Taos Women’s Art Retreat:
Sense of Place

with Susan Stover and Lisa Pressman

May 23-29, 2027

Join us in Taos, NM for an immersive art making experience.

Join artists Susan Stover and Lisa Pressman in Taos, New Mexico, for Sense of Place—an intimate, weeklong art-making retreat shaped by the land, light, history, and creative spirit of Taos.

Set beneath the vast skies of the Sangre de Cristo foothills, this retreat invites you to step away from daily routines and settle into a slower rhythm. Through guided studio sessions, shared conversations, and time for individual exploration, you’ll have space to pay attention, take creative risks, and follow where your work wants to lead.

Our home for the week is the legendary Mabel Dodge Luhan House, an adobe sanctuary that has welcomed artists, writers, and thinkers for nearly a century. Its rooms, gardens, and gathering spaces offer a rare combination of history, warmth, and quiet—an ideal setting for making, reflecting, and connecting with a community of fellow artists.

The week will also include excursions to Ghost Ranch and Georgia O’Keeffe’s home, giving us the opportunity to experience firsthand the landscape that so deeply shaped her life and work. These visits, along with the colors, forms, textures, and expansive light of Taos, will become part of our ongoing exploration of what it means to respond to place.

Whether you are looking for new inspiration, a deeper connection to your process, or simply uninterrupted time to work, this retreat offers a supportive and nourishing space to make art, exchange ideas, and see what unfolds.

“We’ve taught here for several years, and each return deepens the experience. The place continues to surprise us—visually, creatively, and personally. We’d love to share this time with you." ~ Lisa and Sue

The Studio:

This retreat is designed for women who have an ongoing making practice—or who feel comfortable working independently with guidance and support. Participants are encouraged to bring their own projects, materials, questions, and ideas, and to work in ways that feel authentic to where they are now.

We will spend four full days in the studio, with 24-hour access throughout the retreat. One day will be devoted to our field trip to Ghost Ranch and Georgia O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiú.

The studio is a place to work deeply, experiment, follow a new direction, or return to something that has been waiting for your attention.

This is not a media-specific workshop. You are welcome to work in the materials and processes that best support your practice, including:

  • water-based or oil painting

  • drawing

  • stitching or fiber

  • bookmaking

  • collage

  • object making

  • mixed media

  • or a combination of approaches

Ghost Ranch and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Home:

One of the highlights of the week will be our visits to Ghost Ranch and Georgia O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiú.

Each time we  have visited these places, we  have found the experience revelatory. To stand in the landscape O’Keeffe painted—and to see the home where she lived and worked—is to understand her in a new way. The vastness, color, quiet, and majesty of the land are not simply a backdrop to her work. They are part of the work itself.

Her home offers another kind of insight. Its simplicity, restraint, and attention to form reveal her devotion to living with intention. Every object and every space feels considered. It is an intimate glimpse into the life of an extraordinary artist and fiercely independent woman of her time.

No matter how many times we visit we leave inspired . These visits will give us an opportunity to experience the landscape firsthand, reflect on how place shapes an artist, and consider how our own surroundings enter our work.

Is This Retreat is for You?

This retreat is for women who are comfortable working independently while being part of a thoughtful, engaged community.

It’s well suited for artists who value time, space, and place as essential parts of the creative process, and who are open to guidance through conversation, demonstrations, and shared inquiry rather than step-by-step instruction.

If you’re drawn to spacious studio time, honest exchange, and the kind of learning that happens through presence and lived experience, this retreat offers that kind of space.

What’s included:

  • Welcome reception on May 23 before dinner

  • 6 nights at the historic Mabel Dodge Luhan House in a private room with bath

  • Delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily (dietary restrictions accommodated) with one lunch and dinner out on your own

  • Tour day to Ghost Ranch and Georgia O’Keefe house in Abiquiu

  • 4 full days of studio time and 24 hour access to the studio for the duration of the retreat

  • Evening presentations and get togethers

  • Demonstrations, prompts and individual attention

  • A variety of R&F Drawing Oils provided

  • 2 pre-trip meet and greet and informational Zoom meetings

  • Material and Technique Demos

  • Group Feedback Sessions

  • One on One Consultations

  • Community, Conversation, and Good Food

Mabel Dodge is known for its healthy, delicious food created by a top local chef. When possible, garden-raised or local produce is used. To keep you energized throughout the day, coffee, tea, water and fresh baked cookies are available.

Sample dinner menu: (with vegetarian and vegan options available)

  • Grilled chicken cutlets in tomatillo-chipolte sauce

  • Herbed rice

  • Whole wheat tortillas

  • Squash stew (summer squash, onions, corn, green chile and queso fresco)

  • Sonoran salad (a green salad with jicama, poblano chiles, avocado and pecans)

  • Mexican chocolate Cake

And a Lot of Fun!

Total Price for the Retreat with Lodging, Meals, Instruction, and is $4600 USD

Payment is through Venmo or check.

EMAIL ME for registration.

Testimonials

  • "Everything about the Taos workshop is wonderful: the food, the location, the teachers, and the participants. You will spend your days talking, laughing, creating, and taking in the beautiful surroundings. Everyone is supportive and kind. The workshop will leave you feeling inspired, grateful for new friendships, and very happy."

    Susan A.

  • "Lisa and Sue’s Taos workshop/retreat was truly a wonderful experience. Mabel Dodge Luhan house is a charming, comfortable, and a visually lovely place to spend the week. Did I also mention that the food (breakfast, lunch, dinner) was also fabulous? I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work at my own pace in the nurturing and supportive environment they provide."

    Donna H.

  • "Sue and Lisa provided exercises and prompts as starting points, which I found to be inspiring. The group critiques and Lisa and Sue’s guidance were invaluable.. The field trip to canyon Ranch and Georgia O’Keefe’s was an experience I will not soon forget.. All in all I felt very fortunate to be able to be part of this amazing experience and would do it again in a heartbeat."

    Beth H.