Printing & Coastal Walking Retreat

Join us at Praktyka for a restorative long weekend by the North Devon coast, where slow walking, creative making, and time outdoors come together.

This retreat offers space to step away from daily demands and reconnect with landscape, materials, and your own creative rhythm.

Over three days we’ll walk the coast, draw and paint outdoors, forage thoughtfully, and translate our experiences into prints and handmade objects in the studio. No previous experience is needed, this retreat is open to all levels and led in a supportive, encouraging way.

This is a fully catered, plant-based, small group experience.

Praktyka is an idyllic eco-retreat setup by artists Ania Wawrzkowicz and Henry Trew eight years ago. Designed with heart and soul, each space is unique and considered with private gardens, hammocks and hand picked furniture. 

Jemma Gunning is a Bristol-based artist and printmaker whose practice explores landscape, walking, and the marks left by time, industry, and human intervention. Working primarily through drawing and printmaking, her work is rooted in direct engagement with place, often shaped through walking, observation, and slow processes of looking and recording.

Jemma is particularly drawn to environments in a state of flux, from mountainous terrain and quarries to derelict urban sites. These landscapes become spaces to reflect on fragility, impermanence, and change, themes that run throughout her work. Her print practice embraces experimentation, using process as a way of thinking through materials and environment rather than aiming for fixed outcomes.

Alongside her studio practice, Jemma is an experienced educator and facilitator. She has worked extensively in higher education and community settings, leading workshops that foreground process, curiosity, and shared learning. Her teaching approach is inclusive and open-ended, encouraging participants to explore materials at their own pace and develop confidence through making.

Ania Wawrzkowicz is an artist, jeweller and co-founder of Praktyka.

“I'm happiest out in nature. Observing. Slowing down. Spacing out on textures, rocks, found treasures. My work emerges from this dream space.”

“My jewellery comes from the observations of the natural world, from the largest expanses down to the smallest particle. I use traditional lost wax carving and casting techniques in combination with in place casting of precious stones. Each piece is one of a kind and has the unique tactile quality of a handmade object. I'm drawn to the meditative process of jewellery making. Work emerges from a contemplative space and making each piece is a process of discovery.”

North Devon | 3 Nights

Walking • Foraging • Printmaking • Painting • Jewellery Making

Friday — Arrival, Fire & Welcome

Arrive in the afternoon and take time to settle into the space. As evening

approaches, we’ll gather around the fire to welcome one another, share intentions,

and introduce the flow of the weekend ahead.

The evening continues with a hearty, nourishing plant-based dinner, designed to

restore after travel and ease us into retreat mode.

After dinner, there’s time to relax, connect, or unwind in the optional sauna

Saturday — Walk, Forage, Draw, Print

After breakfast, we head to the coast to immerse ourselves in the landscape.

Morning at the Coast

We’ll spend the morning walking slowly along the shoreline, drawing, observing, and

foraging with care. Jemma will lead a series of gentle drawing techniques and

prompts designed to loosen the hand, quiet the inner critic, and help the creative

juices flow. These exercises focus on noticing rather than perfection, capturing plant

forms, textures, rhythms, and the feeling of place.

Lunch Outdoors

A packed lunch will be enjoyed on the beach, with time to rest, reflect, and absorb

the surroundings. After lunch, there’s the option for a sea dip, offering a refreshing

and grounding pause before we return inland.

Afternoon Printmaking

Back in the studio, we’ll transform our gathered inspiration into botanical prints,

working directly with plants collected on our walk. Expect inky hands,

experimentation, and the pleasure of seeing natural forms translated through print.

Evening

Dinner is served, followed by free time to rest, continue working in the studio, or

enjoy the optional sauna.

Sunday — Walk • Paint • Print

Our day begins once again at the coast.

Morning Painting Outdoors

We’ll walk, observe, and paint outside using watercolours, responding to light, sea,

sky, and weather. These paintings act as expressive studies rather than finished

pieces, capturing atmosphere, mood, and movement.

Lunch at the Coast

Lunch is enjoyed outdoors with an optional sea swim before returning to the studio.

Afternoon Monotype Printing

Using the morning’s paintings as inspiration, we’ll create expressive monotype prints,

focusing on layering, tone, and intuitive mark-making. This session encourages

looseness and experimentation, allowing the landscape to re-emerge through print.

Evening

Dinner and free time to reflect, share work, or rest. Optional sauna

Monday — Make • Reflect • Depart

Our final morning brings the weekend together through a slower, hands-on making

session.

Morning: Jewellery Making with Ania

Working with Ania, participants will create simple, thoughtful pieces of jewellery

inspired by their drawings and the natural materials gathered during our coastal

walks. This session offers a tactile way to carry the landscape forward transforming

memory, place, and material into something wearable and personal.

Lunch & Farewell

We’ll share a relaxed final lunch together, reflecting on the weekend, the work

created, and the connections made.

Departure

After lunch, it’s time to pack up and depart, taking home prints, paintings, jewellery,

and a renewed sense of creative connection.

What’s Included

 3 nights accommodation

 All plant-based meals, snacks, teas and coffee

 Daily guided coastal walks

 Drawing and painting outdoors

 Botanical printmaking and monotype workshops

 Jewellery making session with Anja

 All art materials provided

 Optional sauna and sea swimming

What to Bring

 Comfortable walking shoes suitable for coastal paths

 Weather-appropriate clothing (layers, waterproofs, sun protection)

 Swimwear and towel (for sea dips and sauna)

 A small rucksack for walks

 A sketchbook you enjoy working in (all other materials are provided)

 Personal Medic*tion

 Any additional snacks or specific food items you might like

Everything else—including art materials,

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Henry Trew, Praktyka.