Linda Falkenstein
Quilts and handmade paper.
A week’s production from quilters, and handmade paper drying in the sun, all at The Clearing.
“It’s like going to summer camp,” says Madison poet Robin Chapman, who has taught a weeklong poetry class at The Clearing in Ellison Bay every summer for 21 years. “It’s a whole world of its own.”
The Clearing, a traditional “folk school” founded in 1935 by landscape architect Jens Jensen, sits on 125 acres right on Green Bay. Every May-October, The Clearing opens its rustic cabins and classrooms (seemingly carved out of the beautiful landscape) to a few dozen students a week for classes in topics from arts to nature to local history. Four different classes meet during each week-long session, so quilters may be sharing the daily three family-style meals in the lodge/dining hall with a group of watercolorists, weavers, or poets. Or birdwatchers or brave souls wanting to learn how to use the forge. New friends hike through the woodland trails or down to the rock beach. “The water is glorious and sparkly and everybody goes to watch the sunsets and sit around the campfire and sing afterwards,” says Chapman. “The really crazy people quilt and they stay up until three o’clock in the morning.”
Linda Falkenstein
A rustic cabin.
A typical cabin at The Clearing.
While the fun elements of camp are definitely present, so is an earnestness of purpose. Students at The Clearing “come to pursue the things they are passionate about. My students are busy writing books,” says Chapman. “It’s like a retreat.”
The Clearing is one of many Wisconsin summer folk or art schools that attract adults looking for a learning vacation that can feel like something between sleepaway camp, a rustic resort, and your first week at college.
Each school has a slightly different way of doing things. Class offerings vary, and so do the physical settings: are meals communal, or on your own? Is there on-site lodging? What other activities are offered? Madeline Island School of the Arts welcomes workshop participants with a wine and cheese reception and Dillman’s Bay sends them home with a champagne dessert lunch. In between students might make s’mores around the campfire, take field trips to area art galleries, or row a canoe on a nearby lake. Costs vary widely as classes can range from a morning to a whole week. Many classes welcome beginners.
“We even call it ‘summer camp for adults,’” says Sara Lomasz Flesch, executive director of Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, of their “Woodlanders Gathering” (July 13-16), which allows for plenty of mix-and-match activities among the “rustic arts and nature crafts” sessions offered, from pottery to carving and a lot more. It’s as many workshops as a participant can fit in a day, or days — it’s possible to sign up for one day or all four.
Set among historic Cornish mining cabins from the 1830s, Shake Rag is “lush” in summer, says Flesch, with frequent visits from fox, deer and rabbits along a spring-fed stream. Shake Rag has five onsite lodging options in those historic cabins, which “definitely can be part of the experience,” says Flesch. “You’re having a glass of wine before dinner in a 2 ½ acre garden.” But many students stay in other lodgings in Mineral Point, within walking distance, some of which offer discounts to Shake Rag students.
Shake Rag just finished its yearly writing retreat and is gearing up for more visual art workshops and retreats in the coming months, including the “Art Adventure” retreat Aug. 24-27 that focuses on mixed media. Mixed media has become a particular strength at the school, drawing instructors and students from across North America. But 90% of incoming students are novices at the skill they want to learn. “There’s something for everyone here,” Flesch says. “It’s a culture of creativity that thrives.”
Dillman’s Art Workshop Retreat offers classes held at a traditional “up north” lake getaway, Dillman’s Bay Resort on White Sand Lake outside of Lac du Flambeau. The lodge and cabins were originally built as a logging camp and shifted to a resort in the 1930s, says Stephanie Skotterud, who calls herself the “Jill of all trades” at Dillman’s. Her father, Dennis Robertson, trained as an artist, and was the brainchild behind offering multi-day art classes there, starting in 1978. Students stay in the lodge or cabins, and can take advantage of the resort’s canoes, kayaks and bicycles when they’re not working on art.
An art classroom with many tables.
Dillman’s Bay concentrates on the visual arts.
Most of Dillman’s classes take place during the week, as the resort is usually rented out for weddings on weekends; classes run May through October, with none in July. Classes center on painting, sketching and collage. Field trips to galleries in Boulder Junction usually take place as well.
“There’s a lot of art to be had in the great north woods,” says Skotterud.
Where to go to school/camp?
Options for subjects, skills, lodgings and length of stay
theclearing.org
12171 Garrett Bay Road, Ellison Bay
Classes in painting, writing, quilting, birding, wood carving, poetry, rustic furniture making, photography, poetry, fine wood-working, music, weaving, philosophy, stained glass, metal work, nature study and paper arts. Students generally stay onsite in cabins and eat three homemade meals a day, which are included with lodging costs; the 125-acre woodland campus is stunning and designed by Jens Jensen. Scholarships are available.
dillmans.com/dcaf-workshops
13277 Dillman’s Way, Lac du Flambeau
Workshops run from three to five days and center on visual arts. Resort-style perks come along with the up-north lake setting, including use of canoes, bikes and kayaks. Various on-site lodging and meal options are available.
driftlessfolkschool.org
224 Wisconsin Highway 56, Viroqua
Classes in homesteading skills like fermenting, butchering, spoon carving, tool sharpening, homebrewing, rotational grazing, and lots more, usually offered Saturdays and Sundays at locations in and around Viroqua. Sliding-fee scale. The school’s website lists Viroqua-area lodging options. These are private, but located in the beauty of the Driftless Area.
Madeline Island School of the Arts
madelineartschool.com
978 Chebomnicon Road, La Pointe
Barn-style classrooms and lodging on pretty acreage inland on Madeline Island, with classes in painting, plein air, quilting, photography, fiber arts, mixed media and writing among the usual offerings. Classes are five days. Breakfast, lunch, and two dinners are included with lodging (shared room or private room) — and you can bring your significant other even if he or she isn’t taking a class. Students can also stay off campus. This June, fiber arts rock star Kaffe Fassett is teaching, and in July, Madison native Laurie Lindeen (Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story) is teaching a memoir workshop and independent study.
Peninsulaschoolofart.org
3900 County Highway F, Fish Creek
xoMe Studio
A woman leaning over a table making art.
Peninsula School of Art
Peninsula offers a wide range of visual arts classes, usually two- or four-day, including aluminum casting, drawing and painting, jewelry-making, photography, pottery, and more creativity-enhancing themed classes like “Series and Repetition.” Skill level of beginner, intermediate or advanced is noted on class descriptions. Peninsula has no onsite lodging. Finding Door County accommodations, especially for classes held on the weekends, can be more difficult than getting into the class, so plan ahead.
Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
shakeragalley.org
18 Shake Rag St., Mineral Point
Multi-day retreats or half- or day-long classes, in a wide variety of genres, including fiber arts, heritage crafts, blacksmithing, welding, jewelry, glass, mixed media, painting, writing and book arts.
sieversschool.com
986 Jackson Harbor Road,
Washington Island
In addition to fiber arts like knitting, spinning, stitchery, quilting and weaving, Sievers holds workshops in basketry, carving, furniture making, jewelry making, paper arts and more. Some dormitory-style housing is available onsite in a picturesque turn-of-the-century barn, part of the idyllic setting here. But register early (Feb. 1) if you want housing. Otherwise, look for VRBO, inns, or motels on Washington Island.
