--- title: 'DRAWING with PLACE, Creative Retreat, Italy' description: >- 7-night drawing retreat in Molise, Italy's Apennine mountains, led by artist-curator Tracy Mackenna; 6 places, €1500. url: 'https://www.artsume.com/programs/64378dc4-d910-44c9-874b-09f1b6e84737' type: program status: closed createdAt: '2026-05-25' updatedAt: '2026-10-02' programType: Residency organization: The Museum of Loss and Renewal organizationUrl: 'https://www.artsume.com/o/the-museum-of-loss-and-renewal' deadline: '2026-10-02' location: 'Collemacchia, Italy' isOnline: false compensationRange: >- €1500 program fee covering accommodation and studio space; no compensation to artists — participants pay to attend. disciplines: - drawing --- # DRAWING with PLACE, Creative Retreat, Italy **Hosted by:** The Museum of Loss and Renewal **Type:** Residency | **Location:** Collemacchia, Italy | **Deadline:** October 2, 2026 ## About This Program > "Investigating place through drawing" 7 nights / 8 days in Italy's undiscovered Molise region. Fri 09 Oct 2026 – Fri 16 Oct 2026. €1500,00 Euro. Time and space, curated with care by award-winning educator and artist Tracy Mackenna, to explore drawing and mark-making in the remarkable National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise. Our creative retreat gives you a period of dedicated time and space, providing a careful balance of guided workshops and uninterrupted personal time. It is designed to help you step out of your daily routine, to decelerate, so you can focus your energy through creativity and rest to heighten senses and increase inspiration. **DRAWING with PLACE** invites you to take the time to slow down by experiencing and investigating place through drawing. All forms of drawing are encouraged, activated through experimentation, play, trial and error. Being and working in the ancient and contemporary environment of Molise will stimulate deep consideration of time, perspective, and personal and environmental well-being. There are just six places available with participants housed in excellent accommodation in Collemacchia village, and superb studio spaces on hand. ### Drawing with Place **DRAWING with PLACE** is a retreat that has been carefully designed to provide structured workshops that explore and question what drawing is and can be. It will suit all those who are developing, extending and challenging their drawing practices. Support and encouragement are at the heart of the week, under the careful guidance of Tracy Mackenna, curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal. We welcome participants who think through drawing, and for whom drawing is a way to investigate and understand place, and from practitioners who have a strong interest in drawing as an area of practice. The municipality of Filignano in Italy's Molise region is a truly special place, with a unique mix of both calming and dramatic natural environments. The Creative Retreat is centred in the village of Collemacchia, home to Tracy Mackenna's family for centuries. With virtually no tourism in the region, the area is remarkable for its unspoiled access to flora and fauna and world-class Samnite and Roman archaeological sites. The local community is strong and welcomes The Museum of Loss and Renewal's participants whole-heartedly. Nestled in the Apennine mountains, citizens have undergone waves of economic migration. This has resulted in a vibrant multi-lingual Italian community whose members move seamlessly between the village and their homes in e.g. Rome, Naples, Paris, Brussels, Philadelphia, Melbourne, Glasgow. ### Your Week in Collemacchia **DRAWING with PLACE** will encourage and support you to be inventive, experimental, to have fun and take risks, all the while being attentive to your remarkable surroundings, and to your own needs. Arrive on the first day to a warm welcome from Tracy, and to settle into your accommodation. Evening activities will include drinks on the roof terrace, introductions, and orientation – all in the spirit of relaxing conversation. Every morning we will step into the remarkable mountain environment that is part of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise. Abundant in wildlife, flora and fauna, archaeological sites and naturally re-wilding forest, Tracy's life-long knowledge will be shared during walks and at sites frequented only by local inhabitants. We will consider scale, perspective, observation, attentiveness and what it means to slow down. These locations will be the sites of a series of tailored drawing exercises. Indoor working spaces next to your accommodation will enable you to experiment, get mucky and test ideas. Each afternoon is time for you to explore by walking, working indoors or outdoors, accessing the fantastic books and artist's publications in the on-site library, recording, or simply just being. Late afternoon gatherings are moments to share and discuss and are optional so you shape the space, pattern and time you need during the week. Evening gatherings in the Autumn warmth are an invitation to converse and reflect in the cradle of the mountains, watched by deer, wild boar, horses and myriad bird species. The Creative Retreat offers a carefully balanced itinerary, with workshops that focus on historical and contemporary ways of drawing, discussion, presentation, making and sharing. Participants will be introduced to the stunning natural landscape around Collemacchia, accessible from the doorstep via ancient pathways, and to world-class archaeological sites. By walking, listening, looking and making, participants will activate drawing and mark-making in multiple ways. ### Your Tutor Tracy Mackenna is a highly experienced, award-winning artist, curator, educator, and publisher. Drawing and mark-making run through everything she does, including framed work for exhibition, large-scale site-specific installation, illustration, note-making and annotation. She works individually and in collaboration and her passion is gathering people together to create energy that leads to the unexpected. Through Tracy's experience and generous approaches, she will share ways of working, uses of materials, and invitations to think and engage with the environment, allowing you to build on your own practices. Visits to local and regional collections and museums will be part of the week's activities, where drawing exercises will take place. ## Eligibility & Requirements - **Geographic Eligibility:** International - **Disciplines:** drawing - **Note:** Suited to those who are developing, extending and challenging their drawing practices — participants who think through drawing, and for whom drawing is a way to investigate and understand place, and practitioners who have a strong interest in drawing as an area of practice. ## Compensation & Benefits €1500 program fee covering accommodation and studio space; no compensation to artists — participants pay to attend. This is a paid retreat: participants pay €1500,00 for the 7-night/8-day program, payable via the Booking tab / Stripe checkout on the host's website. The fee covers accommodation in Collemacchia village and studio space; no stipend, honorarium or other payment is offered to participants. ## What's Provided - **Housing:** Provided - Participants are housed in excellent accommodation in Collemacchia village, with superb studio spaces on hand. - **Studio Access:** Provided - Indoor working spaces next to the accommodation enable participants to experiment; access to an on-site library of books and artist's publications is also provided. ## Timeline - **Opens:** May 25, 2026 - **Deadline:** October 2, 2026 - **Program Start:** October 9, 2026 - **Program End:** October 16, 2026 ## How to Apply Apply at: https://tracy.mackenna.studio/the-museum-of-loss-and-renewal-residencies/creative-retreats-italy/drawing-with-place-molise-italy/