AQN Fall 2026 Retreat -Design and Conquer
October 1 – 3, 2026
Facilitator: Deb Menz and Laurel Izard
Meal Organizer: Laura Otten
In Depth Presenter: Georgie Cline and Barbara Bushey
Hampton Inn & Suites
Columbus University Area
3160 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH
Registration coming soon!
About the retreat: Design and Conquer
At this retreat we will take a step back from our design process and think about how choices will affect the final piece. By breaking down the factors that affect a piece, we can gain new insight when designing and or deciding what to change in a piece that is not working. The hands on is to quickly create a new set of fabrics to use in sample designs, then step back and look. Maybe change a few things to see how the design can evolve.
Participants should bring:
- Cup for the water to clean brushes
- Paint brushes, flat and round medium size for paint, a stiff bristle brush (stencil) if you have
- Scissors for paper AND for fabric
- Glue stick
- Painter tape( blue tape)
- Watercolor, gouache or acrylic paints or colored pencil (will use to create new colors for some designing)
- Paper towels
- A selection of fabrics in colors you like to work with (small pieces)
- A couple of fabrics that could be used as a background (9”x12”)
- Small pieces of fabrics you don’t like and want to change
- Some fabrics you are willing to share (no bigger than about 6”x9”)
- Rubber gloves and an apron or an old shirt
- Pins and needles
- Threads if you want to stitch on your sample.
IF YOU HAVE, please bring:
- Small stencils, small stamps (we will have some there, too)
- Fabric paints or markers, if you have them
- Pins, threads and needles if you wish to stitch on your sample.
FOR YOUR PARTICIPANT’S TIME
Each participant will get 10 minutes to show their finished work, Works in progress, sketchbooks – anything to give the group insight of you and your work. We are not doing a slide show this year, so this is your time to shine. If you want input on a piece, this will be the time to ask.
Upcoming Retreats
Spring 2027 Retreat
TBD
Past Retreats
AQN Spring 2026 Retreat -We’ll Collaborate & Abstract
April 9 – 11, 2026
Facilitator: Donalee Kennedy, Jo Thomas, and Deborah Griffing
Meal Organizer: Laura Otten and Nikki Nwosu
In Depth Presenter: Kate Gorman
Hampton Inn & Suites
Columbus University Area
3160 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH
Grab your apron, your imagination, and your neighbor’s doodle – Exquisite Corpse is about to become our most fun collaborative experiment.
ART is always a vital part of our retreats. For many of us, working solo can feel isolating, and sometimes this isolation can lead to self-doubt, or lack of inspiration, and a feeling of disconnection or lack of passion. We understand the importance of sharing and collaboration to break through these barriers. This retreat, we’ll focus on the significance of collaboration in our daily practice through the exploration of mixed media collage. We might even pick up new skills that we can add to our artistic toolbox! There will be a conversation on critiques led by Barbara Bushey and an in-depth presentation from Kate Gorman. Of course there will be many induvudial member shares, along with our favorite yoga sessions with Gwen Surratt.
Collaboration can take many forms—between artists, with books, in a room full of people, with artificial intelligence, and through our tools. Sharing ideas and skills can inspire reflection, enhance our craft, set new goals, and, most importantly, cultivate a wonderful experience together.
AQN Fall 2025 Retreat – The Restorative Power of Creativity
October 9 – 11, 2025
Facilitator: Laurel Izard
Workshop Presenter: Michele Pollock
Meal Organizer: Laura Otten
In Depth Presenter: Frauke Palmer
Hampton Inn & Suites
Columbus University Area
3160 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH
The title of our fall Retreat, “The Restorative Power of Creativity” asks us to look at the ways we have gathered, joy, strength and healing from our artistic practice. With different prompts we will talk about the ways making art restores us, makes our lives better and brings us into community.
Thursday afternoon we will discuss two quotes by Deborah Fell from her book, Life Through the Lens of Art Quilts.
Thursday night Michele Pollock of Lost Lake Studio will present her artist journey in her presentation, “Art as a Way Through Illness and Grief” and you will have a chance to enjoy the beautiful work she has created based on her observations of the natural world around her.
Friday morning Michele will lead her workshop “From Camera to Thread: Translating Nature Photos in Hand Embroidery”. She will teach us about recreating our nature photos in embroidery.
Friday night Frauke Palmer will give us a presentation of the evolution of her work and give us insights into her creative process and the ways she has used nature for inspiration.
Saturday we will have a wonderful time at the business meeting (as we always do!) In the afternoon Laurel Izard will lead us in a grid painting exercise.
In addition we will have chair yoga and a breakout exercise with a new kind of member share about what your studio/workspace looks like.
AQN Spring 2025 Retreat – Go with the Flow!
March 27 – 29, 2025
Facilitator: Kevin Womack
Featured Presenters: Deborah Griffing & Jenny Schu
Meal Organizers: Sandy Shellenberger & Laura Otten
In Depth Presenter: Maxine Thomas
Hampton Inn & Suites
Columbus University Area
3160 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH
Our workshop for this retreat, Improvised Collage with Deborah Griffing, will focus on improvisation while creating unique compositions. Starting with a digital copy of a photograph or drawing, we will explore mark-making and digital layering as we work, letting chance be our guide. Of course, there might be some hand stitching added to our paper compositions. It’s all about going with the flow!
Jenny Schu will provide an informative lecture on Organizing your Digital Life featuring a ton of information that will be invaluable to us all and Maxine Thomas will share her work and process with us so that we get to know her better.
In addition we will have a few breakout exercises on mark-making for even more choice in our improvised compositions and there will be a secret “special assignment” breakout should you choose to participate.
Finally we will discuss our ongoing plans for our upcoming 2026 traveling “Divergence” exhibition and our proposed gallery exhibit, “Transitions.” So plan to join us for an engaging and relaxing retreat and go with the flow!
AQN Fall 2024 Retreat – IT’S UP TO YOU
September 26 – 28, 2024
Facilitator: Christine Adams, Mary Lou Alexander & Suzette Tardif
Featured Presenters: Adrien Lucas
Meal Organizer: Kate Gorman & Gwen Suratt
In Depth Presenter: TBD
Hampton Inn & Suites
Columbus University Area
3160 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH
This retreat will be all about YOU- your Choices and your Brooches! Bring a small image of your choice, a photo, sketch, etc., and textile artist and entrepreneur Adrien Lucas will show us how to create a stitched brooch of that image to wear home!
Adrien Lucas is an artist who does the most unusual, edgy, and witty embroideries. She works with recycled materials and embroidery floss, and makes densely stitched wall pieces, wearables, and jewelry. In addition to marketing her artwork, Adrien makes her living organizing and producing the Atomic Holiday Bazaar held at the Sarasota Florida Convention Center every November. It’s a year-round task as she has dozens of “indie” vendors, food trucks, entertainers, etc. to juggle. Her work is very much of the moment, and not like anything we have had at AQN before. I think it will shake us up in a good way!
In addition we will exercise our “Choices” by jurying a mock exhibition that should provide us all with insight into the difficulties and rewards of the jurying process.
Finally we will discuss plans and ideas for our possible upcoming exhibition. So come with ideas – it’s “Up To YOU”!
AQN Fall 2023 Retreat – Cut it Out!
September 21 – 23, 2023
Cutting through, making the cut, a cut above
Facilitator: Barbara Bushey
Guest Speaker: Leah Wong
In Depth Presenters: Laurel Izard, Donalee Kennedy
Hampton Inn & Suites
Columbus University Area
3160 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, OH
The highlight of the retreat was a lecture and workshop by Leah L. Wong born in Qingdao, China. Leah received her BFA in oil painting from the China Academy of Arts in Hangzhou, China and earned her MFA in painting from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She currently lives and works in Columbus, Ohio.
Leah takes inspirations from nature, light, plants, and mirrored reflections in water. She combines drawings and cutouts with multiple layers that increase the visual complexity and experience. From multiple perspectives, her cutout and display layouts bring forth mental landscapes that are incorporated into specific sites. Light and shadows add depth to energize viewers’ visual experience, which can be spiritual, psychological, and/or optical.
Both abstractly and metaphorically, Leah’s two- and three-dimensional forms are suspended between concepts and imaginations of time and space. You may remember Leah’s work from the Riffe gallery show earlier this year.
