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About this trip
Please join us online or in-person on the scenic San Joaquin River Delta for a 3-day immersion of art classes and workshops, yoga, and meditation. It will be a space of respite to collaborate with other creatives, grow your artistic practice, and experiment with various media.
A mixture of Western and South Asian styles - classes include Warli art, Plein art acrylics, kalamkari, and Mughal miniature art. Workshops include miniature sculpture, drawing, and astrophotography. Mornings will begin with early meditation and yoga to prepare us for a day of creating. Enjoy delicious meals and enjoy walks by the river.
Lead by practicing artists Sujata Tibrewala (Pratibimba.org) and Sabrina Davidson (sabibidavidson.com). Vegan breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided. Some specified materials are included although we will share a list of supplies weeks before the retreat. Limited lodging is available. Day passes are $100 to account for a full day of classes, food, and refreshments.
2 Scholarships available for Dorm | Loft Style. Please send a 300 word minimum request for scholarship or discount to Sujata Tibrewala: sujata.tibre@gmail.com
(You will be notified within one week of your acceptance)
Participant Safety
— All participants regardless of vaccination status must submit a negative PCR COVID test within three days before the retreat and agree to stay in our creative bubble for the duration of the weekend. By forming a bubble we can ensure each other's safety. —
We recommend you purchase travel insurance for your trip.
***If you do acquire COVID prior to retreat, you will be sent an online Zoom link to attend, if you have purchased accommodations - your accommodation fees will be refunded to you and you will be charged the day pass fee instead.
Your Instructors
Sujata Tibrewala, a self taught artist, was trained as a postgraduate electrical engineer and has been exhibiting her art at various prestigious venues around the world since 2008. She uses her quest of knowledge to research the subjects close to her heart and expresses them through her piercing paintings.
She has had successful solos at venues including University of Illinois, Chicago, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, and Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur. Sujata has also served as docent and adult art education advisor at Brooks’s Museum, and her paintings have been published in cover pages of "Broad: A social and feminine justice magazine".
Sujata has won many awards including Lalit Kala India for her work “Sick Mother India” which she used to raise funds for COVID. Her work on Farmers protest was featured at National Museum of American History, Broadway New York. Other publications who has written about her work are: ST Louis Beacon, Alive St Louis, Everything is art, Lakeview Patch North Central Chicago, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Deccan herald, The Pioneer, Punjab Kesari, Bangalore Mirror, and Rajasthan Patrika. Her art reviews and interviews have appeared on DD national, P7 news, BNN, Tv9 and I have a Voice. pratibimba.info
Sabrina Davidson began practicing yoga and meditation as a teenager and continued to study well into her 20s which saw her becoming a board certified hypnotherapist having attained a certificate from Oakland's Center of Hypnotherapy in 2012. She has taught art and meditation to children and adults alike for well over 10 years. A visual artist who graduated from the School of Art & Design at San Diego State University - her work explores the themes of mental and environmental health using the mediums of photography, sculpture, ceramics, illustration, and painting. Visit sabibidavidson.com
Biplab I am an engineer by day job and an astronomy enthusiast at night, with particular interest in astrophotography. Since taking up interest in this intriguing subject roughly one and half year back, I spent many hours in clear nights setting up my telescopes, cameras and other instruments. This is a very 'deep' field, and I am still learning. My goal is to share with you my learnings, as well as mistakes. Hope people joining find some value in it.
Rachna Tiwary is an art enthusiast and trained architect, product designer, and ergonimics professional. She is a user experience research lead in her day job and art practitioner by passion. She picked up multiple techniques and art forms using various mediums in her early childhood while traveling across India with her parents and attending art school in the culturally rich City of Kolkata. She practices myriad indigenous art forms of India such as Madhubani painting, bheel art, Gond art, Warli, miniature paintings to list a few. She migrated to the US in 2007 and has ever since exhibited her curated works at Harvard Children's Hospital, in South Asian Art shows, and Khalid gallery in San Jose. During Covid, she took on to teach art globally to children and leveraged art to raise funds for Covid impacted children in India. Her goal is to spread her love for art and enable herself and other enthusiasts to give back to society. Hope you enjoy her class as much as she does teaching it. You can find some of her work in the link: facebook.com/rachna.color.palette
What’s included
- FoodNutrient dense vegan breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- DrinksTea, Coffee, and Juice. Wine on Friday & Saturday.
- Accommodations
- Art Classes & WorkshopsWarli Art, Kalamkari, Mughal Miniature Art, Watercolor Mandalas, Simple Sculptures, Theraputic Art, Drawing, Artiscience
- Yoga & MeditationDaily early morning offerings of yoga and meditation to begin your day
- Walking | RunWalk | Run along the San Joaquin River Trail with marathon regular Sujata
What’s not included
- Airfare
- Bedding for loft space
Available Packages
A furnished room with two twin beds. Includes bedding and towels.
A space to lay out your own bedding (sleeping bags, mat, etc) This space is shared with three other persons.
Whether you have accommodations or live near by. If you decide to attend for 1 or 2 days.
Enjoy 20% off until March 1st. A family of up to four persons can stay in a room together. If this is too quaint please let organizers know so that we can figure out a way to accommodate you.
6 pm - 9 pm
Join us for dinner and paint night as part of the retreat. Dinner will include hearty vegan dishes and afterward Sujata Tibrewala will teach: Destress through Art Making.
Please see the class description below:
Art was humans' first language, invented 20,000 years ago before language which was invented 2000 years ago. With loss of art, we lose our basic language. No-one ever said "I should not speak, because what I speak is not poetry". Then why are we harsh on expressing ourselves through art which is a universal language and crosses boundaries. This is one of the reasons why art is so de-stressing because it helps us express things that we are not able to express in words. In this class designed for artists of all levels, Sujata Tibrewala will give a few simple exercises that can be done on a day-to-day basis to help express yourself through art in an art journal. The goal is not to create a finished piece but to practice tapping into its healing power to deal with day to day stresses of life.
In this class, we will pick short-timed exercises designed to help you let go of your emotions and free yourself of the judgment of the final product and enjoy the cathartic process of creation.
6 pm - 9 pm
Join us for Guided Visual Imagery followed by a hearty vegan meal. Please see the class description below:
Art was humans and their predecessor's first language which is why it can be so de-stressing. In this class, Sujata will lead you through a guided visual imagery exercise followed by painting what appeared in your guided imagery practice. We welcome you to come be in community with us!
Kalamkari Art -- Sujata
Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile produced in Isfahan, Iran, and the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, where the "kalam" or pen is used for freehand drawing of the subject and filling in the colors, is entirely hand worked. We will explore this art style and create a work of our own.
Therapeutic Art -- Sabrina
Appreciate your inner healer as you meditate and tap into the creative flow. Art therapy has been revered as a means to reduce stress and anxiety as well as increase self-worth and compassion. Please join us for 75 minutes dedicated to improving our quality of life through stillness and artistic expression. No experience is necessary.
Mandala Re-invented with Water Colors -- Sujata
Mandalas literally mean a circle and have existed in traditional art for almost 12,000 years, Sri Yantra being one of the earliest examples. It represents the universe and the inner self and its self symmetric designs are pleasing to the eyes. They are known to reduce stress, anxiety, depression and help one calm down. Artist Sujata Tibrewala takes them to another level and uses modern symbols and watercolor techniques to represent the modern world we live in today.
In this class, you will learn to dig into symbols that are meaningful to you and paint them within the forgiving symmetrical patterns of Mandala while you simultaneously learn skills such as visual and color Perspective, color theory, patterns in nature, and modern watercolor techniques.
Art-i-Science - Sujata
In this class, we will show how the principles of science - physics, chemistry, and mathematics come into play when creating realistic art. Think perspective, 3d modeling of objects, and properties of light in relation to how it is reflected and absorbed on different objects. We will talk about the principles and do fun exercises to explore this aspect of creating art.
Warli Art - Rachna
Warli painting is a form of tribal art mostly created by the tribal people from the North Sahyadri Range in Maharashtra, India. This range encompasses cities such as Dahanu, Talasari, Jawhar, Palghar, Mokhada, and Vikramgad of Palghar district. This tribal art was originated in Maharashtra, where it is still practiced today. In this class, we will look at some of the warli symbols, what they mean, and we will paint our own warli masterpiece using acrylics
Drawing -- Sabrina
Pencil and Paper is all you will need in this class meant to enjoy the simple and complex practice of drawing. This class will have a theme with timed exercises, and a longer practice of working through a piece you enjoy.
Mughul Rajasthani (Rajput Painting) -- Sujata
Practice Description
Rajput painting, also called Rajasthan painting, evolved and flourished in the royal courts of Rajputana in northern India, mainly during the 17th century. Artists trained in the tradition of the Mughal miniature were dispersed from the imperial Mughal court, and developed styles also drawing from local traditions of painting, especially those illustrating the Hindu religious epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Subjects varied, but portraits of the ruling family, often engaged in hunting or their daily activities, were generally popular, as were narrative scenes from the epics or Hindu mythology, as well as some genre scenes of unnamed people. In this class we will explore this style and create our own little master pieces.
Itinerary
On this first day, we will practice Plein air acrylics at the river trail, enjoy a flavorful dinner, and join Biplab for a course in Astro photography.