Upcoming Retreats:
Portland, OR Spring 2026
March 15-23, 2026
Harrisburg, PA 2026
July 8-15, 2026
Portland Fall
Sept 13 - 18, 2026
Gubbio, Italy
Sept 28-Oct 27 2026
All registration is online ONLY!
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I am a mixed media artist, instructor, designer, shopkeep, and author from New York City. I came to the world of art later in life, transitioning from a full-time career as a psychologist to being a full-time artist and maker. My artistic practice is based on the concepts of community and collaboration, and I believe in the power of art to bring people together. My work has been exhibited in multiple exhibitions and can be found in numerous books and national magazines. I have also published two books of my own, The Pulse of Mixed Media and The Mixed-Media Artist, with North Light Books. My love of the creative energy that occurs when artists are brought together has led me to spend a great deal of time teaching workshops - both online and in person across the world. As a designer, I have created collections with many companies over the years, including FreeSpirit Fabrics, Impression Obsession, StencilGirl Products, Spellbinders, Emerald Creek Craft Supplies, WOW, Aladine, and PaperArtsy. Art for me is everything and sharing the process in all these different forms makes it even better.
Hailing from Salt Lake City Utah, Thomas Ashman now lives and works in the magical town of Taos, NM, and is a book binder, doll maker, and mixed media artist who likes to create with one foot in the light and one foot firmly in the dark. Reveling in the irony of juxtaposition, Thomas starts with forgotten toys, discarded dolls, rusty metal, and other resurrected materials, then breathes a new and interesting life into these abandoned objects by transforming them into macabre story-tellers and unexpectedly complex studies of the literary characters and supernatural deities that inspire him. The haunting images adorning the covers of his glass and metal journals give his work a kind of classical darkness that conjures a spooky and ‘old-fashioned’ aesthetic.
Coming from an academic background with a degree in English literature and music, his visual art explorations began back in the early 2000’s, and have allowed him to travel all over the country to teach his original “no-sew” metal book binding technique, and other workshops, at local shops and national retreats such as Artfest, Art & Soul, Art Unraveled, Create, Art Continuum, et.al. Thomas exhibits locally whenever he can, and has had his work published in Cloth, Paper, Scissors, and Somerset Studio magazines, and has received a few awards in juried exhibitions.
When he isn’t in the studio, Thomas enjoys camping, kayaking, skiing, reading, educational podcasts, horror movies, live music, and banging his head and his drums, as often as possible (with a particular affection for classic heavy metal skullduggery). Thomas also loves just hanging out in his his 100+ year old adobe abode, baking cookies, growing flowers and vegetables, and watching true crime shows with his four favorite ladies. Leighanna, Lily, Peetie, and Jessie, and an ornery ol’ gato gordo named Hairy B.
ThomasAshmanArt@yahoo.com
www.blacksheepartist.com
Lisa Bebi, since a small child, has loved two things: looking through snapshots in her family album and painting as expression. For over three decades, the San Diego native has married these two things together, and her work has received international awards and recognition for its content, style, and color. Lisa received her BA in fine arts from SDSU, where she developed as a colorist, straddling representation with abstraction. Daughter of a journalist, Lisa always finds ways to tell the untold story she sees in snapshots. “I love the authenticity of the snapshot. It’s a single moment in time but by painting it I can extend that moment, revel in it and bring to life characters and scenarios that I fancy. Working this way gives me enormous pleasure.” She extracts the “behind, the behind” using innovative techniques and finesse. Over the course of her life she has received awards, accolades, and endorsements. She has been a longtime contributor to many international mixed-media magazines and several books; has taught in artist residencies locally and internationally; is a Golden Paints educator; and is often a local juror.
The senses become mixed and intertwined in the mind of the artist. Sounds appear in colors, numbers sing songs and frequencies dance in her head. Synesthesia is a crossing of the senses. The paintings and sculptures are a beautiful blending of sounds, science, and nature.
Sandra Duran Wilson comes from a family of artists and scientists. She grew up in a world where everything was possible, where she would look through the microscope in her father’s office and then draw what she saw. Sandra’s early years were spent on the border of Mexico where the people, animals, landscape, drama of the religious rituals, and stories of the curanderas shaped her reality. Years later she would return frequently to Mexico and South America to absorb the culture, traditions, and art. Her spirituality combined with her scientific studies has directed her work from realism to abstract mixed media.
Her work is influenced by theoretical scientific concepts in physics, biology and chemistry. The pure fun of exploring what paint can do and her natural curiosity keeps the work fresh and lively. Her work is represented in the US and Australia and is found in many corporate, civic, and educational collections and in private collections worldwide.
She experiments, paints, writes and teaches at her studio in Santa Fe, NM, and teaches around the US, Europe and Australia. She is the author of six art technique books and several instructional DVDs.
Sulie Girardi was born in Chicago, but has lived in Vienna, Austria for the past 30 years, where she owns and operates Vienna Expressions Studio. Sulie has obtained the Art Clay Levels 1,2 and Teachers Certificate/Higher Diploma, as well as the Metal Clay Diploma from the Cornwall School of Jewelry. She teaches in her own studio and is also a frequent guest instructor in the US. Sulie’s work has been published in numerous magazines in Europe and the US, and has won awards in the Fire Mountain Gems and Beads Jewelry Competition and Bead Dreams. She is featured in a number of instructional videos on Craftcast.com.
Micah Goguen grew up in Central Georgia and obtained his Bachelors in Art and Art History and his Masters in Art Therapy from Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville. He focuses primarily on bringing art to the community and using art as a form of communication for those struggling to understand and cope with life situations.
Goguen produces work while teaching art to both adults and children. He also volunteers time at the local community center and works with adults in alcohol and substance recovery as well as uprooted and traumatized children. Using mural work, art for entertainment and art therapy for healing, Micah collaborates with school systems, local shops, and non-profits to help unify and most importantly “spread a message”. The overall vision is to focus and rededicate back to a buy local, shop local mentality that strengthens community through unity and purpose.
Dar James is a full-time mixed media artist, writer, and illustrator of six children’s picture books. A lifelong teacher and workshop leader, she is trained by Golden Acrylics and is a Silver Brush Educator. Based in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, she exhibits regionally, facilitates annual art retreats for women, and leads online courses that focus on expanding color understanding and building a strong foundation in acrylic mediums through experimentation and play. She has been a featured instructor for Drew Steinbrecher's Collage Maker's Summit, Este MacLeod's Colori Flori, Lifebook by Willowing and Sonheim Productions.
About her work, Dar says: “Color is always my way in. Every mark becomes a decision that leads to the next—what I call ‘rocks to sand,’ a process of building form and meaning step by step. My imagery grows from nature, but it lives in imagination. To be an artist is to live in wonder, and I love helping others find their way there.”
An Assemblage Artist residing in Mechanicsburg, Pa., Erin Keck's artwork results from re purposing found discarded objects. She loves to breathe new life into castaways from yesteryear. Erin's artwork is shown and sold in three prestigious art galleries in Pa. The 2nd Floor in Mechanicsburg, Pa, Village Artisans Gallery in Boiling Springs, Pa, and Perry County Council Of The Arts in Newport, Pa. She has been a Featured Artist in two of the galleries with Private Showings. Recently Erin's work has been published in the book, “1000 Steampunk Creations” by Grymm. Seven of her pieces were chosen for this book. She has taught community craft classes on a monthly basis from 2007 – 2010, and has taught classes at the Charmed I'm Sure Studio owned by friend and colleague and fellow Art & Soul instructor, Jean Van Brederode. Erin has lectured at the Central Pa. Bead and Jewelry Society, and has also taught private classes in her home studio. She has attended Art & Soul retreats for the past three years, and values the inspiration and knowledge that she has received from the Art & Soul instructors.You can see more of Erin's artwork at www.EKCreations.etsy.com. (be sure to view her sold items.)
Susan is a hard working, disciplined full time artist with a full time day job. Her work can be seen at Studios on High Gallery in the Short North Arts District, Nationwide Insurance headquarters and many businesses in and around Columbus, Ohio.
Susan has had extensive training from GOLDEN Paints and worked her way through college at Millersville University, PA where she had 6 years of design, drawing, painting, printmaking, fine art metals, photography, art history and sculpture. Skills from multiple genres and a little art history are integrated into her workshops. Online or in-person, Susan’s classes are relaxed, fun and informative designed for any skill level.
Follow Susan for weekly posts: @soozrossiter
Website and newsletter sign ups: SusanRossiter.com
Random questions: Susan.Rossiter@yahoo.com
Collage is a wonderful way to wake up the sleeping artist within. Collages are unique individual expressions, just like the artists are. I am exploring a range of subjects without a political agenda, welcoming the technical challenge of making realistic renderings from recycled materials. I enjoy making something attractive from discards, appropriating images and putting them together in intriguing ways. Like any artist, I am especially thrilled when my work calls to a viewer to come closer and spend some time engaged in the piece. While my pictorial collages are best viewed from a distance, a close up inspection can reveal a very different piece of art.
"My goal as an artist is to let my work bring joy to the viewer."
Lynne Suprock is a creative mixed-media designer, writer, and instructor, making a difference through art. She believes through art, the opportunity for emotional or physical healing truly exists.
As a mixed media artist, Lynne uses a variety of products in her work, such as enamel, metal, clay, paint and fabric.
Her work has been published extensively in several journals published by Stampington & Company, as well as in Cloth, Paper, Scissors and Lark Book, Showcase 500 Art Necklaces.
She served as a 2015-2016 design team member for Amazing Casting Products, and has been the featured fabric artist for Gel Press.
Lynne has been recently featured on seven episodes of the PBS show, Make It Artsy, (Season 3, 5, 6 and7) which aired between 2017-2019. Some of those episodes can also be found on the Make It Artsy website at:
https://www.makeitartsy.com/