Small Pages

A day-long creative retreat exploring writing and collage as contemplative process.

Hosted by Poetry Forge on the Leelanau Peninsula in Northern Michigan

Our theme for 2025 is Seen/Unseen. We will be working with color, contrast, white space, layers, transparencies, words, and the gaps between.

Monday, July 28, 2025 | 10am–3pm

at the studio of Carol C. Spaulding,

near Little Glen Lake

Space for 12. Register early to ensure your place.

*The studio address will be provided upon registration.

Art-making as a way of slowing down, paying attention

Join poet Holly Wren Spaulding and artist Carol C. Spaulding for a gentle day of creativity, reflection, and restoration. Set in a serene garden studio among trees, songbirds, and summer blooms, we invite you to slow down and make something meaningful with your hands and heart.

Together we’ll create small pages—poetic, visual artifacts that combine collage and contemplative writing. No experience is necessary; just a willingness to explore and be present.

This gathering is for anyone drawn to creative practice as a way of making sense, finding beauty, and reconnecting with joy. Adults of all levels are welcome, and older teens may attend with a participating adult.

We will provide all materials, light refreshments, and a flower bar where you can arrange a bouquet to take home with you at the end of the day.

Inspired by the spirit of artists like Henri Matisse and Helen Frankenthaler, poets of the garden, and the quiet of the natural world, we’ll spend the day remembering what it’s like to make and without any form of pressure—only for the pleasure of it.