Integrating the Arts and Natural Sciences

Willowtail Springs Nature Preserve and Education Center is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing Residencies and community involvement in the Arts and Nature with Scholarship and Partial-Scholarship Support. You are now on Willowtail.org which offers Scholarship and Partial- Awarded Residencies in the Arts and requires an application process.

If you are looking for Willowtail Springs B&B Vacation Cabin Rentals, Self-Funded Residencies, Retreats, Classes, Workshops and Seminars, please go to www.willowtailsprings.com to make a reservation.

Willowtail.org awards 1-3 week residencies, making available to emerging and established practitioners from all over the world in the arts and ecology a stunning environment with a diverse ecology. Beautiful cottages and a private working studio, all fit seamlessly into this unique preserve. Combined are exquisite grounds, forests, gardens, water and wild life making this an ideal resource for creating individually or in collaboration, inspiring an intensity for learning.

Margy Dudley, artist and photographer, spent several retreats at Willowtail. Her time spent here culminated in the book, A Willowtail Year, including several poems by Peggy Cloy. The book was sold at our 2015 fundraiser and is now in all 3 cabins at Willowtail.

Margy Dudley, Photographer, Artist, Writer, owner Open Shutter Gallery:
“This is a place that is timeless. The only voice you hear is the stillness and quiet, the present. Inspired by the wilderness and the creatures that inhabit it, the sounds of the breeze and the view of the setting sun. In nature we gain deeper understanding of ourselves and our place on this earth. This knowing comes from the land, is apparent to almost anyone who arrives. It’s immediate and almost magical. Only poetry can best describe what is felt in this place. To some it may feel sacred, to others it’s a connection lost. There is a growing list of retreats and residencies available in this graceful setting”.

VALUES:
Willowtail Springs Nature Preserve and Education Center:

– Promote creative expression in the arts and sciences.
– Support and encourage those who seek to conserve, protect, and renew natural ecosystems.
– Provide a protected environment where practitioners can pursue their creative vision through exploration, reflection, research and collaboration.

A Willowtail residency exists to invite practitioners in an array of fields and mediums, a time and space free from their usual obligations and distractions.  Complete immersion in the property allows residents to contemplate and focus on their projects with the preserve’s sights, sounds and smells to inspire them.  Essential to creating deeper works are the unexpected directions of thought and the expansion of nascent ideas into more robust and surprising creations.  Willowtail’s diverse sense of space and time stimulates the insatiable curiosity that drives the arts, ecology and natural sciences.