7 Day Open Studio Art Retreat: Evolving Your Abstract Voice

Evolving Your Abstract Voice is a week-long art retreat in Tra Que, a quiet organic herb-farming village just outside Hoi An, Vietnam – rice paddies on the doorstep, the UNESCO-listed Ancient Town ten minutes away, the beach a short ride down the road. It’s for anyone who already works in abstract and wants dedicated time to go deeper – whether or not you’d call yourself an artist, and even if it’s been a while. Some prior experience is recommended; the focus is on independent practice and evolving your own way of working.

What sets the week apart is the studio at its heart: a dedicated, fully equipped space open 24 hours a day, not a borrowed hotel corner for a couple of scheduled hours. When an idea takes hold, you can keep going that evening or first thing the next morning, your work left set up as you found it. The group stays small, three to six people, so the week feels personal rather than processed – self-directed by design, with guidance there when you want it rather than a curriculum to keep pace with.

The real draw is the materials. Alongside local craftspeople, you work hands-on with organic, locally sourced materials – lacquer and coconut paper, earth, ash, charcoal – traditional to this region and hard to come by elsewhere. They have a way of shaking ideas loose and pushing your work somewhere you might not have taken it on your own.

The week unfolds in two halves. The first gathers new input: a guided walk through the Old Town, time with makers who have worked these materials for years, a visit to a pottery village, a trip to My Son Sanctuary to study weathered stone and form, a walk through the Tra Que fields and a cooking class with vegetables picked that morning. The second half opens into long stretches of independent studio time, where you test ideas, refine your process, and translate those impulses into finished pieces. Mornings begin with optional yoga, shared meals become part of the rhythm, and throughout, your studio host Vinh leads by showing rather than instructing and steps back early – on hand for a second pair of eyes when you want one, never hovering.

You’ll leave with completed works, new material approaches to carry into your own studio, and a clearer sense of where your abstract work is heading – along with new friendships and lasting memories of Hoi An’s craft, food, and landscape.