Summer 2025 Artist Retreat
The Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts invites artists, art students, and art educators who would benefit from shared time and space to create and recharge at the InSitu private gardens. Nestled in the pastoral countryside of Redding, CT, surrounded by 300 protected acres of rock ledges, dense forest, grasslands, and meandering streams, InSitu is a 28-acre sculpture garden where nature and art dramatically intersect.
Date: Wednesday May 14 – Sunday May 18, 2025
Location: InSitu | Redding, CT
Retreat fee: $400 (includes shared housing, three meals per day, and on-site hospitality).
Participants are responsible for their own travel and transportation.
Unfortunately, the lodging area is not handicap accessible.
Maximum enrollment: 6
Applications are now closed.
Notification of Acceptance: the week of March 17, 2025.
RETREAT DESCRIPTION
This Book Artists Retreat is a non-credit opportunity rooted in self-led research and interest. No workshops will be held during the duration of the retreat, but art supplies will be made available. It is recommended that all participants bring a project of their choosing to explore while at the garden grounds. Community conversation is encouraged and exploration of the grounds is highly recommended!
ABOUT INSITU:
Over the past two decades, owner Michael Marocco (USM ’81), actively involved with the skillful team of designers, craftsmen, and plantsmen, has created a richly composed showcase of architecture, horticulture, and sculpture.
The sequence of distinctive gardens artfully incorporates native meadows, deciduous trees, flowering plants, grasses, arbors, water features, berms, and terraces, all elegantly connected by lawn, stone, and woodland pathways. The stone, cedar, oak and rich palette of deep reds and browns integrate InSitu’s houses and outbuildings seamlessly into the landscape. Marocco’s internationally curated sculpture collection flourishes in concordance with these masterfully styled spaces. Two unique structures — The Sanctuary, a striking stone, chapel-like space emerging from the side of a hill, and The Bell Tower, a pyramid-shaped viewing structure — offer sweeping vistas of the inspiring oasis.
InSitu has been featured in numerous publications, including the National Garden Conservancy’s book “Outstanding American Gardens: A Celebration: 25 Years of the Garden Conservancy,” (2015) a portrait of fifty of America’s most beautiful gardens.
One scholarship is available for a full-time USM student. Applications are now closed. Notification of Acceptance: the week of March 17, 2025. The Book Artists Retreat scholarship covers all fees for shared housing, meals, and on-site programs. Please note: scholarship awardee is responsible for their own travel and transportation. All students interested in this scholarship opportunity must complete this form to be considered. Thank you!
For more information, please contact:
Annie Lee-Zimerle, Program Coordinator
(207) 228-8014 or aemin.leezimerle@maine.edu
usm.maine.edu/bookarts
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