The Tank You Didn’t Know Was Empty
Jennifer Peterson, founder of the Estelle Center for Creative Arts, has watched a curious situation play out across dozens of fiber art retreats. A group of strangers arrives, and within hours—sometimes minutes—something shifts. The roster of guest teachers at her center in La Veta, Colorado spans the textile and fiber arts world, but the same peculiar trend happens each time. “My favorite thing about hosting a retreat,” she says, “is getting glimpses into the lives of all the fascinating women who attend. They make connections with each other immediately. And I believe those relationships, even if they only exist for that week, propel their artistry as much as the instruction does.”
Jennifer Peterson
Founder of the Estelle Center
It’s an observation that artists and researchers keep arriving at from different directions: creativity, for all its reputation as a solitary pursuit, may be fundamentally social. Research out of UC Berkeley suggests that “creativity emerges not simply from accumulated influences, but from the particular configuration of social and cultural exposure artists experience.” Put more simply: who you’re around shapes what you make. A growing body of voices in the textile and fiber arts world would say the same thing—and they’d say retreats are one of the most powerful ways to put that principle into practice.
Marilyn Heywood Paige is the marketing director for the Estelle Center. She won two Hermes Creative Awards in 2026--a gold award for non profit branding and promotion work, and a platinum award for logo design.