Monday, June 29, 2015

Madeline Island School of the Arts

I'm back home after a wonderful week on Madeline Island where I attended the Gwen Marston class, Abstract Quilts in Solids.  Today I'll blog about the school,  my next post will be about the class.

Madeline Island is an island located in Lake Superior.  Getting to the island required a ferry. It was a beautiful ride and I felt my worries and stress slip away the closer we got to the island.


When the lake forms a thick enough layer of ice you're able to drive a car to the island.   If the ferry can't run and the ice isn't think enough for cars, you can take a snow sled, snowmobile or plane to island.  I was really glad the ferry was running.

Madeline Island is 14 miles long, 3 miles wide, and has around 250 permanent residents.

The class was held at the Madeline Island School of the Arts. 


The school is held on land that was originally a dairy farm.  The original farmhouse is still on the property but the school added new classroom, meeting, and lodging buildings.  The school is relatively new, I think this is the fifth year.  It's ranked among the top 5 art and craft schools in the country.


When I checked in I received a key to my room, a real key, and a flashlight!


I used the flashlight when wondering around after dark.

The school has 6 cottages for lodging.  Each cottage is divided into 4 different room layouts.


This is where we gathered for our meals.



There's not a kitchen in the building, the meals were catered by a business on the mainland then shipped over on the ferry every day.  I enjoyed the food, the breakfast was your standard morning fare, the lunch varied.   Breakfast and lunch were provided by the school, we were on our own for dinner.  There were several restaurant and meal options on the island.


This is where we met for our class.  The classroom was airy and provided abundant natural light. Each quilter had an entire table to work from and there were enough irons and ironing boards provided.  The studio was open 24 x 7 to allow students to sew as much as they wanted.

Students had free access to these bikes to ride around island.


The grounds were beautiful .


I thought this sign was hilarious.


but necessary, there really was a turtle crossing the road as we passed by.


Wild flowers were beautiful and in abundance.



In summary, the facilities at the school were charming and all the employees helpful and friendly.
For more information on Madeline Island School of the Arts click here.  I would love to make attending the school an annual event.





9 comments:

  1. Hey, this is a wonderful place to learn!

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  2. It looks really beautiful. And I'll bet if you went bike riding, you chose the pink one! ;)

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  3. What an incredible place! Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Hi Thelma it looks a lovely place and no wonder you were stress free being there, wish I could go. Loved the Turtle crossing. Thanks for sharing. Hugs, Susie x

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  5. It looks fabulous. I can't wait to see what you worked on.

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  6. What a wonderful and restorative place! I bet you are bursting with creativity :)

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  7. What a peaceful place to create!

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  8. Love the sign and wonder how many of them need to be replaced every year;-) And the place looks like something right out of an Astrid Lindgren book!

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  9. So beautiful and you saw turtles... awesome!
    Can't wait to hear more!

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