After years of dreaming and planning and rehearsing, I hosted my first ceramics retreat in my own space! It's been a big proof of concept moment for me and I have so many feelings about it: hope, excitement, accomplishment, love, pride, inspiration... to name just a few.
All new endeavors and big dreams require a huge leap of faith to ignite the vision. I think we've been doing a lot of that the last couple of years. Moving to a new country and starting a ceramics residency and retreat business, being the biggest. But taking that giant leap was on Nick and I. Inviting artists to come teach here, to trust that the expense of travel, and the brand new, unseen facilities of a person they've never met before... that requires the artist to also take a leap of faith with me. And why should they?
These are all the thoughts racing around my brain as I tried to plan 2-3 retreats here this year. There were some starts and stops and hiccups along the way. I wanted to have things dialed and posted much sooner, but the persistent electrical upgrade delays, and a hundred other little things kept forcing me to pivot. I'll confess it all felt a bit hopeless, and I certainly had (still have) imposter syndrome, but I try to find balance between self doubt, and blind optimism so that we can keep moving forward.
How do I choose the artists? Honestly? I invited people whom I admired, whose art resonated with me, and seemed like they would be fun and positive to have in the studio. Sometime before I moved in late 2024, I had created a survey for artists. It had basic questions about residencies and retreats: my slice of market research. It had simple questions like:
- what do you look for in a retreat/residency?
- Would you travel to Portugal to teach?
In the breakneck pace of life before, during and after our move, I had kind of forgotten about this survey. When I finally looked at it again in late 2025, there's was Jordan Coons' responses. I am so inspired by her work and energy. We'd never met but I've been an Instagram fan girl of hers for a few years, and her double walled vessels gave me inspiration for a new direction to take my hanging planters. So, I sent her an email: "not sure you remember filling out this survey, but I wonder if you'd like to chat with me about coming to Portugal."
The timing was perfect as Jordan was planning a trip to Europe this summer! The idea of a retreat, was a bit daunting at first, so we agreed to take the pressure off, we'd plan a residency for Jordan, and post the retreat too. If it didn't fill by a certain date, we'd cancel it, and Jordan would just come play in the studio with me. (Learn more about Jordan on her website)
We made a plan. I hired a chef, and a driver for adventures. My husband made me a spreadsheet to help me keep track of the pricing of all the parts and pieces. We picked dates, posted it to my website and promoted on social media. My expectation was more people would travel here and less locals would participate, but it was quite the opposite! And in hindsight, it was the best way to test out the retreat framework. 
Including Jordan, there were 3 guests in the guest house, and 5 local artists participating in the workshop. I had to cancel the driver (but can't wait to work with her next year), we also canceled some of the catered dinners with the chef, but the lunches she prepared for us were incredible! Little pivots allowed me to adjust the pricing, to make it affordable for more people. And that is the goal with this project. Obviously we need to pay our bills and the artists that travel here, but my mindset in the beginning of this project is I'd rather have people here for less, than have an empty house and studio.
Plus having people here helps me learn, and test ideas... and pivot as needed. AND having people here gives the space so much creative energy. And even though we've only hosted 7 residencies in 2025, and 7 (so far) in 2026, those resident artists have told friends, and I can trace three residents/retreat attendees back to previous residents! Small but meaningful organic growth!
The group we had for our very first retreat was so wonderful. I'm still on cloud nine from having them all here and I'm so inspired and energized to plan more. Here's a peek behind the scenes of our workshop. And good news for those who couldn't make it this year: Jordan is coming back again next July to do it all again, so email me if you want to be on the waiting list. Dates coming by late September.
The photos are a collage of time spent together in the studio learning, laughing, and getting lost in the challenge of creating. We also explored neighboring cities and towns: Caldas da Rainha, Nazaré, Alcobaça and attended the Medieval Festival in Obidos
