New Mexico 2024 November alumni retreat in Taos

Dates: November 18-24, 2024
Location: Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos, New Mexico

As usual, this retreat is open to alumni of Taos first and if I don’t fill the spots, I’ll invite alumni from retreats in other places. It is likely you’ve received this page link in an email from me so you might want to bookmark that as I won’t have it linked in navigation unless I absolutely can’t fill any remaining slots.

The Workshop

I have named the workshop “Technique and Image: Finding the Match.” This title is largely for the folks coming to the January version of this retreat which is an open call. For those of you who have been coming to this retreat for years, the format will remain the same. I’ll encourage you to think about what you want to work on and bring materials and questions to pursue those questions while you’re here.

I’d like to meet as a group several times during the retreat to talk about what we’ve been working on and answer questions about particular problems. I am happy to share information based on your questions during the retreat and will have slides and books available so we can look at images of tapestries and discuss design along with how technique plays into creating a particular image.

Here are some example things to think about:

• Do you have a favorite tapestry artist who weaves in a particular way you want to explore? Gather some images of their work or you can explore it at MDL using your internet-connected device (in the lounge—there is no wifi in the workshop room)

• Do you have a set of images that you want to interpret in tapestry but don’t have the design finalized or maybe even started?

• Do you have a collection of images from years of interest in something that you aren’t sure how to turn into weave-able tapestries?

• Perhaps you feel completely stuck about design and aren’t sure where to even start? (If this one is you, we’ll get you unstuck together through some fun exercises and discussions about what interests you.)

• Or maybe you’re deep into your own designs and confident there but want to bounce ideas about color or technique off Rebecca and other participants.

Bring your thoughts and some starting ideas no matter how unformed they are and by the end of the week, you’ll have a direction for your tapestry and maybe your work as a whole.

This retreat is all about fueling your personal ideas and practice around tapestry design and execution. It is a great place for people who feel a little (or a lot) stuck on designing for tapestry. There is no better place to knock around ideas, get some suggestions of how to find an idea and work with it, and then start executing it before the end of the retreat.

For people who need a little more guidance or really want to work on technique, I’ll have some exercise ideas you can pursue during your time here. I would still encourage you to have some personal guidance for your time at the retreat. For example, do you want to learn more about making vertical curves or using a particular technique or weft bundling or color use? Think about what your goals are around what you want to learn and take some time to search out examples of tapestries or images you’d like to use to guide your learning.

Private consultation: In past years we had time for private chats (just me and you) about whatever you wanted to talk about. Most of you brought questions or design ideas to knock around. Some of you wanted to talk about favorite tapestry artists or ask about potential avenues for further learning and practice. I’ll have times available for anyone who wants to take advantage of this opportunity. And of course spending time talking about your weaving and design with fellow students is immensely valuable and you’re encouraged to do that all week as long as the other person/people are willing.

Prerequisite knowledge: This retreat is not for beginners. You must know how to warp a tapestry loom and weave basic shapes. If you’ve unsure, feel free to email me at hello@rebeccamezoff.com with questions. You don’t have to be cranking out your own original tapestries, you just have to know the basic mechanics of weaving tapestry and have a willingness to dive into design. For people who are ready to push themselves farther in their design skills, this is a unique opportunity to do so in a small group of other weavers.

Preliminary Schedule

Monday, Nov 18

3 pm: Arrival and check-in
3-6 pm: unload your weaving equipment at Juniper House and settle into your room
6:30 pm: Welcome dinner in the main house

Tuesday, Nov 19

Breakfast 8-9 am
9:30-10:30: Gather as a group in the yoga studio to plan out the week and get a little inspiration.
10:30-12: studio work
12:30-1:30: Lunch at MDL
1:30-5: Open studio or explore the surrounding area
2-4 pm: Consultation times with Rebecca available
Dinner on your own

Wednesday, Nov 20

Breakfast 8-9 am
9-12: studio work
12:30-1:30: Lunch at MDL
1:30-5: Open studio or explore the surrounding area.
2-4 pm: Consultation times with Rebecca available
Dinner on your own

Thursday, Nov 21

Schedule as above; stay tuned for potential meeting in yoga studio at 9:30 am
6:30 pm: Dinner at MDL as a group

Friday, Nov 22

Breakfast 8-9 am
9-12: studio work
12:30-1:30: Lunch at MDL
2 pm: Group outing to Taos Wools or a local museum
Dinner on your own

Saturday, Nov 23

Breakfast 8-9 am
9-12: studio work
12:30-1:30: Lunch at MDL
1-4: Open studio or explore the surrounding area.
4:30 pm: Meet at Juniper House workshop to review what we did and take a group photo
6:30 pm: Dinner at MDL as a group

Sunday, Nov 24

Our last breakfast together, finish packing up the studio, say goodbye, and head home until next year. Check out of your hotel room by 10:30 am.

Studio time discussions: I’ll pull together slides of tapestries and other resources to talk about based on your questions and thoughts during the retreat. These will likely happen at 9:30 am in the yoga studio, but I’ll let you know if that changes. I anticipate a few of these during the week. Of course we’ll have lots of informal discussion as we work together.

The studio in Juniper House is always available to you. You’ll have a key to get in. Please make sure the door is locked if you’re the last one out.

Mabel Dodge Luhan House

MDL is a warm and inviting place. In November there will be a fire in the lounge (unless it is unusually warm!). Fireplaces in the guest rooms are not currently in use, so plan on enjoying fires in the main lounge. You’ve all been here before, but you can refresh your memory on the rooms on the website here: http://mabeldodgeluhan.com/. Housing is based on Historic House or Juniper House. Rooms in Juniper House are slightly less expensive. This is also where the workshop room is. All provided meals are in the Historic House. Remember that there may be snow and that the surfaces at MDL are uneven and can be precarious. Bring good winter shoes and anything else you need to feel secure walking on their old, rocky walkways.

Mabel Dodge Luhan House (MDL) is a retreat-style facility with no televisions, alarm clocks, or telephones. There is wifi only in the main lounge area. You will have a key to this area (for 24 hour access) which includes sitting areas, fireplaces, and internet access on your own device. There is cell service and MDL House is within walking distance of downtown Taos.

Many rooms have two beds. Some are double/queen plus a twin, some are two twins. You’re welcome to share a room with a friend. I will say that most of the rooms are very small so you should be good friends if you share one! The Gatehouse Cottage is available if you do have a friend coming with you or you want to make a new friend. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two living rooms, and a full kitchen. Each room is billed at the Historic House Private rate. One room has a king bed, the other has two twins.

Housing Choices

Please let me know your first and second choices for rooms on the registration form. I will rotate the most popular rooms such as Mabel’s room and the Solarium among people who haven’t stayed there before. All rooms including the Gatehouse Cottage are available except Auntie’s Cottage.

Extending your stay: MDL holds all the rooms from bed and breakfast registrations until October 17th. If you’d like to extend your stay, you can arrange with MDL to do so. You’ll need to call them, tell them you’re part of my retreat, and you can reserve additional nights. Please reserve the room that you’ve been assigned instead of taking a room someone else is scheduled to be in so that they have to move before the retreat starts (or email me about this). You’ll need to tell MDL what room you’re assigned. They will release those rooms October 18th, so make those reservations before that date. MDL phone: 575-751-9686.

Companions

You may bring a spouse or companion with you if they are able to entertain themselves while you’re at the workshop. See additional rates under Pricing below. Their price includes sharing your room, all breakfasts and lunches, and three dinners. This is the rate MDL charges me for companions.

MEALS

Breakfast and lunch: These meals are provided in the MDL dining room each day of our stay ending with breakfast on the last day. Breakfast is from 8-9. They will potentially be feeding a few other B&B guests and when the guests have eaten, the staff gets what is left. We will be the only people at lunch each day.

Dinner: We will have dinner together the first night as we get reacquainted and talk about what we’re going to do during our week together. I’ve added a dinner on Thursday night and we’ll have dinner together the last night to say farewell as we usually do. The other three nights are open for you to explore the dining options in Taos. Check in with the group on the first day of class for some excellent suggestions and to find dining companions if you’d like them.

It has become a tradition to bring some wine to share during the retreat in the evenings. If you are a wine drinker and would like to bring a bottle to share, please do. Please do not feel this contribution is in any way mandatory. I’ll pick up a few local bottles to contribute.

WHAT TO BRING

For the workshop:

• Looms: You must bring your own loom. It can be any loom you can get to Taos and that works for you.

• Tools: Please bring all your own weaving tools.

• Yarn: Please bring the warp and weft yarn you need for what you think you’ll work on.

• Design materials: If you love colored pencils or paint or tracing paper, please bring some. I will have some limited supplies because you don’t always know WHAT you’ll want or what new design technique might be the one for you. But please do bring the sorts of materials you like to play with while designing.

• Headphones for your music. People have vastly different taste in music and auditory tolerance. Please use headphones.

• Task light: The light in the Juniper House studio is fair but not great. Light in the yoga studio is poor. A task light is useful for most people. If you are driving please also bring an extension cord and if a few people have a power strip they can bring, we could use a few of those also.

For Taos:

• casual dress, clothing for winter in Taos (15-50 degrees)

• walking shoes if you’re exploring the town of Taos or going hiking on the gorge or along the Rio Grande

• It sometimes snows in Taos in November and you’ll remember that the surfaces at MDL are uneven and sometimes slippery. Bring good shoes for this environment.

PRICING

Price is based on the housing you choose. There are four options. For details on the rooms, visit Mabel Dodge Luhan’s website here: http://mabeldodgeluhan.com/accommodations/rooms/. Please note that the housing rates on their website are not the ones for us as we have additional fees for the conference and food. Those are the rates if you are extending your stay. These rates are the same as they were last year.

Prices below are all inclusive for 6 nights, 7 days. This includes your housing, taxes, the included meals, the workshop fee, plus all handouts and workshop extras.

Historic House Rates

Private room: $2,500
Shared room: $2,200 (shared with another workshop participant)

Juniper House Rates

Private room: $2,300
Shared room: $2,050 (shared with another workshop participant)

Companions: You may bring a significant other to this retreat. Your room will be billed at the private room rate and a fee of $600 which covers the double occupancy and extra meals that MDL charges me. For example, if you want to stay in the Historic House, you’d register for a private room for you and your companion. The total amount paid would be the private room fee of $2,500 + $600 = $3,100. Companions are welcome at all meals and are free the rest of the time to enjoy Northern New Mexico.

Taos County Residents: MDL has a special rate commuter for residents of Taos County only. You must be a resident of Taos County and want to stay at home to take advantage of this. Please contact Rebecca at hello@rebeccamezoff.com for your rates. This rate includes all meals and teaching and excludes housing.

Payment: I am not doing deposits for this retreat unless you want to approach this as a sort of payment plan (contact me if so). Full payment is due by October 1, 2024. Rebecca will send a PayPal invoice after you register. If you’d prefer to mail a check, please let her know you are doing this and she’ll give you the mailing address.

I will contact you if I don’t receive your full payment by 10/3/23. If I don’t hear from you by 10/5/23, your spot will go to the first person on the waiting list.

CANCELLATION TERMS

I will refund your payment in full until October 17, 2023. After that date, nothing is refundable unless I can find someone to fill your spot in which case, I’ll send you a refund minus a $200 “I have to spend a lot of time filling your spot” fee.

I will make refund exceptions for COVID positivity on a case by case basis because no one wants you to come if you have it! Please be careful in the weeks leading up to our retreat.

What to do next: Registration

Please fill out the registration form below. Feel free to email me with any details or changes at any time.

IMPORTANT DATES

September 23, 2024: Decision day! Please let me know by this date whether or not you are coming to the November 2024 retreat. I will send you a PayPal invoice when you fill out your registration.
October 1, 2024: Payment in full is due.
October 17, 2024: Last day to extend your stay at MDL. If you want to come early or stay later, you need to call MDL and make that accommodation. Just let them know you’re in my retreat and what room you’re in. 575-751-9686
October 17, 2024: Last day for a full refund. After this point, I’ll give a refund IF I can fill your spot minus a processing fee of $200.
November 18, 2024: Check-in after 3 pm, dinner with the group at 6:30 pm
November 18-24, 2024: See you in Taos!

Registration Form

Thank you for registering! Rebecca will email you within 24 hours to confirm your spot in the retreat. She will also send you a PayPal invoice for the total amount depending on what housing you choose. Payment will be due October 1.

I’m looking forward to another year with a great group of people. I’m keeping this retreat to people who have been at Taos retreats before so most of you will know each other. Feel free to email me at any time with questions. hello@rebeccamezoff.com

To see full photos in the gallery below, click on one, hover for captions, arrows to move through it. Most of these photos are from our retreat in November of 2023.

I can’t wait to spend another week weaving with all of you. See you in Taos!