The Image Reimagined Using Mixed Media: A Creative Retreat in Santa Fe

This immersive program provides photographers and other creatives with a dedicated space to explore the endless possibilities of mixed media. Our five-day creative retreat in Santa Fe guides you to reimagine and transform your photographs through a variety of different photographic processes, including cold wax and oil painting, image transfers, and iPhone artistry. 

Designed as a “one-stop” shop, this gathering offers you the unique opportunity to learn from four artistic masters in one week. Each day, you rotate with your cohort to a new instructor, who guides you through the technical and creative considerations of their chosen process. Dan Burkholder, Jill Skupin Burkholder, Sandra Carrion, and Patricia Beary all offer different creative perspectives and push you to harness a new way of thinking. You have the opportunity to see how your work changes and expands under the parameters of each medium. You are called to incorporate new techniques and break boundaries as you manipulate your images along digital and analog parameters alike.

This creative experience is perfect for those seeking to reimagine themselves as a photographic artist, jumpstart their practice in a new direction, and stretch beyond the confines of any singular medium. By engaging with a range of techniques and creative perspectives in five days, you deepen your purpose as an artist and understand the potential of your work that clarifies your mission as a mixed-media photographer and a storyteller.

The week starts with an all-group day on Monday for inspirational presentations from the four instructors, introductions from the students, and the first round of talks on technique and artistic strategies common to all three mixed media disciplines. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, you rotate with your cohort to spend the entire day with either Jill, Dan, or Sandra & Patricia (see descriptions of these days below). Friday is dedicated to open studio time to work on favorite processes or revisit challenging steps. We end the workshop with a community-wide conversation about key takeaways, creative lessons learned, and a final “ask me anything” session with all instructors.

Your individual sessions with the instructors during the retreat week include:

Photography, Cold Wax, and Oil Painting (1 day)
Jill offers you the opportunity to blend classic painting with contemporary photography through mastery of the cold wax process. Beginning with a photographic inkjet image on paper, you apply color and texture using oil paint and cold wax, a commercially available wax medium that requires no heat, as with traditional encaustic methods. No prior painting experience is needed.

Image Transfers: Migrating Your Photographs onto New Substrates (1 day)
Teaching duo Pat and Sandra introduce you to the expressive world of image transfers—the art of moving digital images onto alternative surfaces such as textured papers, fabric, wood, or metal. Using specialized transfer film and alcohol-based mediums, you reimagine your photographs in fresh, tactile ways. Digital files from smartphones, DSLR cameras, or scans of personal artwork are all ideal starting points. The resulting works often carry a layered, aged, or painterly quality that invites deeper emotional engagement and artistic discovery.

iPhone Artistry: It’s Better Than Ever! (1 day)
In the same way that photographs can be expanded through paint, wax, and physical manipulation, editing on your iPhone unlocks endless opportunities to enhance your images. There is no better person to introduce you to the many creative apps that allow you to add texture, filters, layers, and color adjustments than Dan, master of the darkroom and digital realm alike. The images created during your iPhone explorations can be printed and serve as a jumping-off point for integration into the other processes taught during this Retreat, allowing you to merge digital and analog work together. Similarly, photographs of physical works created with Jill, Patricia, and Sandy can be digitally enriched and reimagined on your iPhone in a session with Dan.

First and foremost, this creative retreat provides an immersive opportunity to reimagine, stretch, and expand upon your images with support from a creative team of world-renowned instructors. Those seeking to master a diverse range of digital and traditional techniques and push photography in new directions are sure to find endless opportunities for creation, experimentation, and play. Join us for a week in Santa Fe to expand your practice to new heights and walk away equipped with true multidisciplinary artistry.