Picture this: a week away to revisit childhood memories and celebrate loved ones, get inspired through creative output, read classic literature in the place it was written, and connect over lively discussions with other artists.
Now picture all this while being immersed in the no-rush French culture of long lunch breaks, browsing markets of affordable fresh food, and sipping coffee in a riverside café in the morning and glorious glasses of Bordeaux in the afternoon.
If that sounds like a perfect getaway for the artist in you, you are in luck, as two Peterborough residents have teamed up to host a writing retreat which will offer all of that and more in southwestern France.
Designed for creative writers and storytellers, “My Mother’s House” is a retreat designed to encourage artists to explore memories of the maternal figures in their lives. Taking place from September 16 to 23 in the Terrasson-Lavilledieu village of Dordogne in France, the retreat is led by Peterborough multidisciplinary artist Laurel Paluck.
Included in the retreat is accommodation in a historic villa with continental breakfast, local excursions, and writing prompts and daily discussions with fellow participants, and plenty of free time to explore the quaint riverside village.
“We all have stories to tell, and the craft of writing is a whole other journey,” says Paluck. “The retreat is for everyone, from those who have been writing all their lives to those only journaling a little bit.”
Paluck has teamed up with Johanna Sinclair, a Peterborough resident who knew since being on a school exchange at 15 years old that she wanted to buy a house in France. Since 2018, she has been inviting those around the world — including Peterborough-area artists leading retreats — to rent her home and discover what she fell in love with so many years ago.
“Peterborough has been very good to me, and I thought this house was a nice way to give back to the community,” says Sinclair, noting that her neighbours in France have also joined her back in Peterborough. “I like Europe so much, and it keeps that link to Peterborough in a different way.”
As its name suggests, “My Mother’s House” will encourage participants to explore their relationships with their mothers, whether in written form (poetry, memoir, or short story), orally, or through another form of storytelling. The theme was inspired by Sinclair and Paluck both having lost their mothers within a year of one another.
“I think telling those stories is a part of grieving but is also a bit celebratory in sharing these stories of our mothers and celebrating the influence they had on us,” Paluck explains. “There’s something so very beautiful about being an adult woman and being able to look back on your mother and see her as a human being.”
To ground the discussions and writing prompts, the group will be reading My Mother’s House by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (known simply as Colette), the iconic French writer from the first half of the 20th century who is best known in the English-speaking world for her 1944 novella Gigi, which was later made into a 1958 film and 1973 stage production of the same name.
Written in 1922, Colette’s My Mother’s House (originally titled La Maison de Claudine) is a collection of short stories centred around her own mother.
“There are these beautiful reflections on her mother and her own childhood, and they’re so touching and they’re so beautiful,” says Paluck. “Participants don’t have to be familiar with Colette, but we’re giving everyone the collection to ground ourselves in that sort of storytelling and writing.”
To fully immerse themselves in Colette’s “sensual” storytelling, participants will be taken on an excursion to the 13th-century Castel Novel, where she lived with her second husband and wrote many of her novels.
“She writes prolifically and really engages the senses in her writing, so there’s something very lush about that part of France,” Paluck says. “Visiting the garden will just be incredible and it will be really beautiful to put the story and home together.”
Over the course of the seven-day retreat, participants will stay at Sinclair’s “Residence Terrasson,” a 19th-century villa which, though newly renovated, is in keeping with the original style.
Located on the Vezere River, the home includes a spacious back deck that overlooks the pool and secluded garden with stone fencing and semi-tropical plants. The home has an open-concept living room and dining room with bedrooms that can sleep up to 10 upstairs.
“Everybody can close the doors and disappear if they need to,” says Sinclair, adding that there’s a spacious attic that makes for a cozy place for art and reading. “Even besides the garden, it’s just visually pleasing. It’s easy to get away from each other and then also come together when we need to.”
After a morning writing session and prompt, guests will have free time during the day to walk through the medieval town, shop from its weekly antique markets, explore the ancient ruins, or go for an affordable lunch. Guests can also arrange with Sinclair for additional recommendations for other activities to see in the village, or add on additional trips to neighbouring villages beyond the retreat.
In the late afternoon and evening, participants will return to the villa for more discussions, writing time, and to share their writing.
“You’ll be inspired by what other people are writing, and it might open up a door that you’ve never thought of or it may just trigger something,” says Sinclair. “I think discussing our art is a pretty intimate way of working.”
“Sometimes stories are a little shy so we’re really teasing them out, creating a space where artists feel safe and excited and inspired to give light to these stories,” adds Paluck. “When we’re writing or storytelling, we create a space that is different from the other arts. We invite characters or moods and bring others into it.”
Following the “My Mother’s House” retreat, Sinclair will be opening her home for an artist’s retreat on collage art from September 30 to October 7 led by Richmond Hill artist and curator Lesley Block, who has attended several of the art retreats previously held by Peterborough artist John Climenhage at Sinclair’s villa.
As with the writing retreat, the artist’s retreat will include workshops, time spent exploring the village (including trips to the market and a Michelin-starred restaurant), and connecting with other artists of various skill levels and perspectives.
“All these folks slowly get together and then you’ve got a commonality by the end of the trip, as the group realize there’s a lot more to them being here, choosing to come to a special workshop, and get together in a space like this,” says Sinclair. “There’s a reason they’ve all come to the same place.”
To learn more about the upcoming artists’ retreats, email residenceterrasson@vianet.ca. To book Residence Terrasson, visit www.airbnb.com/slink/C4Ac6gK7.
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