The Arts & Wellness Experience

2025 DATES TO BE DETERMINED

Coming Soon

Join us in this life changing journey to discover your hidden talents and develop skills which will transform your life.


AWE has been developed to help people realize their innate creativity and to experience their talents. Our instructors cater to the "non" artist and artists alike. Most people feel like they have it in them, but they just don’t know how to take that first step. Let us guide you through those first steps.

Connect with your inner passion and develop your creative abilities in an idyllic setting in the Dordogne Valley, France. Immerse yourself in a supportive community which offers you unparalleled opportunities to pursue interests in the arts, French cuisine, & wellness, surrounded by tranquillity and beauty. Led by highly qualified, inspirational instructors, the Arts & Wellness Experience (AWE) offers an intensive 11-day program in a wide range of subjects which challenges you to build on your creative experience and/or discover untapped talent hidden within you. 

Arts

 

Cuisine

 

Wellness

 

 

Art Instruction

You will be guided daily through your own individual and group art instruction while having the opportunity to work in the following mediums:

  • Oil, Acrylic, & Watercolor Painting

  • Drawing, Pastel, Chalk, etc

  • Printmaking

  • Jewelry Making

  • Visual Journaling

In addition to creating Art, there will be a variety of other offerings for you and/or your partner to partake in as you balance your creative side with the beauty, culture, excitement, and relaxation that only France can provide. Different activities will be offered daily and you will have the option to jump in or pass and spend some time walking the countryside, relaxing by the pool, or anything of you choice.

Daily Activities

  • Variety of Art options

  • Yoga

  • Meditation

  • Cooking classes with our guest chef

  • Antiquing & market exploring

  • Vineyard tour(s)

  • Wine tasting

  • Medieval city excursions

  • Museum visits

  • Garden visits

  • NEW! Creative Writing- More details to come!

 

Designed for adults of all abilities, AWE is offering the Arts & Wellness Experience in France for its fourth year. The goal of the program is to provide a life transforming experience which brings out the best in the participants by developing skills which can be built on forever. The key to the success of the program is to slow down and approach the opportunities with an open mind and an open heart. By eliminating stressful distractions and focusing on the positivity of the moment, participants allow their inner strengths to emerge and help them to find a healthy balance in life. We believe the creative process, which is inherent in everyone since childhood, is a valuable asset in achieving success.

The Extraordinary Chateau Rouffillac

in the Dordogne Valley, France.

https://www.chateauderouffillac.com

A key feature of AWE is the nurturing, supportive community that is quickly created by the workshop leaders and the adventuresome, like-minded participants who share the experience. The workshop leaders are gifted teachers who are passionate about sharing their expertise with the participants, whether they be beginning or advanced. The sense of community and working together in an atmosphere of collaboration is highlighted by the evening round table discussions, where participants share their daily experiences over a relaxed glass of wine. The opportunity to network with participants from around the world creates enduring friendships that last a lifetime. The possibility to participate in and contribute to the success of the program brings the community together and adds a special dimension.  

LIZZI RIOUX
YOUR DIRECTOR, ART INSTRUCTOR, & CREATIVE GUIDE

Lizzi is an Artist and Art Educator in Plymouth, MA. She earned a Bachelor of Art in Art Education at University of Massachusetts and a Master of Art in Fine Arts and Education at Cambridge College. She is currently beginning her journey to obtain her PhD in Expressive Arts Therapies. She has been teaching Art to middle school students for 20 plus years, graduate classes and individual and group lessons to all ages young and old. She continually fine tunes her skills as a painter and participates in festivals throughout the United States and Canadian Maritimes where she has been awarded for her works. Lizzi has achieved two Arty Awards both in 2012 and 2017 for recognition of persons and organizations who stood out in support of local arts and culture during the previous year. Additionally, Lizzi was awarded the “Peoples Choice” award in 2015 for her work at the Prince Edward Island Plein Air festival. She has been selected to create community Art with the most recent being the “Scallop Shell” project which is proudly displayed in front of Memorial Hall, Plymouth, MA and is an elected Executive Board Member of the Plymouth Center for the Arts. She launched AWE in the Ardeche in the south of France in August 2018, held the program in the Loire Valley Summer 2019, and most recently in 2022 in the Dordogne Valley, France at her AWE castle of Chateau Rouffillac. Each program has been hugely successful with participants from around the world and many continue to participate yearly. Her belief that everyone is an artist and her love and expertise of Art Education was her inspiration to create AWE the Arts & Wellness Experience. Her hope by creating AWE is to help the world, little by little, one person at a time, to find their own “AWE”. She believes that once AWE is realized innately, it is then that we begin to understand, that it is always within reach.  

FRANK BRUCKMANN
YOUR INSTRUCTOR & CREATIVE GUIDE

KAREN RICH YOUR “ENRICH YOUR LIFE” COACH

It has always been in Karen’s nature to champion others, find solutions and offer different perspectives. Twenty + years ago she began her quest to find out just how the mind, body, and soul are connected. She began investigating questions such as, can your physiology alter different thinking patterns and can different thinking patterns in return change your physiology? Why are some people able to overcome adversity and others just feel like tortured souls? What is true happiness? Helping people to find these answers has become her life mission. After reading hundreds of books, taking numerous workshops, and completing her studies in an accredited life coaching program, she earned her certification as a Life Coach in 2019. Her love of helping others to be their best self through her courses have brought clarity, achievement, and confidence to her students. A common phrase she hears is “You have given me permission to be my best self”. This being her ultimate objective, the rewards she receives in return from her clients are unsurmountable.

Enrich Your Life

MOLLIE MCNEIL YOUR CREATIVE WRITING GUIDE

Mollie is a writer, an award-winning teacher and collage artist from the San Francisco Bay Area. She earned her BA in art history from University of California, Berkeley and her MA in English literature at Mills College before going on to do doctoral work in the history of women’s writing at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Since 2018, she has taught creative writing workshops at national and international retreat destinations, such as the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and the Modern Elder Academy in Baja, Mexico and has also enjoyed turning avid readers and adventurers into writers through online and in person classes. Mollie founded Green Ink Writing to help those who may not consider themselves writers with a capital W get their personal stories down on the page. Green Ink Writing is a loose, fun and intuitive writing practice that uses poetry as prompts. Students compose in quick fifteen minute bursts, pen never leaving the paper, to get past the analytic part of the brain that is too wrapped up in doing everything perfectly. Everyone reads aloud, but there is no formal critique, only encouragement and appreciative listening. For this special AWE program in the Dordogne, we will consider the health benefits of pursuing AWE as presented in Dacher Keltner’s Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. After discussing which categories of awe are closest to our hearts, we will dive into writing down our personal awe experiences. These writing sessions will be infused with poems about creativity, the senses, art and food, collective effervescence, nature, travel and more.

MUFFY PENDERGAST YOUR JOURNALING INSTRUCTOR & CREATIVE GUIDE

Muffy uses journalling as a method to keep alive the memory of her travels, long after the journey’s end. She will offer techniques for creating a visual journal of pages that record what was observed or loved most during your AWE trip. She will be suggesting various methods such as, but not limited to: sketching in pencil, ink, colored pencils or watercolor; using collage of French ephemera or perhaps handwriting to create decorative fonts, all to unlock your own personal style by getting it onto the page! Though her personal journalling style is whimsical, you are given full permission to find YOUR own style to make your travel journal uniquely YOURS, with the secondary goal of creating a new practice to become a life-savoring habit.

Muffy teaches art independently to elementary aged students in her local park or 3rd floor studio in the Westville section of New Haven, CT, USA. Other pursuits include sharing her giant spin-art bicycle during festivals, leading her community in giant puppet building in preparation for the annual Giant Puppet and People Making Mayhem Parade and herding cats, a.k.a. assisting in the machinations of a collective art gallery with over 2 dozen living + local artists from the greater New Haven area. She and Frank Bruckmann are relieved to say that they have managed to parent their 2 fabulous kids into early adulthood along with their dog and cat.

PJ COPITHORNE YOUR CULINARY SENSAI & COOKING GUIDE

.

ENRIQUE YOUR YOGI & MEDITATION GUIDE

DEAN YOUR MASSAGE AND HEALING GUIDE

 What people are saying about AWE… “My participation in AWE 2022 far exceeded my wildest expectations! This is not just some flashy vacation in a cool place. Lizzi has created a holistic experience that feeds your creative curiosity, heart, soul and personal growth. The things you do are not silo experiences but connected with threads of fun, family, kindness and joy. It has been over six months since I returned home but my life was changed forever. Not a day goes by that I don’t think deeply about the new friends I made and the experiences we shared. AWE isn’t something that you move on from, it is a gift you will carry with you for the rest of your entire life. For me it has become the guardrails on life’s highway, reminding me I have the power to find, create and choose Joy every day.” Anthony V. -Maine, USA "We have attended AWE twice. Our first time was spectacular, but last summer's session exceeded even those high expectations. The program is aptly named, because it seamlessly combines art and wellness in an immersive experience. You get to stretch your creative boundaries by making art in an inspiring setting, working at your own pace. And your mind and spirit are nourished by the opportunity to share new experiences, savor French culture and cuisine, and cultivate new friendships with an interesting and engaged group of people." Mary and Rob C. -Chicago, USA "I went on this trip and it was life changing and truly amazing! Thank you Lizzi for reminding me about the world of Art and Wellness and sharing your great talents with me." Stacey J. -Massachusetts, USA "The main reason for our booking as "non-artists" was the personality of the director of AWE, Lizzi and we knew that we were in good hands with her. The preparations of the trip were excellent and AWE offered many opportunities to be creative in a stunning surrounding. We drew and painted each day and this was new and exciting for us and we loved the morning yoga-classes! We are looking forward to more great destinations and programs for the coming years!" -Nicole R. & Alex G. -Freiburg, Germany "I never expected such a soul filling experience. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did in these 10 days to support, care for, and inspire me.” -Tray L. California, USA “Loved all of it! Thank you for helping me find the artist within me. I can’t wait to go back to AWE!” -Brenda R. Massachusetts, USA

 What people are saying about AWE… “My participation in AWE 2022 far exceeded my wildest expectations! This is not just some flashy vacation in a cool place. Lizzi has created a holistic experience that feeds your creative curiosity, heart, soul and personal growth. The things you do are not silo experiences but connected with threads of fun, family, kindness and joy. It has been over six months since I returned home but my life was changed forever. Not a day goes by that I don’t think deeply about the new friends I made and the experiences we shared. AWE isn’t something that you move on from, it is a gift you will carry with you for the rest of your entire life. For me it has become the guardrails on life’s highway, reminding me I have the power to find, create and choose Joy every day.” Anthony V. -Maine, USA "We have attended AWE twice. Our first time was spectacular, but last summer's session exceeded even those high expectations. The program is aptly named, because it seamlessly combines art and wellness in an immersive experience. You get to stretch your creative boundaries by making art in an inspiring setting, working at your own pace. And your mind and spirit are nourished by the opportunity to share new experiences, savor French culture and cuisine, and cultivate new friendships with an interesting and engaged group of people." Mary and Rob C. -Chicago, USA "I went on this trip and it was life changing and truly amazing! Thank you Lizzi for reminding me about the world of Art and Wellness and sharing your great talents with me." Stacey J. -Massachusetts, USA "The main reason for our booking as "non-artists" was the personality of the director of AWE, Lizzi and we knew that we were in good hands with her. The preparations of the trip were excellent and AWE offered many opportunities to be creative in a stunning surrounding. We drew and painted each day and this was new and exciting for us and we loved the morning yoga-classes! We are looking forward to more great destinations and programs for the coming years!" -Nicole R. & Alex G. -Freiburg, Germany "I never expected such a soul filling experience. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did in these 10 days to support, care for, and inspire me.” -Tray L. California, USA “Loved all of it! Thank you for helping me find the artist within me. I can’t wait to go back to AWE!” -Brenda R. Massachusetts, USA