You know what’s easy these days?

Complaining about everything that’s going wrong, from the global (these needless wars!) to the personal (why can’t I sleep?). 🙃

YOU KNOW WHAT’S LIFE-ENHANCING?

Articulating a vision for how you want things to be. 🌎🌟🤸🏽‍♀️🎨🦋🌿🚴‍♀️🥗🌙
Then repeating it. Speaking it aloud to others.

Leaning into it. Seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, and touching it. Causing your brain to encounter it as a reality. Talking about it in the present tense, as though the imagined thing or behavior already exists.

This is how we dream what we want into existence, over time. We practice, and we model it for others.

This is the focus of our fall “Imagine” Retreat at the Oregon Coast!

It’s Like a Deep Tissue Treatment for Your Creative Soul 💫

Imagine spending a whole weekend immersed in constructive, creative future-dreaming. You’re surrounded by hearted-centered folks who (like you) yearn for greater well-being for yourself, your people, and the planet. An imagination-tickling array of art materials is spread before you. The prompts are generative, playful, and accessible.

You resist this kind of thinking at first. (“But what if …? And what about …?”)

Then you begin to relax into—and delight in—the possibilities.

Conversations spark even bolder ideas.

You get glimmers of how life felt before you were jaded by disappointment. Before you learned that negativity was cooler and more “rational” than optimism. Before your wild imagination muscles started to atrophy from targeted messaging and disuse . 🫠

What This Is and What It’s Not

Articulating holistic visions for the future is not about escapism or Pollyanna-like thinking. It’s not fantasy.

Rather, it’s the invigorating work of: A) Examining what we’ve been trained to believe is “just the way it is,” then, B) Replacing those outmoded, harmful narratives with the true longings of our hearts. It’s combining brain science with intuition and a touch of creative magic. ✨

Is it still an art retreat?
Yes! With the focus on imagining. This means you’ll come away with hands-on techniques and creative exercises to continue using at home, AND with refurbished ways of thinking about your life and the world around you. Whether you’re crafting a big dream for humanity, or a small boost for your daily routine, the “imagination muscles” needed are the same. These are the ones we’ll exercise.

During the retreat we’ll use conversation, journaling, doodling, collage, walks on the beach, and other modalities to explore our ideas. We’ll put pens and images to paper, and the things we make will open up more ideas. We’ll have opportunities to share our visions and our creations in a dream-safe space where the cynicism dials are turned way down. 🥳

Come Imagine With Us

Here are more details about this year’s retreat:

👉🏽 Dates: Friday, Oct. 9th through Monday, Oct. 12th. Yep, we’ll have TWO FULL DAYS (and then some) to immerse ourselves in imaginative art-making, beach-walking, and community-building.

👉🏽 Registration: Early-bird registration will open at noon on Sunday, August 16th and continue through Sunday, August 23rd, or whenever the retreat fills up. Regular pricing will be in effect from Aug. 24th until filled. You’ll reserve your spot by paying a non-refundable $150 deposit.

👉🏽 Theme: As described above, our theme is IMAGINE. We’ll practice visualizing and articulating the positive changes we want to see in our world, neighborhoods, homes, routines, artwork, etc, through guided JOURNALING, DOODLING and COLLAGE exercises. 🖍️🧡✏️✂️ You don’t need any prior experience or particular art skills to enjoy and benefit from this creative adventure. ✨ Think you’re not creative? Well, my friend, this event is designed for you, too!

👉🏽 Workshop Sessions: Art sessions will be led by Portland-based teaching artist, Pam Consear, of AllHandsArt.com. Pam has hand-doodled two books on creative health (Doodle Your Way Out of Stuckness, and Dear Beautiful Human); writes a Substack newsletter called Bravely Creating Together; and leads popular drawing, art journaling, and creative reuse classes in Portland as well as art-making events throughout the West Coast.
Patti Carey, of The Art of Mindful Healing, will support us with logistics (read: food! 😋) and offer grounding and guided meditation exercises throughout the weekend.

👉🏽 Location: The retreat will take place in a large house (actually, kinda three stacked units) in Oceanside, OR, near Tillamook. Expect comfort, but maybe not luxury. 😉 The drive from Portland takes less than two hours, without traffic. We’ll be very near the beach, with beach views from the house. 🌅

👉🏽 Group size: We like to keep things rather intimate, so expect seven to a dozen people total, including Pam and Patti. Room arrangements are made on a first come, first served basis. Sharing a room will reduce your costs. A private room will be a bit more spendy. You get it.

👉🏽 Food: We’ll provide most meals and snacks, including serve-yourself breakfast and lunch bars and a simple supper on Saturday evening. We’ll eat out (or get take-out) for Sunday dinner and you’ll pay your way for that meal. We’ll provide non-alcoholic beverages for the weekend. You may bring alcoholic drinks for yourself or to share.

👉🏽 Price: One could expect to pay $300-$400 for a two-day art class alone, and closer to $800 if meals are included. Lodging? That would likely be another $500 or more. We’re charging below-market rates to offer you:
💗 3 nights lodging
💗 2+ days of art and imagination exercises
💗 art materials for those 👆🏽
💗 6 meals plus snacks
💗 beach views, community building, and more…
Call us crazy, but here are our prices, which include the $150 deposit:
Early-bird Rates (Aug. 16-23 or until filled):
Shared room = $789 per person (in bunk room, or sharing a king-size bed)
Single room = $869 per person
Regular Rates (after Aug. 23):
Shared room = $869 per person
Single room = $939 per person

We kept our prices down to make the weekend doable for more folks. Still, we know it’s out of reach for some. If you’re highly motivated to come but find the price prohibitive, reach out to Pam (pam@allhandsart.com) and we’ll see if we can work out a solution through scholarship or work-trade.

Also reach out with any other questions.

Can’t wait to Imagine with you at the beach in October!
- Pam Consear, “Professional Permission Giver” ☺️
with Patti Carey, “Possibility Pusher” 🤩