A cultural and creative reatreat
7 days of art, culture, and creative awakening
When the border between worlds dissolves
Oaxaca at Día de Muertos is unlike anywhere else on earth. The streets fill with marigolds, candlelight, and music. Altars overflow with photographs, food, and memory. The dead are not mourned — they are welcomed home.
Led by artist Gabriela Domville, this retreat is an immersion into the living tradition of Día de Muertos — not as spectators, but as artists and guests welcomed into something ancient and alive. Art-making, ceremony, food, wandering, and stillness woven together across six days.
No artistic experience required. Only willingness to show up and be moved.
Oaxaca at Día de Muertos is not a festival. It is a door. We make art to walk through it
Oaxaca at Día de Muertos is not a festival. It is a door. We make art to walk through it
What to Expect
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Daily guided art-making with Gabriela. Drawing, mixed media, and mark-making inspired by ofrendas, marigold light, and memory. No experience needed — only presence.
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Walk alongside Oaxacan families during the candlelit cemetery vigils of Noche de Muertos. Witness ritual as it has been practiced for generations — intimate, living, and real.
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Morning mercado visits, mole tastings, and communal dinners. Oaxaca is one of the world's great food cultures. We eat slowly, together, and with intention.
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Visits to artisan villages, ofrenda builders, and weavers working in generations-old traditions. A retreat that listens before it speaks.
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Every day holds unscheduled time — for wandering, sketching alone, writing, or simply sitting with the city. The best Oaxacan discoveries are unplanned.
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Together we build a group altar honoring those we have loved and lost. Art made during the retreat becomes part of the offering. It stays in Oaxaca when we leave.
Immersion in Oaxaca
Oaxaca is one of the most culturally diverse regions in Mexico — a single state home to dozens of Indigenous cultures, each with its own language, traditions, and ways of understanding the world. Zapotec, Mixtec, Mazatec, Chinantec, Mixe, and many others coexist here, shaping daily life through textiles, architecture, ritual, and food. Cobblestone streets, vibrant markets, murals, colonial architecture, and cultural spaces form the backdrop of your days, while museum visits reveal how pre-Hispanic history and contemporary life continue to converse through pattern, geometry, and color.
Meals are an extension of the creative process. From countryside lunches to rooftop dinners, Oaxacan cuisine shifts from region to region — layered moles, corn in countless forms, cacao, mezcal, and local herbs — quietly influencing mark-making, palette choices, and rhythm. Shared tables create moments of presence and conversation, where culture is not observed from a distance but lived, tasted, and woven naturally into the retreat.
Meet Your Instructor
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Meet Your Instructor *
Gabriela Domville
Oaxaca-Raised Artist • Teacher • Cultural Bridge
Gabriela Domville is an artist whose work moves between painting, book arts, and the ritual objects of everyday life. Her retreats are known not for instruction, but for permission — the permission to make something honest, messy, and yours.
She has led art retreats internationally for over a decade and has a deep connection to Oaxacan artistic traditions. She speaks fluent Spanish and navigates the culture with warmth, curiosity, and respect.
In her retreats, the schedule is a suggestion and the city is the studio.
The Details
Full pricing and logistics will be shared with interested participants first.
Register below to receive the complete information pack.
Dates:
October 23 – October 31, 2026
Duration:
6 nights / 6 days
Location:
Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico
Group Size:
Intimate — limited spots
Whats Included:
Meals:
All meals are lincluded
Language:
English-led (Spanish spoken, not required)
Flights:
Not Included
Art Sessions:
Daily, all materials included
WHY THIS RETREAT IS DIFFERENT
This retreat invites you to live inside the act of making. Rather than aiming for perfect drawings or finished outcomes, the focus is on presence, curiosity, and process. You’ll hand-build a sketchbook that travels everywhere with you, filling it with layers of color, texture, collage, writing, pattern, and marks gathered directly from your surroundings. Mistakes are not corrected — they’re welcomed. Chaos becomes a form of language. Intuition is trusted.
Instead of observing Oaxaca from the outside, you experience it as a welcomed guest. Your sketchbook becomes a living archive of taste, movement, conversation, architecture, and emotion — a personal map of discovery you can return to long after the retreat ends.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
• Flights to and from Oaxaca
• Travel insurance (strongly recommended)
• Alcoholic beverages and specialty coffees
• Personal shopping or souvenirs
