DevotionaL ArtsRetreat

Mayumi Nakabayashi is a land artist and mandala maker. Her mission is to bring awareness to the symbiotic connections all lives on earth and to promote unity within human and more-than-human diversity by creating ephemeral geometric patterns (mandalas) using natural materials. Her media include plants, stones, vacated wasp hives, cobwebs, and frost. She studied art book binding under Sandy Sexton and is a certified therapist for various alternative health practices. Mayumi leads flower mandala making workshops in yoga studios, schools, and art festivals and has been the artistic director for Womandala na hEireann project (flower mandala & nude female body mandala) since 2020. She is currently working on a project with libraries in Ireland and environmental organizations to promote native woodlands.

Annalisa is an Italian a contemporary artist based in Ibiza. Her work is the result of many years of multidisciplinary study and practice in art education and Eastern philosophy. Her mission is to create physical and ethereal spaces where silence can be heard and translated into art, as well to inspire others in discovering the beauty of the perfect imperfection of life. She uses nature as her main medium, in all form and matter, landscape and motion. She currently gives workshop where painting, meditations, and movement are used to transform emotions in collective performances. Eatern wisdom permeates every angle of her work.

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Marta Carvalho is a visual artist and a creative healer. She has been creating sacred spaces of transformative and healing arts since 2012. Marta holds degrees in Graphic Design and Visual Arts Theory. Her approach merges intuitive painting with vocal improvisation, somatic awareness, and performative practices. For the past four years, she has been developing numerous collaborative, interdisciplinary, and participatory art projects in Portugal. She guides personal and artistic development processes through individual mentoring, art therapy courses, and art residencies.

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Holly Taylor-Zuntz is a singer and choir director. Her mission is to bring the folk music of Georgia to a global audience. She holds a BA (Hons) in European Theatre Arts from Rose Bruford College and studied Natural Voice Leader with Frankie Armstrong as well as Advanced Circle Singing and Vocal Improvisation leader training with Guillermo Rozenthuler. Over the past five years, Holly has been conducting research on Georgian polyphonic music, spending several months a year in Georgia learning from local ethnomusicologists. She created three theatre shows about Georgian music in the UK. She is the founder and co-host of the Voices of the Ancestors podcast and directs the Georgian choir in Oxford. Holly also leads open-access community choirs and offers workshops that encourage everyone to sing, no matter their vocal experience.

Andrea Saito is an artist, art therapist, and researcher. She holds MAs in Cultural Management (International University of Catalonia) and in Artistic and Creative Therapies (ISEP, Barcelona). She also studied engraving (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) and Japanese Woodblock (University of the Arts, London). She published Essencial Tune (2016) and Art Lab vol.1 (2017) in collaboration with Radar Art Lab. Andrea led interdisciplinary art labs in Lima and was in charge of the Cine Olaya Cultural Center. She worked as a cultural manager at Nau Bostik and Acid House in Barcelona. She currently offers Art Therapy sessions for individuals and groups and is a Dance Therapy teacher at Holistic Dansart, Puigcerdà.