Friday, December 30, 2011

New Year's Res-ART-lutions


Often we think about things we'd like to accomplish in a new year such as... lose weight, eat healthier, re-organize the attic, get a new job, give up smoking, take that trip to Europe... and so on. But rarely do we actually think about what we'd like to accomplish creatively.

We'd be a little biased if we told you that attending the fabulous, life-changing, mixed-media Art Retreat that is Art & Soul should be on your list, but hey — we know what a blast it is! But really — we'd love to hear what your artistic goals are for the new year. Did you want to finish up all your UFO's (UnFinished Objects)? Start a journal? Maybe you're going to pick up knitting. Perhaps you got a how-to book or art supplies for Christmas and you're going to try out some new projects. Have you always wanted to take up painting? Jewelry-making? Sewing? Dollmaking? Maybe you'll even be taking some classes at Art & Soul where you'll be learning something new!

Whatever your plans, we'd love for you to share them with us here. Put it out there for the whole world to see. Make that promise to yourself — to put or keep creativity in your life. And have a fantastic New Year!

Cheers to a happy, healthy, artistic 2012!
~ Glenny xoxo

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Merry Craftmas and Happy Glue Year!

When the hustle and bustle of retail extravaganzas and big box store bonanzas has become the new norm, handmade gifts and cards sometimes get lost in the shuffle. But not here in the creative realm of Art & Souler's, I bet! I'm sure you crafted a darling little card, or hand made some gifts this year. Maybe you prepared an amazing table setting for guests, or decorated the house with extra flair. No matter how you expressed your creativity this season — be proud of yourself for keeping the true spirit of art and individuality in the Holidays! 

And thank you all so much for your support of Art & Soul Retreats. Each and every one of you! Students and teachers alike. Taking time out to replenish your soul in a creative way is no longer a luxury — it's a necessity!  And I appreciate you choosing to play and have fun with us year after year. You are part of our success and I wish you the Happiest of Holidays and the Most Creative New Year Ever!

~ Glenny xo

Monday, December 19, 2011

BONUS! It's Easy As... 1-2-3-4!

 
That's right Art & Soul'ers... we're offering a special bonus if you sign up for 4 or more full-day workshops at our Portland and Virginia events! You'll benefit with early entry into our Vendor Extravaganza — you'll get in a whole hour early — Woohoo! And we'll give you a drink voucher — perhaps a little vino to help loosen those purse strings? Ha! Like you all need any help, LOL!


And, all you nice little elves out there — don't forget that it's not too late to get a gift certificate for the artistic people on your holiday gift list. You can make your gift for any denomination. And maybe we're a little biased, but we think Art & Soul makes the bestest gift ever! E-mail Glenny at glenny@artandsoulretreat.com and she'll get you taken care of asap!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Take Me To The River....


Well... that's exactly what we're going to do! Because next year's Portland Art & Soul event will be taking place at the Red Lion on the River in Jantzen Beach. Imagine the serenity of being right on the Columbia River... with spectacular views of the waterway right outside your room, the restaurants, and even the classrooms! This resort-style property is the perfect location for letting go of the everyday doldrums and diving into your creative adventure!


Besides the scenic location, one of the great advantages to this venue is that everything will be in one place! No more waking up early to catch a shuttle to that workshop in the other hotel. You don't even have to leave the Red Lion if you don't want to!


Red Lion's free airport shuttle will pick you up and drop you off. When you check in you'll find the accommodations simply delightful, with each room featuring a balcony view (some overlooking the river), microwave, refrigerator, coffee maker and in-room safe. Your stay includes a free breakfast and happy hour beverage. Rates are $129 for a standard guestroom, $139 for a river view, and suites are $179 & $189. Single and double-bed rooms are available... so come for solitude or share your stay with a creative friend!


At the Red Lion on the River, you'll find a friendly, exuberant staff to welcome you into this relaxing atmosphere. As hosts of our event, they've set up a Hospitality Bar right at our registration area. Grab a snack or a refreshment when you need it in-between classes or for a quick pick me up (if you've ever been to Art & Soul, you know what we mean!).


On site, you'll have plenty of room to relax, stretch out, or even take a stroll on their more than one mile long paved walking path along the river. And when you're hungry or need some libations, head over to the Red Lion's own Jantzen Beach Bar & Grill, offering a stylish, upbeat atmosphere and boasting one of the best views on the Columbia River. Known as one of the happiest lounges around, they have 2 Happy Hours offered from 3-6 AND 9pm-11pm! And Executive Chef Lorenzo Gonsalves has quite a background... we're looking forward to having some delicious meals here! And, if you do need to get out or want to take care of meals on your own, there's a Grocery store nearby as well as the Jantzen Beach Shopping Mall.... and of course... Portland!


We are so looking forward to this new location and taking a respite from the workaday world. Remember how excited you were about recess when you were a little kid? Well... welcome to recess for creative adults! Now that you've heard about our new accommodations, check out the list of workshops for Portland Art & Soul 2012 and plan your escape today!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

No Foolin'... Portland 2012 is LIVE! Woot! Woot!


The behind the scenes work is done. You had your little sneaky peek. And now we're all set and ready for perusing! So go ahead and take a look at everything we have to offer at Portland 2012 Art & Soul.

Many of you know that Art & Soul was "born" in Portland and I'm excited to announce that this will be our 11th year.  Can you believe it?  The years have passed in a blink of an eye. The event is a labor of love for me and I am blessed to have incredible instructors, volunteers and attendees  who have offered countless hours of support, innovation and WORK to make the event the most outstanding art retreat in the country.  The friendships that have been made will last a lifetime and it warms my heart to see the reunions each year.  If you have never attended  — join us!  And if you are returning — we cannot wait to see you!

Registration begins December 3rd, so pick out your favorites and get those supplies on your Holiday Wish List!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Portland Classes Are Almost Up!

We're working on putting up the workshops for Portland 2012 Art & Soul and thought you would like a sneak peek at what we have so far! And boy, let me tell you how difficult it was to choose from the amazing offerings of these extremely talented instructors. Mixed-media art is at an all time high and creative juices are overflowing!

So grab a snack and a drink and get yourself in front of the computer to browse around what we've got so far and see what catches your fancy. I guarantee you it'll be hard to narrow down your choices!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Peace, Love and Shop Local!


With the holidays coming — and Black Friday looming — I thought it appropriate to talk about Small Business Saturday. And I just loved the name of this little hippie shop in the town of Woodstock, NY. So VERY appropriate and it got me all nostalgic for the days of shopping local and shopping privately-owned stores.

It is not news that small, independent businesses are having a most difficult time surviving. It breaks my heart every day to hear of another store — especially an art store — that finds itself having to close. I learned that one sales rep in northern California has lost over 59 stores in the past 2 years! I find that statistic appalling and want to encourage everyone to participate in the Shop Small event this Saturday... The 2nd annual Small Business Saturday. The CEO of American Express stated that more jobs are created annually by small, local businesses than the large corporations. And yet, we are seeing their rapid decline and it is quite scary.

My father-in-law opened a pharmacy in the 1940’s — soda fountain, the whole shebang. I worked with him and my husband in the store for over 20 years until the competition was just too tough. In my mind, it is a huge loss to each community. The whole cohesive feeling of being recognized and appreciated as a customer is gone. Small businesses do not have huge corporate funding available for advertising and discounts to entice the public. We rely on personal service, attention to detail and a smile to encourage customers. Your local art store owner, clothing store owner, landscape owner, restaurant owner, etc, etc — will take time to show you new items, demo a new product, and order any item that you may desire!


So please visit and shop your local small businesses this Saturday, November 26th so we can help them make sure to... Not Fade Away!

Fondly,
Glenny

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Peter Piper Picked A Pack Of Portland Classes...


Okay, so it's not Peter Piper... it's me and my trusty art colleagues! But I just wanted to drop in to let you know the jury is still attempting to select the best classes for next year's Portland Art & Soul Retreat. The proposals have been outstanding. The problem we are having is a nice one — but very difficult. There are simply too many wonderful proposals, and not enough room to have them all. If we were to do that — it would be an event lasting 3 weeks!

I hope we can have final decisions by the end of this week and begin uploading workshops to the website. Our goal is to have everything online for you to view before Thanksgiving and registration will begin on December 1st. And make sure to mark your calendars for Portland 2012... September 30th through October 6th!

Happy Holidays to All... and don't forget to tell your loved ones that a Gift Certificate to Art & Soul would be wonderful!

~ Glenny xoxo

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Art & Soul... Over a Decade!


Did you know that Art & Soul has been around since 1999? Beginning as smaller, more intimate weekend events on the Oregon coast, Art & Soul has grown into annual events in multiple locations throughout the United States. Our now week-long retreats have been going strong year-after-year, with many people attending all the events around the country!


The mastermind behind Art & Soul’s dynamic retreats, Glenny Densem-Moir is no stranger to event planning. More than 20 years of weddings, anniversaries, bar and bat mitzvah’s, themed parties and festivals kept her busy, busy, busy. During that time, Glenny sought an outlet for her artistic endeavors and discovered a few small venues for creative learning. When she realized that she could take her passion for creativity and education, and create a large-scale venue for mixed media… Art & Soul Retreats was born!

Glenny has a knack for selecting the most popular instructors as well as discovering up-and-coming artists and art trends that attendees find interesting. In fact, many of the top mixed media artists of today got their start with Art & Soul Retreats. Besides the delight in running such an event, Glenny loves to watch the attendees push beyond their comfort zone and create something magnificent. The smiles on their faces as they walk from their workshops — projects held high — is all Glenny needs to reassure her that she’s on the right path. Her commitment to excellence has made Art & Soul the premier mixed media retreat in the country.

So when did you first attend Art & Soul? We'd love to hear your stories!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Go Ahead and "Like" Us!


Did you know that Art & Soul has it's own fan page on Facebook? Yup, that's right! Now you can keep tabs on what we're up to in real time, find out behind the scenes stuff, discover new workshops, instructors, venues, contests, projects and so much more! There's so much to talk about. So come on over to our Art & Soul Facebook page and Like us!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Art & Soul Portland... Make It Work!


Nope, you haven't landed on the wrong blog site! This is what happens when creative people get together for an opening night party and have a fashion (we're using the term very loosely here!) challenge — Project Runway style! Our brave models from left to right were Ty Schultz, Earl Zachery, and Dan Carell who are all winners in our eyes. Oh... our eyes!


The fun and frivolity was not only the final Runway challenge for this competition, but also watching everyone in action getting made up! Do you think Ty's hand is saying, "I surrender" or perhaps it's more like, "help me". Janne Robberstad looks as if she's about to get serious with that hair spray... look out Ty!


One of the fabulous things about how Art & Soul retreats has grown over the years, is the diversity of workshops and instructors that we now have. I mean — we've got practically everything you can think of! And this year we had so much more...


One thing we always have are students who love what they create and are so pleased with themselves! Being surrounded by hand made prints from Liz Kettle's Natural Beauty class — well, it's just too much fun! It's quite common to walk into a classroom and see recently created works of art strewn about all over the place, and the students all abuzz.


And speaking of things strewn about — ummm, uh-oh, wait! Oops you weren't supposed to see that! Pay no attention to the woman behind that door. Okay, since you already peeked... it's my friend Jean... and she's getting all the glorious items together to fill your goodie bags with. Weren't they fabulous?


Sharyn Sowell's Letterpress 101 was an amazing education in an age-old manual printing discipline — and such a lovely one at that. Look at all these cool letters and images — how can you decide what to play with? Isn't it funny how a lot of us mixed-media artists are drawn to the type cases, block letters and images... and now we can take a class where we get to actually use them! Fascinating.


I don't know how she does it, but Susan Schenk's Collage Your Pet class always ends up with amazing pieces. Can't you just see the soulful expression on this yellow lab's face? Adorable!


 And take a look at this radiant beauty created in Jessica Acosta's Doll Collage workshop! Simply stunning and such great detail with the shading and addition of dimensional objects. Lovely, lovely layers!


We even had a class on loom weaving with Kat Allison! Looks theraputic and fun! Another classic American craft kept alive through the mixed media art retreat. Hooray for history!


And what have we here? A wig workshop by Lana Guerra! Students totally got Wigged Out on this one. Check out Greg Clark's cool creation in pink. I bet you could learn a lot in this class and then apply it on a smaller scale for mixed media dolls! Now that's exciting!


And let's not forget about our Vendor Extravaganza — always a blast! All the mixed media art supplies you could dream of (and more) all in one place! Didn't Mary Fisher have some delicious looking fabrics? Yum!!

And now that we're all caught up, I'd really like to say thank you so much to all our instructors for their hard work, support and dedication to Art & Soul. You are a huge part of our succes — and not only that — you are a part of our family!

A big thanks to Patti Haltom of Stamp A Dee Do Da for bringing her store to the Portland event! She did a fabulous job gathering stuff for attendees!

The Embassy Hotel continues to be the best in the world. The staff is incredible and seems to remember every one of us and our individual needs. How lucky we are to have had our event with them for over 10 years!

And Marie. Woman of Steel. We love you!

So I hope to see some of you in Virginia Beach (our rooms have balconies on the water - Wowza!) or perhaps at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, NV. Until then my little mixed media mavens....

Glenny
xoxo

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Introducing... Our 2012 Theme!


We are so excited to announce that the theme of next year's Art & Soul Retreats will be....

Puttin On The Ritz!

And how about this amazing logo created by the very talented Lynne Perella! Simply fabulous!

This theme brings about all kinds of cool ideas for trades, opening night party fun, embellished accessories (like top hats and canes), and of course... some interesting thoughts for our "special alterable object".

While we begin plans for 2012, we invite you to put your thinking caps on and go to town on ways to expand on this motif! We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Changes To Art & Soul Payment Methods...

Due to the rising costs of credit card processing, we are going to temporarily discontinue their use as a manner of payment for Art & Soul. We have decided to try this procedure rather than increasing the costs of the classes.

You will still be able to use Pay Pal.  For those who are not familiar with Pay Pal, it is very user friendly and easy to understand.  They allow you to use your credit card and/or bank account for funding.  So technically, if you are using a credit card for payment already, you only have to switch to a Pay Pal account.

We will also be implementing a system to allow you to pay by check, either in full or with payments.  This will take some time for the web master to program.  In the meantime, if you owe a balance and wish to pay by check, send the check to:

Art & Soul
30231 SE Wheeler Rd
Boring, OR 97009

We will credit your account manually.  The same is true if you wish to add a class and pay by check.  In that case, please email me the class info and then send the check.  We will add your class and hold the spot for one week allowing time for the check to arrive.

Thank you for your continued support of Art & Soul.  It is our goal to offer you the finest of retreat experiences, the best classes and instructors and ease of registration. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at Glenny@ArtAndSoulRetreat.com!

Friday, September 16, 2011

And The Winners Are...

We'd like to send out a big hearty Congratulations to our contest winners...

Debra Gilman and Tami Roth!
 
Yay! Hooray! Woohoo! They were drawn from the pool of correct guessers in our most recent contest — where we gave you a piece of an Art & Soul project, and had you tell us what class and instructor it was from. Debra and Tami will both receive a free class at Art & Soul. Ladies, we hope you enjoy your "prizes" and have tons of fun learning something new creatively.

Thanks to all of you who played our fun little game. Keep your eye out for more contests in the future! Ta-ta for now...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Last chance to play! Win a free Portland class!

Contest #2
This contest is open to those who are not currently registered for Art & Soul Portland 2011.  Shown is a partial photo of one of the class samples.  Visit the Portland section of our website to figure out which class and instructor it is and e-mail the answer to me at glenny@artandsoulretreat.com (don't put it on FaceBook or this blog -- you want to keep it a secret!)  I will put all correct answers into a drawing.  Two people will be selected and each will  receive a free class in Portland.   Hurry, the drawing will be September 15th. So here is #2...

Please note that registration fees will be the responsibility of the winner. Good luck!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Destination Creativity!

Well, she's done it again! The inimitable RicĂ« Freeman Zachery has come out with another amazing book celebrating the creativity and connection of art retreats! She traveled the country, visiting some of the largest events in the nation, including — of course — Art & Soul. She takes you on a journey (right from the comfort of your living room) where you'll find that these gatherings of like-minded souls not only seek out inspiration, but a sense of community — and they find it. RicĂ« has done the homework for you! If you've ever thought about attending an art retreat, or wished you knew what it was like, you need this book!

RicĂ« has even made a fun little video about her journey and the book — Destination Creativity: The Life-Altering Journey of the Art Retreat. Check it out...

And don't forget to order your copy now on Amazon! You'll be uplifted and inspired!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A New Contest!

Contest #1
This contest is open to those who are not currently registered for Art & Soul Portland 2011.  Each week, we will post a partial photo of one of the class samples.  Guess which class and instructor and email it to me at glenny@artandsoulretreat.com. (don’t list on Facebook or this blog — you want to keep it a secret!)  I will put all correct answers into a drawing.  Two people will be selected and each will  receive a free class in Portland.   The drawing will be September 15th.  (registration fees will be the responsibility of the winner). So here's #1. Good luck!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Las Vegas Art & Soul... Is Now Open For Registration!

I know, I know! It seems like we just posted the 2012 Las Vegas classes for your perusal (because we did!) So hopefully, you’ve scoured your favorite workshops, looked through the talented list of instructors, and fallen in love with some of those example projects featuring so many amazingly creative pieces! And now it’s time to choose.

You’ll the information for the Vegas, June 14-18, 2012 event on our Art & Soul website now! So pick your lucky numbers, place your bets, and let those creative wheels start spinning… Woohoo!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

This is a sample post only

This is a sample post only. Just to check out how the formatting might look. But look how cute little Katie puppy is. She's just absolutely adorable. I bet she's grown so much since this photo!

• This is a sample post only
• Just to check out how the formatting might look.

This is a sample post only. Just to check out how the formatting might look.