Join cultural curator, Jewel Murphy and mixed media artist, Mija Matriz, for nine glorious days exploring the magical city of Oaxaca and making art with a group of like minded creatives. We'll immerse ourselves in the contemporary arts and culture of the city and the indigenous wisdom of the villages. We’ll visit museums, galleries, studios and homes of culture keepers and bring this inspiration to creation in our light-filled studio.

Mija will coax our creativity with fun prompts and a variety of art journaling techiniques. Plus

some sweet and silly practices to help us get into our creative flow. Our focus for this trip will be exploring the rich contemporary textile traditions of Oaxaca. We’ll have hands on embroidery and dyeing workshops in artisan’s homes. Then we’ll embroider, stitch and embellish journals and vintage photographs in the studio. Also special visits with fashion forward Mexican and European clothing designers rounds out our deep dive into contemporary threads. Prepare to be amazed. 

This art instruction is for all skill levels from total beginners to artists with advanced practices. Let loose your muse. There is also the option for a friend or partner to come without taking the art instruction. 

We’ll be staying at the wonderful Casa Colonial, a classic hacienda near the center of town with lovely gardens, a fantastic art collection, serene library, beautiful dining room, amazing staff and our own private art studio. 

Our itinerary is carefully crafted to have both structured and free time. You’ll  have some evenings on your own to explore the amazing Oaxacan food scene. Of course we are happy to suggest our favorite places.  We also take many meals together and taste it all from home cooking to high end dining. 

We come as curious travelers and leave as friends. Our goals - more joy, more connections, more inner artistic explorations. 

To learn more about Mija Matriz and view her artwork, visit www.mijamatriz.com.

DEPOSITS & PAYMENTS

Your $500 deposit is non-refundable and holds your place. Final non-refundable payment is due 30 days before the start of the trip. Please be committed to this trip when you sign up as I have a strict no refund policy. Failure to make your final payment in 30 days before the trip may forfeit your deposit and your place.  If you have concerns, trip insurance is your friend. We only offer refunds if the tour is cancelled because of government imposed restrictions and or lockdowns in which case there there will be a full refund. This is the rare exception to our no refund policy. 

INSURANCE -

We require trip insurance for both our peace of minds because things come up that you can’t even imagine. Between ice storms, last minute surgeries, lost passports and crazy flight delays, people have missed tours. We have had good experiences with www.travelinsure.com and also like squaremouth.com which will let you compare prices. 

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Today is a travel day - time for you to settle in, get your bearings and explore a bit. Light meal in the evening should you desire. It’s always a special time to meet your fellow creatives. 

We’ll gather and set our intentions and meet each other. A little sing along and ceremony might be involved. Then we’ll head out to San Antonino Velasco, home of the iconic peasant blouse where we'll learn about embroidery traditions from this village. After lunch we head to Santo Tomas Jalieza and explore backstrap weaving with a multi talented family. Dinner at the Casa.

We head to Teotitlan de Valle, the Zapotec tapestry loom weaving village and spend time with the lovely Ruiz Mendoza family who will guide us in shibori dyeing our own  rebozos in natural dyes. A special chance for a hands on experience of natural dye traditions.  

 

Our first glorious morning in the studio as we begin learning creative stitching techniques and finding ways to express with thread.  Lunch at the Casa.  Late afternoon we head over to the Tamayo Museum filled with five rooms of pre Hispanic artworks carefully chosen by the maestro and his wife. A jewel box of a museum. Afterwards we’ll wander into town and enjoy a lovely meal. 

Another joy filled morning with Mija making art in the studio. We'll explore stitching with paper and photographs, followed by a nourishing lunch at the Casa. Late afternoon we head downtown to visit our favorite artists and galleries. Evening in town to dine and explore on your own.

This is a special day as we head out to visit with “The Embroidering Ants of Tanivet” and learn about their beautiful, socially empowering art project. There are often tears involved. The women will teach us their applique embroidery technique and we'll share what we've been working on in our studio. We'll share a chocolate beverage together and learn about each others lives while sharing stories and making art. Buffet lunch and visit with Maestro weaver Arturo Hernandez in the afternoon because textiles and shopping!!

This is a day to really dive into our work as we continue to hone our new found stitching skills and apply them to our art journals. After lunch at the Casa, free time to continue working in the studio or explore town. Dinner on your own. 

Today is our final day in the studio. We’ll add final touches and share our work with each other. Then a celebratory lunch at the Casa, followed by a visit to some local designers and the marvelous textile museum to see their current exhibitions. Evening in town to explore. 

Today we’ll have free time to do last minute shopping, visit archeological sites, continue making art or experience a traditional healing limpia or temazcal. In the evening we put on our festive finery and celebrate with an all out fiesta with live music and fireworks (for real). plus first day of spring We come as tourists, we leave as a community of friends.

We‘ll help you to arrange transport to the airport for your flight home or you can stay on and keep the adventure going. We hope you leave with a renewed  creative spark, deeper faith in humanity and a sense of joy filled connection. We love sharing Mexico with you!