Four days of clay, craft, friendship, mountain views, and the creative heartbeat of Asheville.
This is more than an art retreat. We’re stepping into studios, meeting local makers, exploring the River Arts District, visiting the Craft Show of the Southern Highlands, and creating together in a city whose creative community is rebuilding after Hurricane Helene.
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Barbara is a polymer clay original: more than forty years of mastery, a published author, and a teacher whose work has influenced generations of makers.
For Dream Makers, she is bringing a new Mokume Gane technique she has been developing—along with the kind of hands-on time, conversation, and creative exchange that simply doesn’t happen in a giant convention room.
And we aren’t spending the weekend tucked away in one classroom. Asheville itself is part of the retreat.
They aren’t polished product photos—and that’s exactly why they belong here. This little napkin full of bead and charm samples gives you a glimpse into the ideas Barbara has been exploring specifically for Dream Makers.
You’re not signing up to recreate an old class from an archive. You’re stepping into a live creative process while the pieces are still being tested, refined, and brought to life.
That handwritten "Dream Makers Asheville 2026" note says a lot: this retreat is real, it’s current, and it’s being prepared for right now.
A small, beautiful reminder that what you’ll make in Asheville is being dreamed up by hand before you even arrive.
Each day moves through a different corner of Asheville’s creative community, with workshops, beautiful places, great food, and plenty of time to enjoy the people you came to meet.
Arrive, settle in, and then join us for a rooftop welcome with light bites and drinks overlooking downtown Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Meet your fellow Dream Makers, reconnect with old friends, and begin the weekend without rushing straight into a classroom.
We’ll work at Ignite to create our charms, enjoy a catered lunch, and spend part of the day at the Craft Show of the Southern Highlands—a celebration of exceptional Southern Appalachian craft and the makers who keep those traditions evolving.
Saturday morning we’ll gather at Local Cloth for Barbara’s clay workshop, then break for lunch. Afterward we head to Chevron Beads, where you can shop for the findings that speak to your finished pieces and assemble your earrings right in their workshop. We’ll finish with an appetizer-and-drinks reception while we admire what everyone created.
We check out of the retreat hotel by 11 AM. Then choose what sounds best: come along as we explore more creative spots in the River Arts District, book your own visit to the Biltmore, or head off for coffee, galleries, scenery, and whatever Asheville is calling you toward. Sunday is intentionally flexible.
We are intentionally taking the retreat out into Asheville—working inside local creative businesses and spending with artists and shops who are still feeling the impact of Hurricane Helene.
Our Friday creative stop, where we’ll make charms together and begin building the pieces that will travel with us through the weekend.
Our Saturday morning workshop home and the setting for focused clay time with Barbara and our small retreat group.
Shop for findings, make the final design choices, assemble your finished earrings, and celebrate them with drinks and appetizers.
If you choose a retreat option that includes lodging, this is our home base for the weekend. Staying with the group makes the retreat feel easy: you can settle in, wake up near your fellow makers, and let the weekend unfold from there.
Already have a place to stay? Choose the Day Tripper option and join us for the hosted retreat experience without hotel lodging.
The art, studios, people, and Asheville experience are the heart of the weekend. Choose whether you want us to take care of the hotel, too.
Share a room with a friend or fellow maker
Your own room for the weekend
Stay wherever you like
A streamlined Friday + Saturday option
If this has been sitting open in a browser tab while you decide, this is the moment to make the call. Barbara doesn’t teach often, the group is intentionally small, and the lodging options are already being claimed.
Clay on the table. Mountains in the distance. Local studios opening their doors to us. A room full of makers who understand why this kind of weekend matters.
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