A week devoted to the inner landscape — and to what becomes possible when we give it creative expression.
Inscape brings together a small group of curious people for an immersive week of photography, dreamwork, meditation, conversation and creative exploration in beautiful St. Martins, New Brunswick.
This isn’t simply about making art. It’s about encountering the creative force that shaped the cosmos and discovering how it moves through us.
Our photographs, paintings, poems, gardens and dreams can become more than things we make. They can be ways of listening — living symbols of the journey we are on. When we learn to pay attention to them, they can reveal not only beauty, but insight.
Join me and my co-facilitators for our 14th year exploring the creative process!
FREEMAN PATTERSON, C.M., O.N.B., M.Div. of Shamper’s Bluff, New Brunswick, has made photographs for more than 60 years, taught visual design for more than 55 in Canada and many other countries, and authored 15 books. Freeman’s primary source of awe and wonder is Creation; he is equally at home in a Canadian forest or in the vast sand dunes of Namibia and equally at ease investigating the meanings of the symbols in his dreams or in his art. Freeman believes that the ability of human beings to be creative depends fundamentally on the health and well-being of the few kilometres of air, water, and soil that surround our planet like the skin of an apple, that they are the physical and spiritual bases of our lives, the source of materials and tools that enable us to express our responses to questions and feelings about ultimate things. Creation and creativity are inextricably linked.
MARGARET WOODSON NEA of Virginia is a photographer, teacher, and speaker whose photography has taken her to over 20 developing nations around the world. Her images of women, children, and the natural world have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Moved particularly by the eyes of children, she has authored two photographic books, CHILDREN: Gifts of the Spirit and CHILDREN: Eyes of the Soul. The focus of her Master’s Degree was “Art and the Spiritual.” A graduate of the Haden Institute of Spiritual Direction, she believes in Carl Jung’s philosophy that “dreams and photographs are messengers of the unconscious.” With her clients, she works with dream and photographic images as portals to the sacred. In Peru and India, she discovered the richness of ancient holy traditions. Through the thin places of Iona and Ireland, she found that, in the beliefs of Celtic spirituality, there is sacredness in all of creation.
Inscape is not an instructional workshop in visual design or any specific artistic medium, although your presenters may use particular artistic media for illustration. There will be daily presentations by David, Freeman, or special guests, both group and one-on-one conversations, films, meditation, and free time. Although most daily schedules are very full, you will follow your own program. Everything is optional.
We encourage, but do not expect, each participant to create an art work – a poem, a story or essay, a song, a dance, a painting, a series of photographs, etc. – for presentation to the group on the last day of the workshop.
This workshop will be hosted by the St. Martins Country Inn in the village of St. Martins on the Bay of Fundy, east of Saint John and the Saint John airport and right at the beginning of the Fundy Trail. St. Martins is approximately 38 kilometres east of the Saint John (not St. John's), New Brunswick airport (YSJ). Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from the workshop. You may wish to use a readily available taxi at the airport for the 25 minute drive.
This six-day/seven-night course includes meals and accommodation for $3595 Canadian per person + HST (15%). If your dietary restrictions require the purchase of specialty items, an additional fee may be charged. Participants should endeavour to arrive in time for introductions at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, followed by dinner, and depart the following Sunday morning.
Guests: Partners or friends of participants do not pay the workshop fee, and should not expect to attend regular presentations. The fee for meals and accommodations for the week for partners or friends will be $750. + HST (15%).
TO REGISTER
We will take registrations on a first come/first served basis, and is limited to 12 participants. Registrations are now open.
Step 1: Send your completed, signed application form by e-mail indicating your first and second choice of workshop weeks. We require a $400 deposit (Canadian funds) payable the first week of January. Our preferred method is etransfer but we do accept VISA or MasterCard if that is your preferred method. Please indicate on your application form if you will be paying by e-mail money transfer or credit card the first week of January.
Send your completed, signed application form (the 2026 form may pop up - still good to use!) by e-mail or post to:
Shamper’s Cove Limited3491 Route 845Long Reach, NB, Canada E5S 1X4
e-mail freemanpatterson23@gmail.com
Phone 506-763-2189
Step 2: The balance of your workshop fees must be paid six weeks before your workshop begins to ensure your place is held.
Cancellations: On cancellations up to six weeks prior to the beginning date of the workshop, we will refund your deposit less 50% for expenses. We will not refund on cancellations received six weeks or less prior to the beginning date of the workshop. We strongly suggest the purchase of cancellation insurance.
Please do not register for a workshop unless you are able to stay for the entire period as an early departure seriously disrupts the spirit and fellowship of the event.