mini Retreat - Life's an open book- May 29-31, 2026

This annual special event for members only includes a two night/three day stay and a beautiful conference location in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio. Comfortably holding 22 people, it included lots of good food, lots of good times, a hot tub, a bonfire, and a unique event project to make during the weekend. 

This year the project an "open book" display. Constructed from papier mache, everyone received three books in three sizes. The largest is about the size of a standard hardback book, the medium one is about the size of paperback, and the smallest one is about the size of a toddler's book. The covers all open to expose an empty space where the pages should be -- perfect for housing a to-scale scene of any size! The finished project may be displayed either opened or closed so just a much thought is going to need to into the "cover" as will need to go into the interior. A very unique challenge for a very unique group of artists.

As you can tell by the pictures below, some people based their art on actual books, some people created their own book subjects, while others used the book form as a vignette box.