DRAWING TO BUILD
A CREATIVE PROCESS
5
inspiring days
of creativity in Tuscany
led by Madeline Donahue
This 5 day drawing course encourages your daily creative practice through a combination of instruction and playful artmaking. Madeline Donahue will teach you how to improve your drawing skills and give you practical studio lessons that apply to any form of creative life from beginner to professional. Her expertise in working quickly with immediacy and pulling from personal narrative will help you find your creative voice. Join Madeline and travel around the villa grounds, visit local sites, and practice drawing from observation and imagination. All materials included.
By Madeline Donahue
By Madeline Donahue
Place
The workshop will take place in Tuscany's heart, at Villa Pienza.
This villa in Val d’Orcia is just 15 minutes from picturesque villages like Pienza, Bagno Vignoni, and Monticchiello. Once a traditional Tuscan farmhouse, it has spacious grounds with aromatic herbs and wildflowers, a large swimming pool, and breathtaking 360-degree views of Val d'Orcia and Pienza. Six ensuite bedrooms and a spacious outdoor dining area, make this villa perfect for this workshop.
Closests airports to the villa are Rome (2.5 hours) and Florence (1.5 hours).
Retreat Overview
Dates
May 10th- May 17th
Over five days, deepen your drawing skills through focused techniques that enhance both observation and technique. Each day introduces new methods, helping you integrate them into your personal practice. We will draw every day after breakfast at the villa and continue sketching on location, capturing the beauty around us.
* schedule subject to change
Meet Our Hosts
Madeline Donahue
Madeline Donahue is a Brooklyn based artist from Houston, TX.
She makes drawings, ceramics and paintings with a focus on intimacy and the body. Her work is currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and is in the collections of Girls Club Collection, Miami; Fidelity Investments Art Collection; The High Museum, Atlanta; and OZ Art, Bentonville.
She exhibits regularly in the United States and Europe with select exhibitions at Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami; Hesse Flatow, New York; Various Small Fires, Dallas; Haverkampf Leistenschneider, Berlin; and TJ Boulting, London. She has a BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and an MFA from Brooklyn College. You can learn more about her life and work on podcasts like Sound + Vision, I Like Your Work, and Artist Mother. You can read her reviews and interviews in various print media like The Cut, Elephant Magazine, Hyperallergic, NYT, The Guardian and more.
Jessica Kassin
Born in Guatemala and educated in the United States and Italy, Jessica Kassin is a portrait and documentary photographer. Meaningful connections and storytelling shape her work. Her passion for photography, continued education, and travel have led her to create and host distinctive retreats around the world. Jessica is a mother of three, and lives with her family in Miami Beach, Florida.
Discover Val'Dorcia
What's Included
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7-night accommodations in our private luxury villa
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5 days of immersive education
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Daily itinerary exploring Val D'orcia
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All materials for workshop
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Daily brunch and dinners (wine included at dinner)
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Thermal Bath adventure
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A hands-on cooking class
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Free time in the afternoon to explore nearby villages or enjoy the villa
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Ebike's