OMEGA ARTS WEEK 2025
Arts Week
Arrive Sunday Begin Monday at 9:00 a.m. End Friday at noon
Calling all artists! Be a part of one of the most creative and community building weeks of the year—Omega Arts Week. Immerse yourself in your art—painting, storytelling, writing, movement, and more—during mornings and afternoons. Mingle with other creative souls during mealtimes and evening events. Share what you’ve created during participant showcases on Thursday night. All are welcome, from the budding to the accomplished artist. Join us as we celebrate and support the creative spirit.
JUNE 29–JULY 4
EVERYTHING BLOSSOMS FROM WITHIN
Painting, Writing & Bookmaking
Laurie Doctor Course 2605-986/Tuition
$675/625/525 ($560 Members) SS, LE
JUNE 29–JULY 4
BRING YOUR PURPOSE TO THE PUBLIC A Retreat for Creative Changemakers
The title of this workshop is inspired by the poet Galway Kinnell. In his poem “Saint Francis and the Sow,” he puts the words “self” and “blessing” together to create “self-blessing.” With dedicated time and place, our work is a kind of “self-blessing” and blossoms from within.
In this class, we focus on putting unlikely words together—self-blessing, mind-weeds, shadowpractice—in visual, auditory, and poetic ways. We use ink, watercolor, and graphite and incorporate this work into a handmade book. A contemplative atmosphere and uninterrupted time is an invitation to discovery in our work.
This workshop is open to all levels of experience, from beginners to professionals—and to those of you who want to set time aside for your muse by leaving your phones, watches, and screens outside the classroom. Laurie Doctor is an American painter, writer, and calligrapher. She has cultivated an active lecture and workshop schedule across three continents. lauriedoctor.com
James McCrae and Bunny Michael Course 2605-743/Tuition $575 ($515 Members)
Your personal brand is more than just your business. It’s how you show up in the world, on social media, and in your creative practice. Shaping a personal brand means showing up with intention and authenticity and finding alignment between your inner purpose and the public.
Join authors and content creators James McCrae and Bunny Michael to learn how to break through blocks, share your story, define your personal brand, and give birth to your higher creative self. Engage in exercises for inner transformation, creative expression, connecting with your intuition, and sharing with a supportive and inclusive group of conscious creators.
Whether you want to grow an audience, write a book, start a business, or deepen your creative practice, this retreat will help you heal your inner artist, find your unique voice, and turn your imagination into reality.
James McCrae is an artist, poet, teacher, and founder of Sunflower Club, a global community dedicated to creativity as a tool for personal healing and social transformation. jamesmccrae.com
Bunny Michael, author of Hello Higher Self, is dedicated to awakening higher selfconsciousness on the planet through writing, music, visual art, and social media activism. bunnymichael.com
BUNNY MICHAEL AND JAMES MCCRAE
LAURIE DOCTOR
Arts Week
Arrive Sunday Begin Monday at 9:00 a.m. End Friday at noon
JUNE 29–JULY 4
UKULELE ZEN
Music, Mindfulness & Creative Play
Stu Fuchs
Course 2605-784/Tuition $475 ($425 Members) SS
The ukulele has surged in popularity in recent years, o ering an accessible way to bring music-making into the lives of people around the world.
Whether you're new to the ukulele or have been playing it for years, you deepen your music journey and have fun with teaching artist Stu Fuchs. Stu blends mindfulness with music-making practice, cultivating joy and relieving stress.
The retreat focuses on:
• Listening deeply to the present moment in order to approach music-making from a more joyful, nonjudgmental, and relaxed perspective
• Nurturing the mind-body connection and cultivating the intuitive musician within you
• Accessing a more relaxed technique so you can enjoy playing for longer
Ukulele Zen is a unique method that weaves music study with mindful movement and accessible practices from the Plum Village tradition of the late Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.
Workshop begins Sunday at 8:00 p.m. No experience with yoga or meditation is required.
Stu Fuchs is a classical guitarist, ukulele virtuoso, teaching artist, and sound healer who is passionate about sharing the healing benefits of music. stufuchs.com-
TIBETAN ART RETREAT
Drawing & Painting Buddhas of Compassion
Carmen Mensink
JUNE 29–JULY 4
6-day Retreat: Course 2605-863/Tuition $585 ($525 Members) SS
JUNE 29–JULY 6
8-day Retreat: Course 2607-864/Tuition $695 ($625 Members) SS
Create meaningful art in a meditative setting in this retreat guided by Carmen Mensink, a renowned painter of thangkas, the traditional Tibetan scroll paintings of Buddhas and mandalas.
Choose either the Four-Armed Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara) or his female manifestation Guanyin as your subject. Learn how to draw it by using the ancient grid proportions of Carmen's lineage as a helpful tool. Her personal approach and guidance makes this retreat suitable for students of all levels.
You learn di erent colored pencil techniques and are also welcome to work with other materials such as watercolor, pastels, or paints. New students will first learn the basics by drawing a Buddha face before continuing with this week's subject.
In addition to the art sessions, discover the background, symbolism, and mantras of these Buddhas, and enjoy guided meditations. Return home with your own beautiful artwork.
In the 6-day retreat, you draw your subject, discover its symbolism, and learn the coloring techniques. The 8-day retreat provides teachings on the traditional painting techniques, the possibility to start painting your subject, and time for more depth to your work. Retreats begin Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
Carmen Mensink is an internationally renowned painter of thangkas, traditional Tibetan scroll paintings of Buddhas and mandalas. She is founder of the School for Tibetan Buddhist Art. tibetan-buddhist-art.com
STU FUCHS
CARMEN MENSINK
JUNE
29–JULY 4
EARTH OPERA
JUNE 29–JULY 4
THE ART OF FLUID MOVEMENT
A Continuum
Retreat
Elaine Colandrea and Megan Bathory-Peeler Course 2605-802/Tuition $470 ($425 Members) SS, LE
The human body is a body of water. The breathing, sound, and movement explorations of Continuum awaken our oceanic ancestry. Aquatic creatures are the guides in this retreat.
Fluid movement helps us become more comfortable in our bodies, increasing our ability to adapt to circumstances with more ease. Moving like water dissolves barriers and liberates energy that can support our health, relationships, and artistic expressions.
Through the practice of Continuum fluid movement, a natural state of creative flow is restored by amplifying our innate desire for connection and community. During this retreat, we engage in creative exchanges designed to enrich our internal fluid system, soften our defenses, and foster self-renewal.
Led by movement artists Elanie Colandrea and Megan Bathory-Peeler and other Continuum teachers, this retreat is appropriate for anyone who wishes to sustain themselves from a fluid state of wholeness, well-being, spontaneity, and joy.
Elaine Colandrea and Megan BathoryPeeler are movement artists, Continuum teachers, somatic educators, massage therapists, and collaborators at Watermark Arts. Their work has been deeply influenced by their association with Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum. watermarkarts.com
Exploring Archetypes & Ethereal Realms Through Theater
Elizabeth Clark, Jaguar Mary X, and Lisa B. Kelley
Course 2605-046/Tuition $500/450/350 ($405 Members) SS
Archetypes are universally recognized patterns, images, and figures that are part of our collective unconscious. These symbols and beings appear in our dreams, stories, myths, art, and religion, guiding and helping us make sense of our inner and outer worlds.
Join us for an uplifting, otherworldly experience as we explore collective dreams, global archetypal figures, and spiritual experiences through experimental theater. Working and playing together as a dynamic creative ensemble, we weave together live music, sound and vocal improvisations, improvised movement, choreography, and community healing arts practices to cocreate an immersive theater dream world, bringing our deep spiritual presence into our creative practice.
Through the theatrical explorations of archetypes, mythologies, and dreams, we explore di erent realms and beings—from earthly to the ethereal. Our work culminates with an immersive theater performance through a series of multidimensional vignettes.
This workshop is open to all experiences and backgrounds, including those experienced in music, dance, movement, theater, and visual arts, as well as those who have no formal training.
Elizabeth Clark is a Hudson Valley-based composer, performance artist, multiinstrumentalist, and experimental theater-maker. earth-opera.com
Jaguar Mary X is a glossolalia vocalist, ritual performance artist, and mover, making work informed by queer and Black feminist discourse, Afrofuturisms, plant sentience, and shamanism.
Lisa B. Kelley is a vocalist, performance artist, mother, and the founding executive director of the Kingston Midtown Arts District. She is an arts commissioner for the City of Kingston, as well as a cohost of Radio Kingston’s “Dream Life Radio.”
JUNE 29–JULY 4
CRAFTING CHILDREN’S BOOKS
From Concept & Content to Critique & Creation
Susan B. Katz Course 2605-919/Tuition $525/475/375 ($425 Members)
Aspiring and already published authors are invited to create a children’s book in a creative, safe space, guided and supported by prolific children’s book author and illustrator Susan B. Katz.
Through multimedia presentations, partner and group feedback, and time-tested writing exercises, you learn how to:
• Take an idea from seed to story
• Use lyrical language that inspires a “second-story” in the illustrations
• Show, not tell
• Give and receive e ective, collaborative, constructive critique
• Pitch your book
Published or unpublished children’s authors come away with the skills needed to craft a first draft, as well as connections to a community to support your revision and submission process.
Susan B. Katz, NBCT, is an award-winning bilingual author and illustrator of more than 80 children’s books, including The Story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Meditation Station, and Share Your Love susankatzbooks.com, susanbkatz.smugmug.com
SUSAN B. KATZ
ELIZABETH CLARK JAGUAR MARY X LISA B. KELLEY
Arts Week
Arrive Sunday Begin Monday at 9:00 a.m.
End Friday at noon
JUNE 29–JULY 4
ART OF INTUITIVE PHOTOGRAPHY
A Mindful Approach to Photography
Mindy Véissid
Course 2605-990/Tuition $620/570/470 ($510 Members)
Discover a new way of seeing.
Designed for photographers of all skill levels and suitable for any camera— even smartphones—this class goes beyond traditional techniques, inviting participants to connect with their intuition and emotional responses as they capture images.
Through guided exercises and interactive discussions, you learn to approach subjects with a fresh, open perspective—capturing the heart of a scene rather than just its surface. We’ll focus on building mindfulness, harnessing creativity, and fostering a sense of connection between photographer and subject, encouraging each participant to create images that carry personal meaning and emotional depth.
MINDY VÉISSID
JUNE 29–JULY 4
WRITING LIFE
Whether you're looking to refresh your photography practice, capture more authentic family photos, or enhance your vacation shots, this workshop will help you develop a richer, more intuitive approach to your work, leaving you with new skills and perspectives to carry forward.
Mindy Véissid is a fine art photographer and educator based in New York City who founded the boutique school Art of Intuitive Photography.
A Deep Dive Into Your Life & Writing
Chris Wells
Course 2605-828/Tuition $435 ($390 Members) LE
GREENWOOD SPOON CARVING
Bring your best idea or writing project and dive deep into a joyful and moving exploration of yourself and your work.
Chris Wells, creator of the Writing Life workshops, guides you through an evocative series of conversations, deep and reflective questions, and assignments that take you on a passionate journey of self-discovery.
With dynamic writing prompts and creative exercises, his expertise helps you get at what you want to write and make decisions on how to move forward. You write as much as possible over the course of the week and leave with a ton of new writing and a greater sense of yourself as an artist.
Writers of all genres are welcome—bloggers, memoirists, playwrights, academics, historians, performers, novelists, travel writers, you name it.
Chris Wells, an Obie Award-winning performer, writer, and community leader, is founding artistic director of the arts organization ArtChurch, The Secret City. mrchriswells.com
From Tree to Spoon by Hand
Charles Thompson
Course 2605-993/Tuition $665/615/515 ($555 Members)
Learn the basics of freehand carving with green woodworker Charles Thompson, who typically works straight from the log, splitting, bending, and manipulating wood in a process that leverages personal intention and celebrates common materials.
Engage with raw materials and interpret them through handwork. We’ll look closely at branches and trees and ask which parts might make a good spoon and why. How can we transpose a tree’s idiosyncrasies and integrity into an object for daily life?
This class includes material selection and identification, knife techniques, carving ax techniques, usage of decorative motifs and symbols, and finishing processes.
The workshop is open to participants of all skill levels. This will be a physical class focusing on the meeting point of hand, eye, and material. Because we’re utilizing hand-powered tools, hand strength may be required for certain techniques.
Charles Thompson makes chairs and carvings in a humble workshop on a hill in western Massachusetts. His work reflects on vernacular forms, and uses a mixed vocabulary of techniques, patterns, and materials that speak to the e cacy of handwork. charlesthompson.net
CHARLES THOMPSON
CHRIS WELLS