SPIRIT MASKS WITH THE PALE ROOK

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico

Feb. 20-28, 2026

Throughout history, and around the world, masks have served as symbols of our ability to transform, as conduits to the spirit world, to manifest power and protection, or simply to explore different levels of our own identity. Join The Pale Rook in San Miguel de Allende for a very special Spirit Mask workshop.

Mask making is deeply rooted in the history of Mexico, and has been a significant part of Mesoamerican culture, ritual, entertainment and celebration for thousands of years. During her previous Bellissima trips to Mexico, Johanna has been deeply inspired by the mask making traditions of the country, and this has permeated her doll work and sculpture.

In this workshop you are invited to create your own Spirit Mask. Your mask can be symbolic, representational, ritualistic, or simply entertaining.  You can choose to create a mask that represents a specific character, persona, story or concept, expressing hidden aspects of your personality or qualities you admire. 

Using methods developed within her own practice, Johanna will guide you forming a solid base to work on, then show you how to build layers of fabric, stitch, drawing and embellishment to bring your project to life. 

You are encouraged to bring found objects, fabrics and trimmings from your own collection to incorporate into your work, making your finished project even more personal and special. Your finished mask will not only be beautiful, but lightweight, robust and easy to take home.  

Itinerary

Day 1, Friday Feb. 20

Everyone arrives and we will have a reception with botanas and drinks at 7:00 p.m. in the main courtyard.

Day 2, Saturday Feb. 21

Have breakfast before meeting in the studio at 9:30 a.m. Johanna and Kathie will go over the schedule for the week. We will begin to design our sculptures, breaking for a quick walking tour before having lunch nearby. We will return to the studio to continue creating. Class will be over at 5:00 and you will have time to relax before we meet for dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Day 3, Sunday Feb. 22

Breakfast and then it is a full day in the studio as we continue working. Lunch will be provided on site by Chef Ana Elena. Class will be over at 4:30 and then we will meet for dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Day 4, Monday Feb. 23

Breakfast and then into the studio at 9:30. We will break for lunch at Pegaso on our way to our amigo, Hermes Arroyo’s mojiganga studio where you will create masks. Dinner will be on your own this evening.

Day 5, Tuesday Feb. 24

Breakfast and then meet in the studio to continue working. Lunch will be provided by Chef Ana Elena. Dinner this evening will be at Los Milagros.

Day 6, Wednesday Feb. 25

Breakfast, then meet in the studio at 9:30 to continue working with Johanna. Lunch will be provided by Chef Ana Elena. Return to the studio and work until 4:30. Dinner will be provided.

Day 7, Thursday Feb. 26

Breakfast and then a full day in the studio with a break for lunch. Free afternoon. Tonight will be a cooking class with Chef Ana Elena at CDLN.

Day 8, Friday Feb. 27

Breakfast and then meet in the studio at 9:00 a.m. We will add our final details to our sculptures, then we will clean up and have our Show “N Tell. The rest of the afternoon is free and lunch is on your own. We will meet in the lobby at 6:30 to walk to our final farewell dinner together at Zumo.

Day 9, Saturday Feb. 28

The trip is over and you are free to leave anytime this day.

This Escape Includes

• 8 nights at Casa de la Noche

• Classes with The Pale Rook - Johanna Flanagan

• Class with Hermes Arroyo

• Welcome reception and fiesta

• All breakfasts, six lunches and 5 dinners (one lunch and one dinner on your own)

• Visit to markets

• Cooking Demonstration with Chef Ana Elena Martinez

• Free time to explore

• A farewell dinner

Price: $4500, limited to 12 people based on double occupancy, limited single rooms are available for an additional $700.

A $1,000 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration. The balance is due Dec. 1, 2025.

Price does not include airfare to/from Mexico, alcohol, and travel insurance (mandatory).

Accommodations: Casa de la Noche

CDLN is a boutique bed and breakfast located minutes from the center of SMA. Rooms will be assigned to you and transportation is included and coordinated by CDLN. See the video with a surprise guest at the end!

Airport:(BJX) Del Bajio Airport, Leon/Guanajuato which is 1 hour and 15 minutes from SMA. Or Queretaro (QRO).

We will Provide

• Aluminium foil

• Fabric glue

• Batting

• Some fabrics and yarns

• Wire

• Embroidery Threads

• Yarn - twine, cotton, flax, hemp

Artist Supply List

Artist’s Supply List

• Hand sewing needles - all purpose mixed sizes

• Sewing threads (cotton or polyester)

• Brush for glue

• A pencil for drawing/ pencil sharpener, eraser

• A selection of light weight fabrics (these can be small pieces but make sure that you have a selection to collage with)

• Fabric Scissors

• Ball headed sewing pins

• A pin cushion

• A sketchbook (small)

• Paper scissors

• A roll of mssking tape from the hardware store

• You are also welcome to bring any fabrics, trimmings, beads, buttons or embellishments from your own collection to incorporate into your doll

We are so thrilled that Johanna Flanagan of the Pale Rook is teaching another Bellissima Art Escape. She is a Scottish textile artist, doll maker and costume designer, trained in fashion, constructed textiles and historical costumes. Doll making was her first love, and she has been making dolls for as long as she can remember. In the last fourteen years, Johanna has taught in art schools, museums and colleges throughout the UK and Europe, as well as writing and tutoring correspondence courses for the last two years.

You can see her work on her Instagram and Facebook feeds.

WHIMSEY WITH A SIDE OF LOVE WITH TIFFANY OWNBEY

Feb. 28-March 8, 2026

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato

If you love paper, ephemera and tying the past to the present, you will love Tiffany Ownbey’s whimsical creations. A North Carolina artist who lives in a family-built cabin in the woods, Tiffany combines her love of papier-mâché with ephemera that she has collected since she was a young girl. Her work has been shown around the United States and in Japan.

She has taught one Bellissima Art Escape and we have asked her to teach again with a magical collaboration with Mojiganga Master, Hermes Arroyo in San Miguel de Allende. We knew that when we met Tiffany and saw her work, that she and Hermes are simpatico. We can’t wait to see what everyone creates!

Hermes Arroyo, is a mojiganga master who espouses the “old ways” of having his studio in his home where he and his various family members create the colorful, unique and often, humorous giant mojiganga puppets that parade through the jardin and at various venus for weddings, anniversaries and special events.

Hermes has one of the greatest smiles and his love of his craft emanates from his designs. We love taking groups to his studio and when we were last there, he offered to teach a class on how to make a small mojiganga. What a perfect complement to Tiffany’s work!

Itinerary

In this workshop, you will create your own special mixed media sculptures, one (or two!) with Tiffany and one with Hermes.

Day 1, Saturday Feb. 28

Everyone arrives and we will have a reception with botanas and drinks at 7:00 p.m. in the main courtyard.

Day 2, Sunday March 1

Have breakfast before meeting in the studio at 9:30 a.m. Tiffany and Kathie will go over the schedule for the week. We will begin to design our sculptures, breaking for a quick walking tour before having lunch nearby. We will return to the studio and continue forming our molds. Class will be over at 5:00 and you will have time to relax before we meet for dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Day 3, Monday March 2

Breakfast and then it is a full day in the studio as we continue working. Lunch will be provided on site by Ana Elena. Class will be over at 4:30 and then we will meet for dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Day 4, Tuesday March 3

Breakfast at CDLN and then we will walk to Hermes’s studio where we will make our forms. Lunch will be at Pegasus and then you will have the afternoon free. Ana Elena will give a cooking class this evening.

Day 5, Wednesday March 4

Breakfast and then meet in the studio to continue working. Lunch will be provided by Ana Elena and this afternoon we will return to Hermes’s studio where we will finish painting and adding special bling to our creations. We will walk to the jardin and then have dinner.

Day 6, Thursday March 5

Breakfast, then meet in the studio at 9:30 to continue working with Tiffany. Lunch will be provided by Ana Elena. Return to the studio and work until 4:30. Dinner will be on your own this evening.

Day 7, Friday March 6

Breakfast and then a full day in the studio with a break for lunch at the Library. Dinner will be provided.

Day 8, Saturday March 7

Breakfast and then meet in the studio at 9:00 a.m. We will add our final details to our sculptures, then we will clean up and have our Show “N Tell. The rest of the afternoon is free and lunch is on your own. We will meet in the lobby at 6:30 to walk to our final farewell dinner together.

Day 9, Sunday March 8

The trip is over and you are free to leave anytime this day.

Some of the creations made by the artists in Tiffany’s class in the Bellissima Art Studio.

This Escape Includes

• 8 nights at Casa de la Noche

• Classes with Tiffany Ownbey

• Class with Hermes Arroyo

• Welcome reception and fiesta

• All breakfasts, six lunches and 5 dinners (one lunch and one dinner on your own)

• Visit to markets

• Cooking Demonstration with Chef Ana Elena Martinez

• Free time to explore

• A farewell dinner

Price: $4500, limited to 12 people based on double occupancy, limited single rooms are available for an additional $700.

A $1,000 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration. The balance is due Dec. 1, 2025.

Price does not include airfare to/from Mexico, alcohol, and travel insurance (mandatory).

Accommodations: Casa de la Noche

CDLN is a boutique bed and breakfast located minutes from the center of SMA. Rooms will be assigned to you and transportation is included and coordinated by CDLN. See the video with a surprise guest at the end!

Airport:(BJX) Del Bajio Airport, Leon/Guanajuato which is 1 hour and 15 minutes from SMA. Or Queretaro (QRO).

We will provide

• Liquid starch

• Matte Varnish

• Non-stick cooking spray

• Wire

• Wooden dowels

• Wire cutters

Supply List for Artists

• Scissors

• Apron

• Paint brushes for varnish

• Sharpie fine point pens

• Sewing patterns

• Various old papers - stamps, green stamps, etc.

• Old doll bodies and feet and bowls to use for molds

• Box cutter knife

Tiffany Ownbey of Rutherfordton, NC is a mixed media artist whose work plays on the combination of the past and the present, nature and consumerism, and reuse and beauty. 

From an early age, Ownbey adopted her parents’ appreciation for flea markets and antique stores, transforming the magical quality and history of vintage objects and materials into new stories. Her work focuses on the experience of familiarity for the viewer, each reused element an opportunity for discovery and igniting memory. 

Ownbey studied art at Savannah College of Art and Design, Penland School of Crafts, and Western Carolina University. She has exhibited throughout the United States and in Japan and is currently living in a 100 year-old family-built log cabin surrounded by her sweet furry creatures, both domestic and unexpected.

Kathie Vezzani, who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has over three decades of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.

ANTIQUITIES THAT BIND US WITH WANDA HELA KATZ, ALSO KNOWN AS THE PAPER PALACE QUEEN

Bath, Somerset England

May 7-15, 2026

Join us for a mixed media/vintage and antique ephemera workshop in Bath, England with handmade book Artist Wanda Hela Katz, also known as the Paper Palace Queen on Instagram.

As well as being a vibrant and thriving twenty-first-century city, Bath is a living museum. History and heritage line the city’s streets, with every footstep revealing compelling cultural attractions and astonishing Georgian architecture. It’s why Bath is the only city in the UK designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with its unique second inscription at part of UNESCO's Great Spa Towns of Europe.

We are so excited that Wanda has agreed to teach her first Bellissima Art Escape so you are in for a really special experience. She is very enthusiastic about giving this workshop and has put together an unbelievable supply packet that includes 17th, 18th and 19th century ephemera from around the world, a Pre-1900 antique book, eco dyed papers and fabrics, vintage paper (correspondence, tickets, receipts, invoices, ledger papers) and more. She envisions that you will create gorgeous books with this ephemera that for most of us, is unattainable, at least of that vintage.

We will hold our workshop in the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.

Itinerary

Day 1, Thursday May 7

Everyone arrives and we will meet this evening for a quick introduction and go over the schedule.

Day 2, Friday May 9

Breakfast is in the hotel, then we will walk to the studio where we will set up for the day. Wanda and Kathie will go over the schedule each day.

Wanda will share some of her books as examples —this will be a great treat! We will break for lunch and walk to a nearby eatery. Afterwards, we will visit an antique bookstore and bindery for a tour and a little shopping. We will stop on the way back to the hotel for an early dinner.

Day 3, Saturday May 10

Breakfast at the hotel then walk to the studio where class will start at 9:00. It’s a full day in the studio. Lunch and dinner will be provided.

Day 4, Sunday May 10 Travel day

Breakfast at the hotel, then meet the coach at 9:30. Lacock, a small village in the Cotswalds, is a 25 minute ride from Bath. Here we will visit the Abbey and the garden. In its 800 years of history, Lacock Abbey has been many things. It started as a nunnery in the 1200s before becoming a Tudor family home. Since then it has evolved with every owner and in 1835, the first photographic negative was captured in the Abbey. Today Lacock is a well-known location for a host of film and TV productions including Harry Potter and Downton Abbey.

On site is also the Fox Talbot Museum which is housed in a 16th-century barn once used as stables. It tells the story of the birth of photography with objects and technology from the early years of photography. 

We will stop for lunch at the Tea Room.

When we are through exploring, we will head into the quaint village where you will have some free time to wander before we meet at the Stables Cafe for dinner at 6:00. Afterward, we will return to Bath.

Day 5 Monday, May 11

Breakfast at the hotel and then be in the studio by 9:00 a.m. You will continue working on papers and Wanda will give a short demonstration on the traditional binding technique/open binding — but she will also talk about her “rebellious stitching binding” that is one of her signatures. She will share examples of both.

Lunch and dinner will be provided.

Day 6 Tuesday May 12

Breakfast at the hotel and then meet in the studio at 9:00. Today Wanda will discuss book covers and ways to age them by distressing and adding visual interests. If you are ready, you can begin to bind your rebellious stitching book.

At noon, we will walk along the Royal Crescent, a sweeping curve of townhouses built from honey-colored Bath stone to the majestic Royal Crescent Hotel where we will have lunch. There will be time to explore the gorgeous hotel and grounds.

Dinner is on your own this evening.

This class is full. Join the waitlist.

This Escape Includes

• 8 nights at the DoubleTree by Hilton

• Classes with Wanda Hela Katz, The Paper Palace Queen

• Unbelievable antiquity supply packet!

• Excursions to museums, villages, and book bindery

• All breakfasts, six lunches and 5 dinners (one lunch and one dinner on your own)

• Free time to explore

• A farewell dinner

Price: $5,100, limited to 12 people based on double occupancy, limited single rooms are available for an additional $1000.

A $1,000 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration. The balance is due January 8, 2026.

Price does not include transportation to/from Great Britain, alcohol, country visa and travel insurance (mandatory).

Hotel: DoubleTree by Hilton

Walcot Street, Bath BZ1 5BJ, United Kingdom

We will Supply

• An amazing antique ephemera packet

• Book gauze

• Book Glue

• Artist Book boards

• Rubber Gloves

• Matt medium

• Cardboard

Artist Supply List

• Scissors/apron

• Water pot and a glue pot (can be yogurt cup)

• Stapler with extra staples

• Sari silks (optional)

• String

• Sewing and Embroidery needles,

• Brushes for glue and for painting

• Stanley Box Cutter

• Awl

• Small cutting pad

• A mix of strong cotton and embroidery threads

• Waxed thread for binding and stitching

• Small jar of textured gesso

• Fragments of your work that you have been collecting in that “scrap box” that you will someday use

• Tim Holtz Oxide inks

• Walnut ink

• Either a few watercolors or a couple small bottles of acrylic paint

• A minimum of 40 papers no less than A5 of all kinds and thicknesses.

Day 7, Wednesday, May 13

Breakfast at the hotel. Meet in the studio at 9:00. It’s a full throttle day, finishing covers, and binding both your traditional and rebellious stitching books. Lunch will be nearby and dinner will be provided.

Day 8, Thursday May 14

Breakfast at the hotel and then over to the studio at 9:00. Today we add finishing touches and inside page covers to the traditional binding book. We will break around noon to clean up and have our Show”N Tell.

Lunch will be on your own today and you will have a free afternoon until we meet for our farewell dinner at this evening.

Day 9, Friday May 15

The trip is over and everyone leaves or stays on to continue exploring Bath and the surrounding area.

Wanda Hela Katz brings a calm meditative holistic approach to her book making responding intuitively to her materials. Her passion for incorporating vintage and rare antique ephemera fragments sourced from across the globe is magically woven into her more than 170 books made to date.

A decade living amongst the ruins of Rome, Italy has fed her endless fascination for appreciating and finding beauty within decay, deterioration, and disintegration which feeds into her beautifully crafted one-of-a-kind art journals filled with darkness and mystery.

Look for Wanda’s Keeper of Memories article in the latest issue of Somerset Studio.

MATERIALITY: THE ART OF CRAFTING FIBER SCULPTURE WITH JACQUELINE MALLEGNI

June 11-14, 2026

Bellissima Art Studio, Port Orchard, WA

Join us for an immersive process focused experience exploring the art of handcrafter paper tailored for sculptural applications with Jacqueline Mallegni.

This workshop invites you to engage with the themes of imagination, materiality, and a deep sense of place.

Discover the joy of creating textured paper using flax roving through a contemporary fusing technique that departs from traditional methods. With guidance from Jacqueline, you will design and apply your stunning paper onto an organically shaped, reusable mould crafted from wire mesh and plaster cloth.

This innovative papermaking approach opens the door to endless creative possibilities, allowing for various inclusions, mark-making, and stitching techniques. You will also have the opportunity to harvest fibers from the local environment, enhancing your creations with unique textures and distinctive qualities.

Embrace the transformative power of hand crafted paper and unlock your artistic potential in this hands-on workshop.

The workshop is designed to allow time for surface embellishment with sumi ink, indigo dye, thread and paper applications adding depth and interest to your finished pieces.

Itinerary

We will meet each day in the Bellissima Art Studio at 9:30 a.m., breaking for lunch, and then ending the day around 4:30.

On Saturday evening, we will share dinner.

On Sunday after lunch, we will clean up and have a Show ‘N Tell where we will share our work from the workshop.

This Art Escape includes

• Four days instruction by Jacqueline

• Four lunches, one dinner

• Some materials

The cost of this workshop is $900 which is due upon registering.

 We will provide:

• Sponges

• 2-QT water bowl

• Plastic sheeting for work tables

• Sumi ink

• Indigo

• Gesso brushes

• Rags

• Container for storing indigo

Artist Material List

• Apron

• Lineco PVA glue - 8 ounces

• Flax  Roving - bleached & natural (8 oz. each per student)

• Activa brand wire mesh, Large Weave, 24" x 10 ft roll

• Fiberglass window screen (36”x84” roll) (Hardware stores or Amazon)

• Plaster cloth - 2-3 rolls (Dick Blick or Amazon has a box of 8 rolls for a good price)

• Hand clippers (foraging option)

• Garden gloves (foraging option)

• Favorite calligraphy brush for indigo and sumi ink

• Stitching materials (cotton pearl thread - or similar, tapestry needle)

• Spools of thread, twine or narrow cordage

• Decorative handmade paper

Kathie Vezzani who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has over three decades of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.