From the outset, Elsie has endeavoured to make the retreat far more than just an art school. As an expat in Thailand for 30 years Elsie has fine-tuned her passion for hosting, a talent she perfected years ago while running the legendary Attic Studios in Bangkok and the variety of visiting personalities, and she has taken that natural joie de vivre and transplanted it in Rayong. At the retreat, everybody is encouraged to muck in and share the entirety of the space and ethos of the venture.
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t’s not a hotel or resort,” says Elsie. “People are free to use the kitchen, designed for cooking classes and community, cook for themselves, or share their food with others. We have Friday dinners, which often turn into social occasions. One of the most rewarding aspects of the venture is allowing the relaxed and unassuming environment of the retreat to catalyse new friendships and through the exchanging of contact details, allow these to grow in the future between our guests.” Elsie moved into Art Retreat in January of this year, though the buildings were completed several months earlier, allowing her to wrap up her teaching commitments in Bangkok. The project sits on over 1.5 rai of land and through determination and an almost relentless stubbornness, Elsie’s Art Retreat has become a successful amalgamation of modern design practices fitted with antique furniture collected throughout Asia. The ground floor has more glass doors and windows than solid walls, giving it a wonderful light and airy feel, with views of the garden to inspire art students. Elsie’s bedroom, a couple of twin rooms and a mezzanine library are located on the upper
floor, where large balconies look out onto the surrounding countryside and distant hills. The art retreat is a massive undertaking as most ventures, visions and businesses are. But Elsie is a woman of enormous determination and enterprise, a fighter who has put a devastating personal loss behind her to raise a family in a foreign land. She’s not only put her heart and soul into creating Art Retreat, but also her entire worth. “I’m penniless now,” she quips with a grin and admirable candour. “So I have to make it work.” Elsie was born 61 years ago in a small fishing village in the north of Scotland. Studying pharmacy at university didn’t suit her and switched to art school ignoring the admonishment from family. Jobs were hard to find back then, so she worked initially as a window dresser, and then sold advertising for a local newspaper “because it came with a car”. Later she joined an ad agency as an account executive.” After falling pregnant, Elsie married her boyfriend Fred; their first son Peter arrived in 1985. The family moved to Holland not long after. “Fred had a contract to
Elsie was born 61 years ago in a small fishing village in the north of Scotland. Studying pharmacy at university didn’t suit her and switched to art school ignoring the admonishment from family.
work for the oil company Unocal and we spent nine months there. I hated it. I was so homesick and was in tears every Sunday when I phoned my mum.” After relocating to Thailand in 1986, Elsie gave birth to Michael, Richard and Andrew in 1987, 1989 and 1991 respectively. Richard is currently the only son who is unable to visit frequently “although life with four boys is dynamic and often changes”, as he works for the Association of Tennis Professionals in Australia. Husband Fred was a professional diver, often working on dangerous missions that took him away from home for lengthy periods. “I told him ‘I’m not bringing up the kids by myself,’ so on my insistence he eventually got an office job.” The couple left Thailand in 2004 for a new position with Unocal – by now renamed Chevron – in Jakarta, Indonesia, where they stayed for the next two years. In April 2006, unimaginable tragedy struck the family when Fred died during a leisure dive at Koh Tao in Thailand. With four children to bring up on her own, Elsie had to make some extremely important
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