Artist Workshop Retreats at the Three Authors
The Experience
Mansions Made for Making
3 Estates, 11 Private Acres
The full Three Authors compound on Corolla's 4x4 beach. No other guests, no shared facilities. Instructor and participants stay under the same roofs the entire time.
Workshop Size Up to 40
46 bedrooms across the compound. Use one estate for a focused workshop, or all three when the program needs distinct studio, critique, and quiet zones.
Working Light and Working Rooms
Oversized great rooms, oceanfront decks, and northern-light corners. Set up easels indoors or work plein air on the dunes. Both happen inside the property line.
Three Meals a Day
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner served at the compound throughout the workshop. Welcome dinner and wine on arrival night. The food question is handled.
Ground Logistics Coordinated
Airport pickups from Norfolk (ORF), 4x4 transport into the Corolla beach zone, grocery runs, and last-mile errands handled by the operations team.
Optional Full Registration
When the instructor wants it, we run the entire registration funnel: landing page, payments, participant communications, waitlist, refunds, and on-site check-in.
The Studio Environment
Easels Indoors. Plein Air on the Dunes.
The great rooms across the compound are sized for full-group sessions. High ceilings, open floor plans, and natural light from the oceanfront windows. Easels, tables, drying racks, drop cloths, and washing stations are pre-set to the instructor's specification before arrival.
The dunes are a 60-second walk from the back deck. Plein air sessions happen on the beach, in the dune grass, or on the oceanfront decks depending on the light and the instructor's plan.
The studio is cleared and reset each day. The instructor arrives to a room that's ready.
Operational Support
The Instructor Teaches. We Run Everything Else.
Demo, critique, plein air, individual feedback. The instructor's time is for the work in front of them. Our operations team handles house prep, meals, transport, materials setup, and any logistics that would otherwise pull the instructor away from teaching.
Most instructors tell us the compound removes the friction they didn't know they were carrying. No hotel check-in lines, no restaurant reservations, no group transport to coordinate. The group is together from arrival to departure.
The Location
Plein Air on the 4x4 Beach
Eleven miles of undeveloped Atlantic coastline, accessible only by 4WD. No hotels, no shops, no crowds. Just the dunes, the sea oats, and the light.
Wild Colonial Spanish mustangs roam this stretch of coast freely. Sightings during plein air sessions are common. There is no painting location on the East Coast that offers this.
The beach is private. No day-trippers, no strangers in the background. The group has the coastline to themselves for the duration of the workshop.
The Three Authors compound sits on the Corolla oceanfront. Use one estate for a focused workshop, or all three when the program needs distinct studio, critique, and quiet zones.
Three Houses, One Atmosphere
A Possible Rhythm
A Sample Four-Day Itinerary
The agenda is set by the workshop instructor. What follows is one possible rhythm. Arrive on Day One, depart by noon on Day Four. Three full creative days in between.
Day One: Arrival and Welcome
House tour, room assignments, materials drop. Opening reception with the instructor. A walk along the ocean while the light goes long. Welcome dinner and wine at the compound. No working sessions on arrival day.
Day Two: Instructor-Led Sessions
A quiet day shaped entirely by the instructor's program. Demo, plein air on the dunes, in-studio work at the great room easels, or whatever the day calls for. Light breakfast and lunch served so the work isn't interrupted. The group reconvenes for dinner in the evening.
Days Three and Four
Deep Work, Then a Slow Departure
Day Three: Full Working Day
A second full creative day. Most workshops use this day to push deeper: longer studies, more individual feedback, a second location for plein air, or a structured critique block. Evening: final dinner at the compound or a coordinated dinner out.
Day Four: Closing and Departure
Slow morning. Breakfast on the deck. Optional closing critique or short final session at the instructor's discretion. Departure by noon. The compound stays available through midday so no one is rushed.
Most instructors fall into one of two camps. We have built both paths so the instructor picks the one that fits their business.
Two Ways to Run a Workshop With Us
Model A
Venue Partnership
Model B, Most Common
Fully Managed Workshop
A Tradition Sixty Years in the Making
In Partnership With La Romita School of Art
For sixty years, La Romita School of Art has hosted painters, writers, and photographers at its retreat in the green heart of Italy: a former Carmelite monastery in the Umbrian countryside that has become one of the most respected art-retreat programs in the world.
That model, the working art vacation, the residential workshop, the instructor at the dinner table every night, is the tradition The Three Authors brings to the American coast.
Visit La Romita at laromita.org
Open to additional partner programs, art schools, galleries, and instructor affiliations. Inquire about a partnership.
Common Questions
Workshop FAQ
