SOUL SKIN - An Elemental Art Retreat with Tina Bester

October 5 - 8, 2023

  • Catered Camping – R 3,000.00
  • Farmhouse Restio – R 4,300.00
  • Cloister Inner – R 4,300.00
  • Cloister Outer – R 4,300.00
  • Courtyard Single Occupancy – R 6,200.00
  • Farmhouse Single Occupancy – R 6,300.00
  • Garden Room Single Occupancy – R 6,700.00
  • Courtyard Shared Double Occupancy – R 10,000.00
  • Farmhouse Double Occupancy – R 10,200.00
  • Garden Room Double Occupancy – R 10,400.00

Tina Bester invites you to an Elemental Retreat of self-discovery that pulls you back into your heart. Held by the elements and using the creative power of mark making, inks, collage, and stitching, we will go on a deep journey to call back our lost parts, integrate them, and find the soft place for them to land. This deep journey through the heart allows you to look with love and compassion and arrive back in your body.

This retreat will run alongside the annual Bodhi Khaya Artist Residency and will allow for interaction with the participating artists, artworks and installations. Be guided on a journey though the elements, beginning with Air and ending with Fire.

Thursday (Air): We will start with a heart-opening meditation, gathering organic materials to create handmade mark makers (natural paint brushes). Using these, we will embark on an expressive journey through the elements, making marks with black ink. These elemental marks will form the landscape for integrating and creating our Soul Skins.

Friday (Fire): Beginning with a Cacao ceremony, we move into Fire, crafting our Soul Skin. Using our elemental ink marks, we will create and integrate a full-body landscape through collage, inks, and stitching. This process initiates deep contemplation, settles the nervous system, and reconnects us with our bodies.

Saturday (Earth + Water): We move through Earth by walking into the surrounding hills, grounding ourselves and anchoring the progress made during our Fire exploration. Moving into Water, we sit by water pools, activating receiving, and bathing our bodies in coolness. This experience allows us to connect to our hearts with deep compassion and receptivity.

Sunday (Fire): At the end of each element, we engage in free writing, tapping into the essence of what each element activates. With these words, we write personal intentions that will be released into the Ether through a closing Fire ceremony on Sunday morning.

About Tina Bester 

After graduating from Stellenbosch University, Tina worked in magazines for 13years as a designer and picture Editor and was a freelance Food and Décor stylist, before opening her bakery, Queen of Tarts, which she had for 15 years. In this time she wrote six cook books, which were sold both locally and internationally. After embarking on a deep creative journey in 2018, she now lives in Ladismith, Western Cape, where she runs Elemental Retreats from her beautiful off grid home. She is passionate about the creative process of art and how it allows us to access unknown parts of ourselves activating our own inner wisdom and knowing. Her creativity spans many areas from painting to ceramics, to creating beautiful
spaces, to creating and growing beautiful food. She started Wild Creations Community Art Programme during Covid, reaching at-risk children in the Ladismith community and in 2022 started a Community Food Garden, partnering with Oasis, 005-935 NPO and Engedi Haven for Rural Youth, 064-475-NPO.

This retreat is all inclusive of all activities, meals and materials. For any additional queries, please email info@bkr.co.za

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