3–8 August 2025 · 6 days / 5 nights
Past retreat
Join renowned textile artist Matthew Harris for six inspiring days of creative exploration.
Textile Retreat
The retreat
Join renowned textile artist Matthew Harris for six inspiring days of creative exploration. Enjoy expert tuition, hands-on making, and time to pause, with nourishing food and thoughtful conversations throughout at Court House Farm and Gardens.
Your retreat includes:
• Five nights’ accommodation in a beautiful historic manor
• Chef-prepared meals and refreshments, locally sourced where possible
• Inspiring talks, creative workshops, and expert guidance
• Visits to local places of interest and moments of calm in the gardens
Join renowned textile artist Matthew Harris for a deeply inspiring 5-night creative retreat in the historic setting of Court House Farm, Portishead, Somerset. This immersive workshop-led retreat invites you to explore drawing, mark-making, and textile construction through playful and experimental processes. With expert guidance, chef-prepared meals, and time to relax among likeminded creatives, this retreat is designed to spark new ideas and bring joy to your creative practice- new or established.
What you’ll do
• ‘To Cut On Fold
• To ….. To….. To ….. To ….. To ….. To ….. To ….. To….. To ….. ?’
• Adventures in drawing and making for textiles
• “Play continues to be a big factor in my studio, because that’s how one allows oneself to move in directions which one could not have foreseen.” — Richard Serra
• Matthew’s workshops focus on adventurous, playful ways to generate visual and tactile inspiration for textiles. You will explore processes such as drawing, painting, stencilling, collage, and more to create a library of visual material inspired by observation and Serra’s verb list.
• Day 1 — Drawing & Gathering
• Immersive observational drawing exercises using line, shape, colour, pattern, and texture to gather visual material.
• Days 2–4 — Response & Development
• Playful experimentation with Serra’s verbs — roll, crease, stretch, knot, etc. — to manipulate both visual imagery and fabric. Techniques include stitching, appliqué, construction, and deconstruction.
• Day 5 — Show & Tell
• Final morning session to share your work, photograph your creations in the beautiful setting, and say farewells.
As a residential guest, expect delicious fresh food created by our wonderful chef Kirstie, as well as tea, coffee and more throughout the day, and the bar is open for you from 6pm.
Matthew Harris
Your tutor
Matthew Harris creates works in both paper and cloth, employing painting, cutting, and hand-stitching techniques. His improvisational process transforms observational drawings into layered, tactile textile pieces.
He has exhibited widely across the UK, Europe, the US, and Japan. His work is held in the Crafts Council Collection, the Whitworth Museum, the International Quilt Museum (Nebraska), and more. Notable projects include Scorched for the Bristol Beacon Concert Hall and Field Notes, a collaboration with composer Howard Skempton.
Matthew lives and works in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
In their own words
Booking
This retreat has already taken place. Get in touch and we’ll let you know as soon as the next one is announced.
Reserve your place
3–8 August 2025 · 6 days / 5 nights
Past retreat
Register interest in the next oneA question before you book? Get in touch.
Life at Court House Farm
Characterful bedrooms in the medieval and Tudor manor houses, each furnished with vintage finds and rich fabrics.
Resident chef Kirstie cooks seasonal, generous meals to bring everyone together at the end of each studio day.
Walled gardens, the orchard and quiet corners for sketching, reading or doing nothing at all between sessions.
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