Raves

We can do our best to provide the space, environment, teachers and surprises to ensure that you have the experience that you most want-- but there is no guarantee. It's a mystery on the highest order.  Yet, clearly something good is happening for many (though we are probably not the ones who should be telling you what it is like or helping you to set your expectations as attending squam is an experience unique to those who make the journey). So, it's really best if you hear it straight from people who have come before. Below is an ever-growing compilation of responses to the Squam experience.  (Click on their NAME to go to the full write-up).

 

Amanda Blake Soule

"The one thing I can say right now with enthusiasm and certainty is that if you're in the position to be considering attending Squam - either this fall or next year, but are on the fence for whatever reason - because you don't know anyone else going, because you're not sure it's worth the money, because you're not sure you'll gain anything from it - well, my strong and gentle words of advice are to hop right off that fence and GO. Magic happens there, I tell you...and in my experience at least, that magic can come in unexpected and beautiful ways."


 

Emily Proudfoot

The beautiful thing about going to squam is that it affords you the time and space to just create and be. The classes and teachers inspire, no matter the medium or topic.

Maya Donenfeld

"These were wonderful times for connection and an opportunity to build new friendships. After spending the last year and a half very attached to my computer for work and community, it was wonderful to meet people in real time. Although I feel grateful for this virtual revolution happening in the art and craft world, I miss looking into someone's eyes when I speak to them. I need this. We all do."

Leonie Wise

"and how wonderful it was to go to SAW and be surrounded by such beauty & creativity. sometimes, i wished the magic few days would never end though in my heart i know that if i could have this all the time, some of the sparkle would wear off. i also know that i carry that magic around inside of me and can connect into it whenever i need."

Derek & Lauren

"It's impossible to describe in pictures and words what a magnificent experience it was to spend 5 days in such a beautiful, peaceful, and inspiring setting. But oh well....we'll give it a shot."

Jenica M

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Squam truly changed my life and clarified my identity in ways I never even knew I needed. Your creative energy and love has changed and strengthened people across the continent. I thank you. My family thanks you."

Andrew Borloz

"I got back from Portland last week, and after having been to so many different places this year, I must say that SAW is the most creative, different, unique and empowering retreat that I ever attended."

Judy Wise

"Of course we knew it would be good. You could figure that part out just from the photos of that pristine lake and forest in the uplands of New Hampshire. But how good. Just how good it would be I (for one) never could have guessed."

Lisa Hofmann

"So, you know when you wake up from a really good dream? For the first couple of moments, you are not sure what you dreamed about, but you just know it was really really good."

BJ Lantz

"you have to bring an open mind and heart, choose the classes that scare you the most, and push yourself. You have to put yourself out there, meet new people, have creative conversations you never realized were possible."

Lorrie Spotts


"I am back! Wow wow wow wow! What an incredible adventure I just had living within my dream."

Kelley Walker

"I first read about Squam in the Summer of 2008 and I knew immediately that it would be something special (they basically had me at the words 'camp' and 'art classes'). There was an amazing magic in it - not unicorns or fairy dust, but a gentle sort of stretching and healing that comes from falling asleep under heavy covers; waking with the sun; roaring fires to take the chill away; walking that long, rocky path to breakfast, lunch and dinner every day; the scent of moss and burning wood; learning from the most amazing teachers ever!

Kimberly Wilson

filled with gratitude for the chance to spend a few days focused on creativity. definitely an area beckoning more attention from me (versus so much admin time). seems to be a common struggle, eh?

Francesca Dileo

the beauty of squam is that you can do as much as want and as little as you want, depending on your mood.  if you want some alone/quiet time, the woods, the trees, the mushrooms, the paths, and the lake are there to keep you silent company.

Merrilee Kennedy

Squam Art Workshops ended as sweetly as it started.  It was the best retreat I have experienced in many years as it was a dear time spent with friends and I think my soul just opened up as I put the intention  out there.

Bridget Pilloud

This past week, I went to Rockywold-Deephaven camp in rural New Hampshire. It was a rustic, turn-of-the-century kind of place, with claw-foot tubs and old glass windows that rattle in the wind and massive fireplaces.

Lisa Hofmann

Squam is one big hug-fest.  But the sense of being welcomed, held, and received extends beyond the act of a physical hug.  The experiences and the encounters with old and new friends, teachers and classes is a repeated series of homecomings.

Michelle Madden Smith

That’s the thing about Squam - it’s a mystery of grace – hard to capture in words and images. It’s an etheral experience, yet grounded in the earth, trees, cold (sometimes), and the clarity of lake water.

Maya Donenfeld

Squam Art Workshops provides so much more than creative growth. It is vehicle for spiritual awakening and a greenhouse for nourishing life-long connections. The folks that choose to enter the woods come from varied backgrounds, and yet we all share a desire to shed our earthly skins and show up with hearts wide open.

Stephanie Guimond

Something shifted in me at S.A.W. this year (S.A.W. does that to you). It's as if my soul saw an opportunity to make itself heard in the silence by the lake, but I just can't put my finger on what it was trying to tell me yet.

Eileen Nishi

Here's the thing about the women at Squam . . . They are my people.  It's that simple.

Amy Williamson

And this year in Brae Cove I felt it once again, surrounded by women who get me I was reminded of something I know in my heart: life is simple--take risks, love deeply, create beauty, serve others, respect nature, be brave.

Maya Stein

It's hard to wrangle this experience into words, but I feel unmistakably changed. Softer and stronger all at once.

Karen Delaney

I wish to immerse myself in more moments like those I experienced at Squam, so that they can become more a part of my everyday life instead of something I only feel once in awhile.  

Jenica Mckenzie

but looking back on the pics that i came home with, i see a story of simple bliss, good friends, hilarious evenings, moments of sweet silence, being fully embraced, and beauty reaching into every corner-- expanding my heart upwards and outwards.  and i'm so grateful that i did shoot film, because each of these moments is captured with something tangible, something i can pin to my wall to remind me of my heart song.

Katriina Fagerling

If anyone is interested in expanding their world of creativity, no matter where you are today, I HIGHLy recommend you getting your butt up to New Hampshire (bring your winter clothes) and dive into this lake of beauty, community, creativity, laughter & color called the Squam Art Workshops. 

Lindy McClellan

It is in this most magical place that I feel most myself. In this place I feel accepted and loved. In this place I feel worthy. And in this place I feel extraordinarily blessed. Blessed to be given space to open my heart and link arms and be part of this tribe. 

Misty Mawn

i learned a lot while in the woods of new hampshire,  about myself, about others, about life.  when driving away i truly felt like i had been transformed in some great way.  i am still trying to get a grasp on how or what it means... it will come, i just need to let it ferment a little longer, while my heart & head are both swirling with feelings of renewal. 

Jennifer Lee

I spent last weekend in the woods at Squam Art Workshops where I played with paint, dipped my feet in the cool lake, connected with creative souls, and re-energized my spirit.

Brit Soucy

I thought about how the light had touched me while I was there. Not only did it warm me and dance on my skin, it had engulfed my overburdened mind and body and healed it with laughter and friendship and truth.