Come learn how to create small collages which take us deeper into the world of the unconscious. Similar to “Soul Collage” originated by Seen Frost, this process deepens our trust in our own intuitive knowing by weaving together visual imagery and personal responses. No artistic skill necessary.  You will be amazed by the beauty and power of the cards you will make and the life questions they will address.

Fee: $110.00
Includes $10.00 Materials Fee

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

In this meditative and fun class, you’ll be working with a wide variety of glass tiles, glass gems, stained glass, and mirror, to create a 16” mosaic mandala. You’ll become immersed in the symmetry and flow of this circular form as the creating becomes a form of meditation.

Saturday, March 23 – 9:00AM to 5:00PM
On day one, we’ll discuss your selection of color palette, and then we’ll go over design possibilities and you’ll see samples of how to incorporate materials into a visually appealing piece using a variety of textures, sizes, and shapes. Glass cutting skills will be taught and you’ll learn how to use sticky mesh for laying out your design.

Sunday, March 24 – 9:00AM to 3:00PM
On day two, you’ll complete the design of your mandala, mix thinset mortar to set your piece onto waterproof wedi board, and then mix and apply your grout. Using waterproof wedi board allows you to hang your mandala outside.

Marsha Rafter has been working with clay for over forty years. She began creating mosaics in 2004 often incorporating her ceramic pieces into her mosaics. Her work includes large scale architectural murals, sculptures, gallery pieces, and jewelry. Her website is www.MarshaRafter.com.

No art experience necessary.

Fee: $350.00
Includes $100.00 Materials Fee

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

We accept check payments via mail, and Zelle payments through the email: Ellen@ArtRetreats.com.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics by hi-lighting the cracks with gold — built on the notion that by embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger more beautiful piece.

Kintsugi translates as “golden joinery,” in Japanese. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to conceal or discard. There should be no attempt to hide or disguise the flaws. This is related to the concept of wabi sabi which we will explore.

Every break is unique and instead of repairing an item like new, this 500-year-old technique actually celebrates the breaks as part of the objects history. Kintsugi is an inspiring metaphor for dealing with the times we feel broken in life. It’s a reminder to find the gold to mend ourselves and appreciate our so called flaws.

In this workshop you will learn to repair and embellish two ceramic pieces in a modern version of Kintsugi.

You can also bring one of your own broken pieces to repair with this technique.

Fee: $170.00

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

We accept check payments via mail, and Zelle payments through the email: Ellen@ArtRetreats.com.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

Spend a day in the garden discovering how nature can be both a healer and a mirror for your mind, body and spirit.

With gently guided activities and a slow, meditative pace, we will use poetry and art making to reflect on what is most important in our lives.

No art experience necessary.

Fee: $105.00
Includes $10.00 Materials Fee

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

We accept check payments via mail, and Zelle payments through the email: Ellen@ArtRetreats.com.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

Join Lama Gyurme, to share his deep knowledge of Tibetan Sacred Arts. In this day-long experience, Lama Gyurme will both demonstrate, explain and support your sacred art creation. You will learn to paint (both on canvas and on a rock) deities and symbols as mediation tools.

You’ll enjoy experiences in chanting, mindful walking through the gardens, art-making, and consecrating the artwork with mantras. All levels are welcome. You’ll be enchanted by the transmission of a living master painter and sculpture, and master of ritual arts, through a live experience. Please bring your own rock, all else will be provided.

Click here to see a video with Lama Gyurme

Fee: $150.00 (Includes Art Materials)

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

We accept check payments via mail, and Zelle payments through the email: Ellen@ArtRetreats.com.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

The structure of dreams may seem crazy and irrational but dreams of the night create their own reality and follow their own kind of logic. Through guided creative writing prompts and the synchronicity of found imagery collage, we will tap into the immense wisdom and creative power our nighttime visions hold. With an amalgamation of established, emerging and innovative dream work techniques, we will explore a variety of dream journal techniques from personal, collective, archetypal, and allegorical perspectives.

Bring your own journal.

Presenter: Victoria Rabinowe

Victoria Rabinowe is an American artist, author, international educator and director of the DreamingArts Studio in Santa Fe. As guide and mentor, she has taught thousands of psychotherapists, spiritual guidance counselors, educators and creatives around the world to understand the language of dreams through poetry, prose and the visual arts. VictoriaDreams.com

Fee: $125.00

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

We accept check payments via mail, and Zelle payments through the email: Ellen@ArtRetreats.com.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

Breathe in the peace of creating with nature as the sound of ocean waves transport you. Reconnect to your inner child’s sense of wonder and possibility as you ‘play’ in the sand. Celebrate the gift and impermanence of life as you create monumental art and then watch it wash away…

We will begin our day drawing and painting mandalas. These will then be translated into earth art at the beach.

Come be a part of the epic cycle of creation and dissolution by collaboratively co-creating massive art and then releasing it back to the waves. Through this you will be metaphorically, symbolically and figuratively connecting to the power and beauty of impermanence, allowing the lessons of transition and change swirl around inside you. From this place every moment becomes a celebration of life, an opportunity to create beauty and redefine ourselves. Uplift your spirit, expand what you think is possible, and be part of the transformative magic of creating earth art.

In this workshop we will connect to ourselves, to the beach and to our fellow creators as we engage in various activities, learning about the tools and techniques of massive art-making, and culminating in original artworks guided by the group process. We end with aerial photos for lasting memories.

Click here to see the amazing earth art of Andres Amador

Fee: $120.00

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

We accept check payments via mail, and Zelle payments through the email: Ellen@ArtRetreats.com.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

Have you ever been plagued by critical self talk causing doubt, fear or insecurity? Would you like to playfully explore this relationship with your inner critic and free up your creative energy?

In this fun, clay workshop you will be led in how to hand build a representation of the voice that shouts or whispers unwanted messages, bringing the opportunity to quiet (if not totally silence) her.

Join artist Cheryl Tall and art therapist Ellen Speert as we sculpt those nagging inner critics and find new ways of relating to them.

Cheryl Tall is a Southern California based artist whose work focuses on the relationships between people and their environments, and often includes architectural and figurative elements. She is especially known for her pinch coil technique, which gives her work an unusual texture reminiscent of wood shingles or scales.

Fee: $160.00
Includes $10.00 Materials Fee

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

We accept check payments via mail, and Zelle payments through the email: Ellen@ArtRetreats.com.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

Come learn how to create small collages which take us deeper into the world of the unconscious. Similar to “Soul Collage” originated by Seen Frost, this process deepens our trust in our own intuitive knowing by weaving together visual imagery and personal responses. No artistic skill necessary.  You will be amazed by the beauty and power of the cards you will make and the life questions they will address.

Fee: $110.00
Includes $10.00 Materials Fee

$10.00 Early Bird Discount – If Registered 2 Weeks Prior to Event

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are accepted up to 1 week prior to event. A $25.00 cancellation fee will apply, and will be deducted from your refund. No cancellations are accepted less than 1 week prior to event.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.

Sacred Tibetan Music And Group Healing Ritual ~ Offered By The Monks Of Gaden Shartse Phukhang Monastery

The afternoon will include traditional Tibetan Buddhist Music and chanting by the Gaden Shartse Monks
followed by a group healing of body, mind and spirit.

Visitors to the Center for this event will also be able to walk the labyrinth, meditate in the healing gardens and
shop in the Buddhist arts and crafts marketplace.

For questions about this event, please call Ellen at 760-436-3310.

Here is a link from the center’s traditional Tibetan Buddhist Land Blessing: https://www.artretreats.com/labyrinth-gardens/labyrinth-video

To learn more about the tour, visit:  Sacred Arts of Tibet Tour Gaden Shartse Monastery.

Suggested Donation:
$25.00 if you register before November 18.
$35.00 if you register on or after November 18, or you purchase tickets at the door.
Pre-registration is recommended as space is limited.

If you do not wish to register online, please send your registration payment to:
Ellen Speert | 1905 Crest Dr. Encinitas, CA  92024.
Please include your email address and phone number to receive your confirmation.