Frolic & Clay
Retreat
Rydal Showground, NSW
Wiradjuri Country
13th - 15th of November
2026
a chance to breathe, connect and create
Over the three days, you will learn everything needed to create an earthen artwork!!
Join us for our first weekend retreat at a magical campground immersed in the bush, filled with creativity, clay, curiosity and great company!
You will walk away with the skills to identify clay, understand it, and transform it into something beautiful, whilst, of course, frolicking through the bush and seeing the glimmers and beauty of nature alongside others.
In this time, you will each be creating an earthen artwork that will be hung on the walls of the Lithgow Women’s Shed and Community Centre, with your very own set of tools as part of your kit and knowledge to take home, with everything you need to create your own artworks with your local clay!
This weekend is an opportunity to slow down and reconnect to the land, others and yourself, through creativity and play.
Family freindly fun • Alcohol-free space • No previous art experience needed
Are you ...
Curious about creating with wild clay?
Seeking to get away from the hustle and bustle?
Wanting to connect with like-minded people?
Looking for a weekend away in a beautiful setting?
Desiring time to create with natural materials?
Craving to be inspired to play again?
Searching for an opportunity to give back to a community?
What is included
The course begins on Friday the 13th of November mid-morning and will end on Sunday the 15th of November at midday.
This is a small, alcohol-free weekend centred around creativity, curiosity, connection and community.
Your own Earthen Explorer Kit, to use and take home with you
All tools and local clay
Guided nature meditation exploration
All the steps to create your own earthen artwork
Breakfast, dinner, and snacks
Camping on-site
Accessible bathroom toilets and showers
Camp kitchen with fridge, oven and stove
Free time to explore Rydal, Lithgow and surrounds
Part of your ticket will also go towards providing a subsidised placement for local community members.
A detailed information pack will be emailed to you.
The project
an artwork emerging from place, formed by community, and created for a community space
This is a respectful, family-friendly event, centred around creativity, curiosity, connection and community. We ask everyone to bring respect for each other, the place we're gathering and the different ways people experience and respond to the world.
This weekend is part of a creative project with the Lithgow Area Women’s Shed (LAWS), a community-led space created to bring people together, build skills and strengthen connection in Lithgow.
The Women's Shed has been working towards completing its community building for several years. The building is intended to become a place for connection, learning, making and community — and this workshop is an opportunity to contribute something creative to that future space.
Together, we'll explore the earth and natural materials of Lithgow and surrounding areas, experimenting with local clay and other natural materials to create our own small earthen artworks.
Each participant will make a piece that stands on its own, but also becomes part of something larger. The individual works will come together as a collection of earthen tiles, forming a larger artwork to be displayed on the entry hallway of the Women's Shed and Community Building once it opens.
The artwork will be made of clay from the building site and surrounding areas, so the materials are connected to the place, and created by people who have spent time together exploring, observing and creating there.
The project is also grounded in a broader invitation to slow down and pay attention to where we are — to notice the landscape, the materials beneath our feet, the stories and relationships that make a place meaningful, and our own relationship to the land.
The final artwork will continue to evolve with the project and the community around it, with the intention that it becomes part of the Women's Shed when the building is ready to welcome people in.
you will learn
Guided nature meditation exploration
Board prepping
Clay identification and testing
Cob sculpting
Earthen plaster base and finish coats
Burnishing
Are you ready to create?
Rydal Showground, NSW
Wiradjuri Country
13th - 15th of November
2026
Join us for a weekend retreat surrounded by bush, creativity, clay, and great company!
Early Explorer
First five places…get in quick!
Join us for a weekend retreat surrounded by bush, creativity, clay, and great company!
General Explorer
This is an outdoor, hands-on workshop. We'll be working with natural materials such as clay, sand, straw, water and other natural materials, and activities will take place outdoors in an undercover area.
The retreat will operate with a minimum group size of 10 participants.
Before booking, please read the workshop Terms & Conditions carefully
Local Explorer
Five places available
A quarter of subsidised places are reserved for local community participants.
If you are any of these:
Lithgow Women’s Shed member
Have Wiradjuri ancestory
Have volunteered on the hempcrete building
Live in Lithgow
Join us for a weekend retreat surrounded by bush, creativity, clay, and great company!
Do you have family or friends that would like to join in the fun of camping but are not looking to participate in creating with clay?
What is included:
Campground fees
Meals (breakfast, snacks, and dinner)
Additional Camper
Not looking to create with clay but want to accompany family or friends that are? Join us for a weekend! Camping and breakfast + dinner included
You will get an Earthen Explorer Kit to take home with you as part of the retreat!
Want an additional kit ?
Welcome to the Earthen Explorer Kits!
This is an invitation so you too can explore and create from the earth!
An offering to experience the creativity you inherit and become a vessel, shaping the land into your own formations
A chance to play, to be free, to be curious, to let out your inner child and get a little muddy in the process
An opportunity to connect more deeply with yourself, the land and others, wherever you may be
A calling to allow your soul to express itself, to feel, to breathe, to slow down, to hold space and to be present
It begins with curiosity
These kits have been intentionally curated to help you create your own beautiful earthen artworks and keep reusing them in the future!
You will notice the clay is missing… This is intentional. The earth beneath your feet is unlike anywhere else in the world!
The purpose of these kits is so you too can embody the earthen explorer, and to do this, I encourage you to be curious, go for a walk, explore your local surroundings, your area, the people around you, connect, and find your own clay that holds its own story, memories, or is a special place for you. We ask that before digging, you ask permission and only take what you need.
What is included in the box:
Large hessian bag
A5 primed plywood 12mm board
Pouch of sifted brickie sand
2 x Monte Mart palette knives
3 x Monte Mart natural paint brushes
3 x Quartz crystals (multi-size and shape, white, green, pink) + muslin bag
Wooden scoop
How-to guide
Wild clay testing sheet - downloadable sheet that will be emailed to you upon purchase.
A little reminder, this is your own journey and creation, it is perfect as it is, in whatever stage it is at and will always be beautiful as it comes from the land, just like you x
$89 $70