This past March, The Wall Street Journal‘s “Craft Retreats Are the New Burnout Cure” caught our attention. It’s something we’ve noticed among friends, too: traveling to Sicily to finally take up basketry from a favorite weaver, making cheese and yogurt in the Basque mountains, and so forth. This style of travel is not for the passive vacationer. Not for the beachcomber, and not necessarily for the whole family. These curated retreats are for the fidgety, for those drawn to hands-on learning—the artist residency for the non- or nascent artist.
“I’ve known what it feels like to lack inspiration and feel stagnant,” writes Alice Katter, founder of Out of Office Network, which hosts creative retreats at an agriturismo in Italy. “It’s a response to a cultural flattening,” she continues. “As everything becomes algorithmic, online, optimized, and the same…”
The following immersive, hands-on travel experiences are among the most appealing we’ve uncovered yet.
Years ago, Anna Tasca Lanza in Sicily hosted a weaving workshop with Studio AMOS, and the school has been on our radar ever since. While its retreats typically center on food—past hosts have included David Tanis, Julia Sherman, and Rachel Roddy—it occasionally ventures into craft, as with the weaving workshop and an upcoming sketching and Drawing retreat with Samantha Dion Baker. Photograph from Anna Tasca Lanza by Chiara Leto and Erika Pino for The Preserve Journal.
Ace Camp Travel hosts creative retreats around the world: block printing in Jaipur, India; painting in Andalusia, Spain; basket weaving in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden; embroidery in Chiang Mai, Thailand; and many more. The premise is simple: travel centered on hands-on learning, lectures, and demonstrations led by local experts and practitioners.
Out of Office Network began as a digital platform supporting creative expression, founded by Alice Katter, who later developed a creative residency program at Le Cerque, an agriturismo outside of Rome. Unlike artist residencies, where established artists focus on and present a single project, Out of Office’s offerings might look more like a three-day botanical dye intensive with a textile designer. Katter also coordinates artist-led workshops in Barcelona, including silversmithing with Anna Ruiz Planella, indigo dyeing with Carlota Simó, and furniture restoration with Audrey Pogu.
DescoverArtists is a global community of creatives that offers intimate, shared-home retreats for practicing artists, integrating workshops focused on skill development and exchange. They also host a Natural Dye Retreat on Chios, Greece, with George Petsikopoulos, created for just six selected participants (application required) and equally open to beginners, artists, and designers alike.
Praktyka is a creative retreat on the North Devon coast founded by Ania Wawrzkowicz and Henry Trew in collaboration with Niall Maxwell of Rural Office Architects (see our post on A Low-Impact Family Home in Surrey and Norfolk Remodel with Tithe and Piggery). Guests stay in architectural cabins while taking part in art workshops. Unlike many retreats, Praktyka welcomes group stays that include children. It also hosts curated programs that bring together participants from around the world, such as Coastal Walking and Printmaking, and a Mother’s Retreat featuring clay and jewelry making.
Madame Voyage creates what it calls “slow travel French retreats.” Founded by two women from France, the company hosts week-long retreats in Provence, Toulouse, and along the Riviera. The retreats span both culinary and creative, with workshops in ceramics, floral design, watercolor, and more.
For more on residencies see our posts:
- En Résidence: A Guest House and Residency at Château de la Haute Borde in the Loire Valley
- ‘A Healing Place’: A Derelict House with a Designer Pedigree Is Reclaimed for Artists
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