Foundations: Sketching Retreat with Miles Johnston

Name: Foundations: Sketching Retreat with Miles Johnston
Start: 2026-04-25T17:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-04-29T12:00:00-04:00
Location: COSM Chapel of Sacred Mirrors

Schedule

Sat, 25 Apr, 2026 at 05:00 pm to Wed, 29 Apr, 2026 at 12:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

COSM Chapel of Sacred Mirrors | Wappingers Falls, NY

ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Reconnect with your original curiosity and reclaim your creative drive.
Making art is challenging. It demands years of committed practice, patience, and a level of focus that is increasingly difficult to find in a world designed to distract us. This workshop will be a chance for artists to come together in a beautiful setting and to reconnect with our original curiosity and drive to make art.
The deepest source of motivation comes from a very particular insight. It is easy to put other artists on a pedestal, to view them and their work as something other and greater than ourselves. Groups of art students talk with each other in hushed tones about ‘the old masters’ and ‘art gods’, subtly reinforcing a separation between them and ourselves.
It was in meeting artists, hearing their stories and seeing their growth over time juxtaposed against witnessing first hand their extremely ordinary humanness that it became clear. These are people who get tired, misspeak in sentences, who are fully real and flawed human beings, just like me.
That is the transformational insight: Artists are just people, I am a person. I can be an artist too, I could also paint like that.
WHAT TO EXPECT

Over the course of five days, I will share the "how" behind my own journey and help you find the clarity needed to develop your own artistic voice. Our time together will include:
- Process & Technique: Deep dives into my personal methods and how I "stumbled" into my own voice.
- One-on-One Mentoring: Personalized guidance to help you navigate your specific creative hurdles.
- Life Drawing Sessions: Grounding your practice in observation and form.
- Sketchbook from Imagination: Learning to bridge the gap between what you see and what you dream.
I want you to leave the class with a full stack of sketches and preparatory drawings that you can develop after the workshop concludes.
YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Miles Johnston
Miles Johnston works primarily in graphite and oils, using the human form to explore the intensity and strangeness of the collective human experience. Through the distortion and transformation of their subjects, they represent the internal states we inhabit during pivotal moments in life. Rather than focusing on literal representation, Miles Johnston captures the surreal and abstract qualities of subjectivity to create work with a deep emotional resonance.

Website milesjohnstonart.com
Instagram @miles_art
Facebook MilesJohnstonArt
X MilesJohnston
Tiktok @miles_art
Youtube @Milesjart
CoSM WORKSHOP SETTING
Class sessions will take place in the newly renovated MAGI Art Lab.
Grey House, CoSM's Visionary Victorian guest house, provides accommodations for all participants.
Residing onsite together is a part of this immersively creative week, providing maximum interactivity, immersion & enrichment. Accommodations in Grey House are offered in a variety of economies and are additional to the workshop fee.
ACCOMMODATIONS
There are ten guest rooms available in Grey House, CoSM’s Visionary Victorian guest facility.
Private rooms with private or shared bathrooms, Queen or King beds.
Shared dorm style rooms with single or queen beds — femme only and coed dorm options available.
The guest house features works of art by Alex Grey and Allyson and accomplished artists of the international Visionary Art community.