Upcoming Retreats:
Portland Fall 2026
Sept 14 - 20, 2026
Gubbio, Italy
Sept 28-Oct 27 2026
Portland Spring 2027
March 15-21, 2027
Scottsdale, AZ
July 20-28, 2027
All registration is online ONLY!
Quicklinks:
Orly Avineri is a mixed media artist, a teacher, and an author. She was born and raised in Israel, ended up in Southern California after living in the Netherlands for nearly a decade. Now living in the beautiful Willamette Valley in Oregon she teaches workshops and retreats in intimate settings, locally, in the US, and abroad. Orly’s work’s purpose is to advance the well being of those who seek it through unique and intimate natural and man-made processes and materials. Engaging in a world that is far more expansive than her own enlivens her to no end and she hopes to invoke that feeling in others by introducing and marrying multiple media to inspire freedom of expression and a deep belief in the possibility, the power, and the beauty of change. All for the sake of a deep sense of interconnectedness to all.
www.orlyavineri.com
Instagram: @orlyavineri
Facebook: @orlyavineri
Kecia is a mixed media artist whose work lives somewhere between book, object, and quiet offering. She works with fabric scraps, paper, stitching, and found elements, allowing intuition and material memory to guide each piece. In her classes, Kecia encourages a slower way of making—one rooted in listening, touch, and letting go of perfection. Her teaching is soft, supportive, and process-driven, welcoming artists of all experience levels. www.keciadeveney.com
Roxanne Evans Stout is a mixed media artist who lives and creates in the Pacific Northwest. She teaches art workshops throughout the United States and has had her work shown and been published nationally. Roxanne is constantly inspired by natural history, and the mountains and the river lands that surround her home...
this inspiration has always been an integral part of her art. Roxanne has taught workshops and retreats throughout the United States and abroad. She aslo teaches fabulous on line workshop, please see her website to find out more!
Roxanne has two best selling books available on Amazon:
Storytelling with Collage, and Dancing on Raindrops
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B01CGZE7JG/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=27ace9ca-b05d-4afb-ad47-624374543d89&store_ref=ap_rdr&ref_=ap_rdr&ccs_id=afa283d9-afd0-4c6d-8441-4183ab3542ef
https://www.roxanneevansstout.com/
https://www.instagram.com/roxanneevansstout/
Tonya Gray had been creating and selling her artwork for 30 years, first as a ceramics artist, then as a painter. She sells at art shows around the country and is at Portland Saturday Market most weekends (Market member for 15 years). Her work is quiet, thoughtful and fun, and often brings a smile.
Tonya Gray <tonyagrayartworks@gmail.com>
Pamela Sue Johnson is a self-taught mixed-media artist known for her expressive, layered work and her engaging teaching style. With a passion for helping others access their own creativity, Pamela designs and leads creative experiences that inspire, empower, and encourage joyful self-expression.
Pamela has been a core instructor with the Art & Soul community since 2022 and has taught at events throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond for the last decade. She has also worked as a guest teaching artist in local schools and has served as an artist-in-residence in Southern Nevada, near the desert landscapes of her childhood.
Pamela is the creator of Art Zine, a publication dedicated to creative inspiration and the intuitive artist’s journey. Based in a rural forest community near Vancouver, Washington, she now spends part of the winter season snowbirding in the deserts of Nevada.
Learn more about Pamela here:
Website: https://www.pamelasuejohnson.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamelasuejohnson11/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pamelasuejohnson/
Chris is a soulful Creative whose work lives at the intersection of wild and inner landscapes. Chris blends introspection with expression through mixed media exploration, and crafts spaces where others can awaken their inner spark to remember who they are beneath the noise. She explores creative processes that weave their stories into her life’s journey; for her, art and life are inextricably intertwined, creating meaning together.
Chris is passionate about empowering women as she helps them find their inner light through creativity as a vehicle to expansion, empowerment, strength, and love, so they may come home to their authentic selves. Chris has taught thousands of students across the world, helping reconnect them to their creative core, finding their true voice.
Chris has been an Artist in Residence in Orquevaux, France, October 2023, and is honoured to have her work in the Denis Diderot Gallery (France). Her work has been part of the 2024 and 2025 Artist Almanac and she is also a regular contributor to Somerset Studio, the world’s premier mixed media magazine.
Currently Chris is working on writing a book and finishing up her oracle deck while teaching in-person, on-line and in her studio.
instagram https://www.instagram.com/christinekarpiak/
you tube https://www.youtube.com/@chriskarpiak/videos
Carol is a life-long quilter with a passion for sharing what she’s learned by teaching both art and traditional quilting. She makes quilts that tell a story, reflect emotions and connect with the viewer on a personal level. Her love of texture and fiber is the driving force of her work, and she enjoys helping others find their creative voice through fabric and thread.
Her work has been displayed in numerous art venues including the American Quilters Society (AQS) Paducah, Sacred Threads in Indianapolis, Mancuso in Philadelphia, Middletown Arts Center in Middletown, Ohio, and the Aullwood Center in Dayton, Ohio.
Carol is a member of the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Artists of Cincinnati, Ohio (CQAFA) and has served on the Board in numerous capacities, including as president. She says the opportunity to work with like-minded artists has been invaluable.
Robin O’Neil is a textile artist and educator whose intuitive, freeform quilts burst with color, texture, and movement. With a background in philosophy and special education, she began quilting in 1973 and later abandoned templates to embrace spontaneity. Her large-scale works are tactile celebrations of creativity, joy, and wonder. O’Neil has taught nationally, completed a residency at Château d’Orquevaux, and been featured on PBS and at QuiltCon. Her quilts invite connection through bold expression and fearless improvisation.
Roxanne Padgett has been creating “stuff” and making “messes” since she was 4 or 5 years old using whatever materials she could find. She does the same thing today, but now it is called mixed media art “I enjoy experiencing the creative process with others and I believe that everyone is creative and not just a special few. My personal motto is “Fear No Color”.
Roxanne teaches a variety art classes for adults throughout the Bay Area and at art retreats around the country. In addition, Roxanne is the Creative Director at the Museum of Children’s Art . Roxanne’s art work has been featured in a variety of publications such as, Somerset studio, Sew Somerset, Stuffed and Green Craft. Roxanne is also the author of “Acrylics techniques in Mixed Media” Layer, Scribble, Stencil, Stamp published by North Light Books.
padgettroxanne3@gmail.com
Jesse Reno is a self-taught mixed media painter. He has been drawing since he could hold a pencil, and has been a full time artist since 2003.
Jesse has amassed over 5000 paintings, and has exhibited his work extensively across the US and Canada as well as France, Mexico, and around the world. Jesse's work has been covered in various art publications including Juxtapoz, Artnews, Artension, dpi and Somerset Studio just to name a few. One of his largest works can be seen in Winnipeg, Canada where he was commissioned by the Province of Manitoba to create a 25 x 40 ft mural as a reminder to the cultural importance of the Native American people in the region.
website: jessereno.com
instagram: @jessereno
ROBIN SANFORD ROBERTS is an artist and theatrical scenic designer working in models and mixed media. She has designed scenery for multiple theatres including the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego Repertory, Denver Center Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage and Broadway.
She holds a degree in Architecture from LSU and a MFA in Scenic Design from UCSD. She also studied at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts, Fontainebleau and at Sir John Cass School of Art, London Polytechnic. Robin teaches and designs scenery for the Department of theatre at University of San Diego as well as art classes at Art on 30th and The Athenaeum in San Diego.
Her teaching style embraces the student wherever they are-working to support and encourage each person’s individuality and personal style. She brings joy and enthusiasm to classes and truly embraces the creativity of each person.
“I have an obsession with old books and other ephemera. The fragments and bits of pieces come together to make a new piece. I enjoy working with pieces from the past that have a history of a previous life. I am inspired to create new work from placing the old elements into a new format.”
Student feedback:
Donna A:
The course was well organized with a perfect balance of art history and studio time. Her demonstrations were all well prepared and relevant to the lesson of the day. The course was filled- and she managed to give everyone personal guidance, and she fostered a sense of community within the group. I learned new techniques and was moved out of my comfort zone to try new things. Pretty amazing. Not only that even though the studio time was serious- we all had fun.
Carolyn O: Robin was super
knowledgable, articulate, engaged, and dedicated to making every minute count sharing her individual techniques.
Instagram: @mizrobin
www.robinsanfordrobertsart.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."
Brittany began her basket weaving, textile, and fiber arts journey at age ten and has been trekking that road ever since. Brittany is on a mission to make basket weaving and fiber arts accessible and easy to dive into. From weaving baskets in the bathroom next to the bathtub as a teenager, hand cleaning pounds of wool in the backyard, spinning thousands of yards of yarn just to move on to a new project, and traveling around with an ever-growing assortment of tools and materials in tow, living as a fiber fanatic is her way of life. She strives to teach in a way that empowers each student to feel confident and enthusiastic about the object they are creating. She runs a textile arts website and Youtube channel called Textile Indie where she encourages others to explore basket weaving and other fiber arts. See more of her work at www.textileindie.com
Rio is an environmental artist that has been working with the earth to garner colors and pigments as well as found objects to create abstract works in sculpture and textiles. For over 20 years she has created, exhibited, and performed locally and nationally. By 2013 she began teaching her processes and techniques to adults and children across the nation. In 2023, she published an inspirational memoir, 'Spirituality of Rust - A Sacred Language of Iron Though Art'. Always learning and exploring new ways to manifest with this earth is her passion. Connecting with community and sharing is her mission.