After our highly successful workshop in France last spring, we had anticipated another overseas adventure with creative minds. However, when the world irrevocably changed we decided to stay closer to home. We've chosen a site on the California coast just 90 minutes from San Francisco. The Marconi Conference Center is a rural state park in West Marin County on 62 acres of wooded hillside overlooking Tomales Bay. It offers Bay views in the unspoiled coastal countryside, with comfortable accommodations and California cuisine. We are tremendously excited about the creative possibilities of this fresh location-perched on the edge of our own continent. We invite you to discover how the repetition of nearby waves can be a catalyst for the artist in you. We are, as always, heartened by the staying-power of making art - especially in these uncertain times.

 ---Sas and Christine

The Work We Will Do Together

This six-day workshop plays with the correspondences between word and image. Christine will present the world of poetry through her readings and daily writing exercises. She will help you delve into the metaphoric possibilities of our surroundings and how they reflect one's own life symbols. Using established poets' work as springboards, you will experiment with your individual voice and language. Christine will nudge you to write poems that address what you might have thought "unsayable." Sas's teaching will dovetail with Christine's play between the exterior and interior worlds. Sas will guide you through painting, drawing and collage as well as experimenting with new techniques such as staining, carving, and rubbing, often incorporating the written into the visual. We will also play with layers and transparencies in making temporary installations. Most materials will be supplied. We emphasize process, thus what you produce during the week need not be "finished" or "polished." We will use the breathtaking beauty of the California coast and the quiet haven of our studio to provide the perfect balance for looking within and without.

Who Should Come

This workshop is suitable for the new as well as the seasoned artist and writer. The only pre-requisite is a desire to expand your creative life from where you are right now.

The Rhythm of Our Days

We will meet every morning from 9-12, then break for lunch. There will be an afternoon studio session; each day will include personal time for hiking, napping and musing. There will be two evening sessions and a field trip to Pt. Reyes National Seashore. The studio is open until 11pm daily.

How to Get There

Participants will fly into San Francisco International Airport. From there, either rent a car or make a reservation for an airport van. We will facilitate transportation to the Conference Center for a prorated fee depending on the number of passengers. You will not need a car at the Conference Center. Plan on a two-hour drive from San Francisco to Marin.

The Retreat begins on Sunday, April 14 at 3 p.m., and it ends on Friday, April 19 after lunch.

Your Instructors

Christine and Sas are collaborators whose enduring friendship has sparked projects from making books to teaching joint courses at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, the Santa Fe Book Art Symposium and a traveler's workshop in France last spring.

Sas Colby has been teaching and exhibiting art for thirty years. Her work is in the collection of the Australian National Gallery, the Bibliotheque Nationale, The Oakland Museum, and numerous private and public collections. Colby has exhibited widely, including the Pompidou Center, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her survey show, Twenty Years of Book Thinking, traveled to three venues in 1995. She has taught and/or lectured at Mills College, Columbia College, the Omega Institute, the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Haystack and Penland Schools, the University of the Arts, and in Australia. Colby now lives in Berkeley, California and spends her summers in Taos, New Mexico.

Christine Hemp is an award-winning poet, musician, and performer who is published widely and has been heard recently on NPR's Morning Edition. Her poetry manuscript "Light and Get Away" was a semi-finalist in the 2001 Morton Poetry Prize at Sarabande Press; her art writing appears in American Craft, Art & Auction, and Art Access. One of Hemp's poems was launched into space on a NASA mission. This year she has performed and read her work at such places as Le Manufacture Royale in Montolieu, France and The Centrum Blues Festival. Her teaching experience includes Harvard University students, Taos Pueblo Tribal members, Los Alamos Scientists, and the London, England Metropolitan Police Force where poetry writing provided a connection between officers and youth offenders. She lives in Port Townsend, Washington.

The Fee

$1800 covers all tuition, lodging (double room with private bath), meals and tax. Participants are responsible for transportation to and from the retreat. There are 3 single rooms available for a $450 supplement.

How to Register

Deadline is February 10, 2002

• Contact Sas by phone: 510-841-8827, or E-mail sascolby@earthlink.net to determine space availability:
• Send a deposit of $400 to reserve your space. Make your check out to Sas Colby and send to: 2817 Ellsworth Street, Berkeley, CA 94705
• Balance of $1400 is due by March 15, 2002.
• Upon enrollment we will send further details, including a supply list, travel suggestions, trip insurance and other resources.

Cancellation Policy

Sorry, due to the short lead-time of this workshop, there will be no refunds for cancellations unless you are able to provide a replacement.

For Further Information

For questions about poetry and writing:

Christine Hemp
P.O. Box 674, Port Townsend, WA 98368  
Phone: 360-385-9005.     
Web:  www.christinehemp.com

Inquiries about visual art, facilities and arrangements:

Sas Colby
2817 Ellsworth Street, Berkeley, CA 94705 
Phone: 510-841-8827  
sascolby@earthlink.net 
Sas Colby on the web

Visit the Marconi State Park Conference Center website.