Gathering at The Prairie

Gathering

n. noun

1. The action of one that gathers.

2. That which is gathered or amassed; a collection or accumulation. 

3. An assembly of persons; a meeting.

Art Retreat at the Prairie was all of these.

Barb Solem of ViviMagoo Presents chose the perfect place to host an art retreat.  Rachel Ashwell's Prairie consists of the main lodge, several small cabins, a barn, and the main house where the shop and kitchen/dining room are.  All have been decorated in Rachel's shabby chic style and are so comfortable and homey.  The secluded, intimate setting lends itself to introspection, creativity, and coming together with friends, new and old.

I stayed in the Liliput Lodge or as it was being called, "The Big House" (not the one that Johnny Cash sings about though).  Here is a picture of my bedroom and the bathroom.

 Sweet little amenities

My teaching space the first day for botanical dye printing was on this lovely screened in porch that you see Rachel Ashwell sitting on the steps in front of.

It was the perfect place for dyeing but the second day of class the rain had set in and it was too chilly and damp to be out on the porch so we moved inside.

These rooms were transformed with extra tables, botanicals that had been collected, and all sorts of rusty items along with fabrics and ribbons to dye.  I am not very good at documenting with photos.  I get busy and distracted and forget all about taking them so you only get to see the pristine setting before we converged with all our "stuff".

Students work

After two days of botanical and rust dyeing the scene changed. Students arrived to reconstruct unloved shirts into a new garment.  Again I only have pics of one student's work and I'm sorry because there were some great garments being created and I have nothing to show.  Perhaps the students will send me some pics?

Here's Stevie in her upcycled art shirt.

At the end of the day the table looked like this as wine was brought out to toast our wonderful time to"gather".

At dinner there was a bit of shenanigans going on with lots of fun and laughter.

Thank you Barb, The Prairie and all my students and friends!