fieldwork: exploratory play in Midcoast Maine

2024 dates tba

PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR 2024 DATES. Join social practice artist Lesley Roberts for a week-long, self-directed creative retreat informed by the concepts of enchantment and place. This improvisational, exploratory program will provide loosely paced, self-directed time to explore a personal project. Work could be slow stitching, painting or sketching, photography, foraging, natural dyeing, writing, thinking, movement. An interest in textiles (fiber) or regenerative practice may be the most natural fit, given the environment and the pool of people to whom this opportunity will be shared.

We’ll enjoy two half-day outings to explore the local area; shared tools; a delicious vegetarian menu, snacks and coffee/tea; and a quiet coastal setting to connect with other creatives in the heart of Midcoast Maine’s idyllic landscape.

Framing concepts:

• Enchantment will serve as an inspiration; the week will be an opportunity to recenter ourselves away from the usual demands of our lives and refocus on what drives our creative practice.

• “The enchanted life presented here is one which is intuitive, which embraces wonder, and fully engages the creative imagination – but it is also deeply embodied, ecological, grounded in place and community. It rummages and roots on the wild edges, but comes home to an enchanted home and garden. It is engaged with the small, the local, the ethical; enchanted living is slow living.” (Quoted from Sharon Blackie.)

This weeklong retreat is intended to foster mental space for you to explore a tangible creative expression in your own medium. This inaugural program is thoughtfully, structurally loose: I offer the concept of enchantment as a framing device, and will share additional readings before we depart and during the week. We will have time to gather for (optional) group discussions of the thoughts and observations this line of query takes. The theme is meant to remind us of the delight nascent in our own lived experiences; and is especially apt for me in this place, as I often find myself utterly astonished by the world while I am here, under this sky.

If you’d like to rent the home for your own creative retreat or holiday, please link here for details. 

Fieldwork includes

• 7 Days / 6 Nights, own room in a charming, shared home (max capacity 5 people, including host)

• Transfers to/from Rockland/Owl’s Head airport (RKD) or Concord Coach Bus Terminal if arriving via Portland (PWM) or Bangor (BGR) airports; transportation to excursions during the week

• Two half-day excursions into Camden and Rockland or other destinations tbd by group consensus

• Ample time and space for self-directed quiet work, walking the cove, exploring the Breakwater and Lighthouse, foraging, reading, other

• Access to various materials including silk and cotton threads, stitching needles, plants for color and building (think Alice Fox), dye pots to share, Singer 3820 machine, leaves, sticks, seashells, and more

• Links to readings

• Continental breakfasts; most lunches and dinners, inspired by Heidi Swansons’s Super Natural Cooking (vegetarian); when out on excursion days we will purchase our own meals.

• Snacks, coffee, and tea throughout the week

• A charming, intimate space to gather

• Welcome gift

  Travel expenses, travel insurance, flights, and meals as noted are not included.