebrate as my book progresses with life.The Art Nest Feb 2008 Crew. Julie Collings, Candice Elton, Pam Garrison, Amy Hanna, me. Lower picture Pam Garrison, me, & Amy Hanna. Art Nest is continuing the momentum of their successful retreats. For more information and the new lineup for summer 2008 visit their website!
A big thank you to everyone who participated and made such a journey both to the cabin and through your creativity. It was such a joy to connect with so many. It was also such a dear treat to be able to take classes from Pam & Amy. We usually room together at Artfest and have yet to be able to take each other's classes. I was blown away by their creative generosity and talent. I came away with so much artwork and a fresh perspective. Thank you Julie and Candice for a lovely event. xoxoxox.