March Artist Recharge: Awaken your creativity as winter fades and color returns

Awaken your creativity as winter fades and color returns

Saturday, March 21st from 9am - 6pm & Sunday, March 22nd from 9am-4pm

Instructors: Laura Andrews, Caroline Porter, Dominique Venzant, & Sally Wightkin

This retreat features four 2-hour blocks of art making, including block printing, watercolor, calligraphy, art journaling and one artist lecture. Lunch will be provided both days along with an assortment of breakfast items and coffee in the mornings.

As the gray hush of winter lifts, join us for a two-day retreat designed to gently re-ignite your artist spirit. March Artist Recharge invites beginners and hobby artists into a warm, welcoming space to make, play, and reconnect with what pulls you toward the page, the brush, and the studio.

Across a lineup of guided art-making sessions led by local fine arts instructors, you’ll explore approachable mediums and low-pressure techniques meant to loosen you up after the stillness of winter. Whether you come to experiment, to reset your routine, or simply to be around other people who make things, this weekend offers both structure and breathing room.

Between sessions, enjoy intentional time to connect with fellow creatives: share what you’re working on, what you’re stuck on, or simply what you’re excited to try next. Leave not with a polished masterpiece, but with momentum, ideas, and a renewed sense of possibility as color returns to the world around you.

  • Saturday, March 21st

    9am - 9:30am : Check in & welcome - breakfast snacks and coffee provided

    9:30am - 11:30am : Art Session I - Instant Block Prints w/ Laura Andrews

    11:45am - 12:45pm : Lunch provided and on site

    1pm - 3pm : Art Session II - Beginning Again, Not Starting Over Lecture w/ Domonique Anare Venzant

    3pm - 4pm : Break

    4pm - 6pm : Art Session III - Watercolor w/ Caroline Porter



  • Sunday, March 22nd

    9 - 9:30am : Check in - breakfast snacks and coffee provided

    9:30am - 11:30am : Art Session IV - Brush Marker Lettering w/ Sally Wightkin

    11:45am - 12:45pm : Lunch provided and on site

    1pm - 3pm : Art Session V - Art Journaling w/ Caroline Porter

    3pm - 4pm : Show and Tell - share about your time at the retreat and share your art



Register

  • Beginning Again, Not Starting Over:

    is a conversational lecture on renewal, growth, and the quiet discipline of consistency through craft. Grounded in lived experience and studio practice, this talk explores how artists carry knowledge, failure, and persistence forward—how each return to the work is not a reset, but a continuation. Through stories, process, and reflection, the lecture considers craft as a lifelong dialogue, where progress is often subtle, nonlinear, and deeply rooted in repetition. This is an invitation to rethink beginnings, honor endurance, and recognize growth that unfolds over time.

    Instructor | Dominique Vanzant

  • Instant Block Prints

    In this workshop we will be exploring block printmaking. Participants will design, carve and print their own linocuts and be able to take home prints from their block that day. All ages and experience are welcome, all materials will be provided.

    Instructor | Laura Andrews


  • Watercolor

    Learn the basics or jump back into watercolor with this session. With instruction from Caroline Porter, students will master both wet on wet and wet on dry watercolor techniques. Learn how to elevate your piece with background splatters, pond grass details, and birds flying in the distance. To help students gain confidence, everyone will get to practice on scrap paper before working on their final artwork. Students will also choose their swamp color (examples show green and pink versions).

    Instructor | Caroline Porter

  • Brush Marker Lettering

    This creative time will introduce students to a brush-style of calligraphy using commonly found markers that have a flexible brush-like tip. This style of writing is easy to learn and could just get a beginner hooked on the wonderful art of calligraphy. This workshop will provide step-by-step instructions to produce your letterforms and ideas of how to embellish your letters with colors and simple designs. Students will leave with a small completed project, their own markers and lots of information to continue their practice at home. No experience necessary!

    Instructor | Sally Wightkin


  • Art Journaling

    Build confidence and refine your artistic style through art journaling. Led by Caroline Porter, this session will start with a quick lecture on the importance of journaling, the therapeutic value, and how to develop artistically. Students will then receive prompts based on their personal interests or may choose one at random. The majority of class will focus on “playing” in your journal rather than stressing for perfection.

    This session is perfect for beginners or for people wanting to express themselves in a fun way!

    Students will also get the opportunity to choose their medium: watercolors, pen or pencil sketching, and/or oil pastels for this class. Otherwise, students may bring their own if their desired medium is not listed.


    Instructor | Caroline Porter

Instructors

  • Laura Andrews

    Laura Andrews is a painter who lives and works in Minneapolis. She currently teaches drawing, painting and printmaking at Minneapolis College. She recently received a Kolman & Reeb Project Space Grant supporting a new series of paintings for 2025-26, and will participate in a Vashon Artist Residency in June of 2026. Her work is focused on the relationship and interaction between people and the natural world.


  • Caroline Porter

    Hi there! I'm Caroline Porter. I'm a self taught artist from the Midwest. I formerly worked in medical research as a Microbiologist, but art has always been a huge part of my life. After having my daughter, I decided to quit my career in science to be a stay at home mom and turn my art hobby into a profession. It was the best decision I've ever made!

    In 2023, I was diagnosed with various spinal and spinal cord diseases. This has greatly impacted my artwork and outlook on life. I am incredibly grateful for all the support and love received from family and friends, thank you!

    The Midwest is also another huge influence on my artwork. I grew up primarily in Minnesota, but have lived all around the Midwest. Recently, my family and I moved back to Minnesota from Omaha, Nebraska. We found our little slice of heaven in Fairmont, Minnesota.

    I mostly work with watercolor and ink, watercolor, oil pastels. and acrylic mediums. I love creating floral and/or botanical works, animal and building portraits, and city skylines. I also love doing large pieces such as murals. I offer a variety of art classes and private lessons. Please reach out if you'd like to hear more about the services I offer

  • Dominique Vanzant

    Domonique Anare Venzant is a ceramic sculptor, potter, and educator whose work uses clay, fire, and scale as metaphors for human social structures and lived experience. His sculptural practice investigates imbalance, interdependence, and resilience, often activated through kiln processes that emphasize risk, transformation, and collective labor.

    Venzant is the lead technician of The Cookout residency at the Hambidge Center, a nationally recognized program supporting Black artists through mentorship and community exchange. He has taught ceramics at the university level since 2005 and holds an M.F.A. in Ceramic Sculpture from the University of Missouri, where he was the first African American recipient of the degree. His work and teaching foreground material rigor, historical awareness, and socially engaged pedagogy.

  • Sally Wightkin

    Sally picked up her first calligraphy tool in 1981 and has never looked back. She started teaching calligraphy in 1991 and continues to teach in-person and online. Her work has been exhibited and garnered various awards and recognition throughout Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida and many pieces reside in private collections in the US, Canada, and Australia. She has had work published in Letter Arts Review, an internationally recognized publication for calligraphers and lettering artists. Sally is a member of The Colleagues of Calligraphy in Minnesota. She is most happy when in her studio creating art or spending precious moments with her grandson.