A 6-Day Immersive Artist Retreat in Montana

August 22–29, 2027
The Nest on Swan River | Flathead Valley, Montana

Returning for our third Montana retreat, The Alchemy of Ink is six days of concentrated art-making, experimentation, and exploration led by artists Elizabeth Schowachert and Gabriela Sanchez.

The retreat centers on the relationship between the tool, the gesture, the material, and the mark.

Throughout the week, we’ll work with ink, handmade brushes, paper, encaustic monotype, and experimental processes. Structured instruction is balanced with independent working time, individual conversations about your work and process, and opportunities to take what we are exploring in the studio out into the Montana landscape.

This is a small-group retreat designed to give you time to work, experiment, and follow ideas as they develop.

Previous experience with ink, Sumi-e, or encaustic monotype is not required.

Elizabeth Schowachert + Gabriela Sanchez

The Alchemy of Ink brings together two artists whose practices approach mark-making from different but complementary directions.

Elizabeth Schowachert

Elizabeth’s work explores the relationship between tools, materials, movement, and the marks they produce.

Her handmade brushes and mark-making tools are an integral part of her studio practice. Natural bristle, fiber, silicone, found materials, and unconventional tools create different possibilities for line, texture, gesture, and surface.

During the retreat, Elizabeth will guide participants through brush making, expressive ink work, large-format brushwork, experimental mark-making, and encaustic monotype.

Participants will also visit Elizabeth’s Montana studio and work with a selection of brushes and tools from her private collection.

Gabriela Sanchez

Gabriela’s work explores line, gesture, calligraphy, nature, and the passage of time.

Drawing from her background in textile design, visual communication, Zen painting, and encaustic processes, Gabriela approaches the line as something fluid and evolving.

Her teaching encourages observation, spontaneity, and an awareness of movement and space. During the retreat, Gabriela will guide explorations of paper, ink, calligraphic approaches, Zen-influenced painting, and encaustic processes.

The Workshop

Rather than focusing on a single technique or finished outcome, The Alchemy of Ink is built around exploration and process.

We’ll investigate how a change in tool, pressure, speed, angle, scale, material, or movement can completely change a mark.

You’ll make your own brushes, work with brushes from Elizabeth’s collection, explore traditional and unconventional approaches to ink, experiment with paper and encaustic monotype, and have time to develop ideas independently.

Some work will be quiet and controlled. Some will involve larger gestures, speed, repetition, and controlled randomness.

The goal is not for everyone to produce the same work. It is to give you new tools, processes, and ways of working that can continue to influence your own studio practice.

Handmade Brushes + Tools

One of the foundations of the retreat is understanding the relationship between the tool and the mark.

Participants will make brushes using natural and found materials and then work directly with the tools they create.

We’ll explore how bristle, fiber, shape, length, flexibility, density, and construction influence the way a brush moves and responds.

You’ll also have access to large-format Sumi-e style brushes and other unconventional mark-making tools from Elizabeth’s studio collection.

The process of making the tool becomes part of understanding how to use it.

Ink + Gesture

Ink responds immediately to movement.

Throughout the retreat, we’ll explore pressure, speed, angle, rhythm, repetition, and scale using India ink and other water-based media on paper.

We’ll work from the very tip of the brush as well as the full body of the bristle, allowing a single tool to produce everything from fine lines to broad, gestural marks.

Some exercises will focus on control. Others will deliberately introduce unpredictability and controlled randomness.

Paper + Encaustic Monotype

Paper becomes an active part of the process as we move between ink, brushwork, calligraphic approaches, and encaustic monotype.

We’ll explore line, surface, layering, transparency, and spontaneous mark-making while looking for ways these different processes can inform one another.

Participants will have time to experiment as well as develop selected work further during independent studio sessions.

A Working Day in Glacier National Park

One day of the retreat will take us into Glacier National Park for a working day in the landscape.

Rather than approaching the day as a traditional sightseeing excursion, we’ll use the landscape as a place to observe, sketch, make marks, and gather visual information.

We’ll work with portable materials and respond to what we see around us—line, shape, movement, texture, scale, rhythm, and the changing character of the landscape.

The work made in Glacier does not need to become a literal representation of the landscape. The intention is to collect observations and marks that can be carried back into the studio and developed through ink, brushwork, paper, and other processes.

Montana as Part of the Studio

The retreat takes place in Montana’s Flathead Valley, surrounded by mountains, water, forest, and open landscape.

The Nest sits directly along the Swan River and provides both shared working spaces and places to step outside and work independently.

Throughout the week, we’ll move between the studio and the landscape—working at The Nest, visiting Elizabeth’s studio, spending a working day in Glacier National Park, and allowing the surrounding environment to become part of the creative process.

Time to Develop Your Own Work

Not every hour of the retreat is scheduled instruction.

Independent working time is an important part of the week.

You’ll have opportunities to return to processes that interest you, combine techniques, work through ideas, and have individual conversations with Elizabeth and Gabriela about your artwork and process.

This gives you space to move beyond exercises and begin considering how the materials and approaches introduced during the retreat might become part of your own practice.

The Nest on Swan River

The Nest provides our home, studio environment, and gathering place for the week.

Located along the Swan River near Bigfork, Montana, the property includes several different lodging options, shared gathering spaces, outdoor decks, river access, and areas for working outside.

Participants stay on or immediately adjacent to the retreat property, allowing the week to develop its own rhythm between studio time, meals, conversations, independent work, and time outdoors.

Food + Gathering

Meals are an important part of the retreat experience.

We make an effort to source ingredients from local farms and suppliers whenever possible and serve fresh, homemade meals throughout the week.

Meals also give us time to come together away from the studio—to talk about the work, exchange ideas, and simply spend time with the other artists participating in the retreat.

Six Days to Explore

Over the course of the retreat, we’ll move between brush making, ink and gesture, paper, encaustic monotype, large-format brushwork, independent studio time, the Montana landscape, and a working day in Glacier National Park.

The schedule is intentionally structured to leave room for ideas to evolve.

You’ll arrive Sunday, August 22, work together for six days from Monday, August 23 through Saturday, August 28, and depart Sunday, August 29.

The Alchemy of Ink 2027

August 22–29, 2027
The Nest on Swan River | Flathead Valley, Montana

The retreat includes six days of instruction and studio exploration, seven nights lodging, workshop materials as specified, retreat meals as specified, scheduled activities and excursions, and a studio visit with Elizabeth.

Transportation to and from Glacier Park International Airport is not included but can be arranged for an additional cost.

Accommodation options vary in privacy, location, room configuration, and amenities.

Retreat pricing ranges from $3,150–$3,950 depending on accommodation.

A $600 non-refundable deposit reserves your place and your selected accommodation.

Pay in full by January 15, 2027 and receive a $200 discount on your total retreat price.

Ready to Join Us?

View the complete 2027 Alchemy of Ink retreat listing for accommodation choices, pricing, payment information, and cancellation policies.