Invitation to Apply - Apply Here

IMPROV FOR THE ARTIST: Getting Started, Getting Curious, Doing What You Want to Be Doing A Creative Intensive Workshop with Grayson Cox & Hollis Witherspoon The Clearing | Cragsmoor, NY

Two Dates: Saturday, June 28, 2025 | 11am–7pm Saturday, August 2, 2025 | 11am–7pm

About the Intensive

We invite artists of all disciplines to a full-day outdoor workshop exploring the intersection of improvisation, play, personal ecosystems, and creative discovery. Reconnect with your artistic instincts in a serene natural setting, guided by experienced facilitators. Join us for one or both dates.

What to Expect

• Awaken your creativity through improvisational, exploratory play
  

• Connect with fellow artists in a supportive, non-judgmental environment
  

• Engage in joyful, embodied activities with time for reflection and dialogue
  

• Let nature offer a restorative pause and fresh inspiration
  

• Work with seasoned facilitators in visual, performance, therapeutic, and academic arts
  

Spend the day in the beautiful Shawangunk Mountains and return to your practice with renewed clarity, connection, and creative energy.

Details

Cost: $490 per session — includes workshop, catered lunch, drinks, and snacks Your fee supports The Clearing’s artist-run mission: caring for the land, maintaining the space, and funding future gatherings. Thank you for helping to keep it wild & free!

Apply Now

Limited spots available. Apply Here

This intensive is open to all artists seeking fresh tools, community, and creative momentum. Sessions include group and solo exercises, guided dialogue, and spaciousness for personal and artistic breakthroughs.

About the Facilitators

Grayson Cox is a Brooklyn- and Cragsmoor-based artist and educator working across sculpture, printmaking, and mixed media. His participatory installations create space for intimacy, reflection, and shared experience. He has exhibited internationally and taught at Columbia, Parsons, Yale, and Pratt, where he’s been core faculty for 15 years.

Hollis Witherspoon is a performer, drama therapist, and educator specializing in improvisation and embodied process. She frequently collaborates with multidisciplinary artists. She has taught her signature “Improv for the Artist” class at institutions including Pratt, NYU, Columbia, and Skowhegan. Her therapeutic and artistic practice empowers participants to rediscover joy, authenticity, and intuition through play.

Invitation to Apply:

IMPROV FOR THE ARTIST: Getting Started, Getting Curious, Doing What You Want to be Doing

A Creative Intensive Workshop led by Grayson Cox & Hollis WitherspoonThe Clearing | Cragsmoor, New York

June 28th, 2025  | 11am - 7pm

About this Intensive:We invite artists of all disciplines to join us for a transformative experience designed to explore the intersection of personal ecosystems, improvisation, play, and discovery. This full-day outdoor workshop will offer space for artists to reconnect, reflect, and reimagine in a serene natural environment. Join us for one or both dates!

What you can Expect:

• Awaken your creative impulses through improvisational, exploratory play

• Connect and collaborate with fellow artists in a supportive, non-judgmental space

• Engage in embodied, joyful, spontaneous activities with time for reflection and dialogue

• Enjoy the ‘pause’ that the natural world can offer you and your artistic practice

• Be guided by seasoned facilitators with experience across visual, performance, therapeutic, and academic arts

Cost: *$490 includes workshop fee, catered lunch, drinks and snacks

*Your contribution helps sustain The Clearing—supporting the land, maintaining structures, paying artists and helpers, and funding future shows and gatherings. You’re not just joining a workshop—you’re investing in a creative ecosystem that stays wild, alive, and artist-run.

Apply Now!This workshop is open to all artists seeking stimulation, joy, and new creative tools. The day will offer a loosely structured blend of group and individual exercises as well as guided dialogue, offering opportunities for breakthroughs in both personal and artistic growth.

How to Apply:Submit your application to . Limited spots available. We encourage you to apply early to secure your place!

We hope you join us in the beautiful Shawangunk Mountains for a day of creative transformation!

Hollis Witherspoon is an artist, performer, teacher, and drama therapist based in Brooklyn and Upstate NY. With a background as an actor and improviser, she has applied her experience in indie film and experimental theatre to an eclectic body of work collaborating with multidisciplinary, visual, and performance-based artists. Hollis believes in the power of play and improvisation to unlock joy and self-understanding. Her approach to teaching ‘Improv for the Artist’ at institutions such as Pratt, NYU, Columbia, SVA, Hampshire, and Skowhegan, is grounded in the exploration of process over product, offering a space for artists to move beyond traditional frameworks and intuitively honor their creative impulses. Hollis is in private creative arts therapy practice and frequently facilitates retreats, trainings, and workshops designed to support and empower participants in exploring their creative potential.

Grayson Cox is an artist and educator based in Brooklyn and Cragsmoor, New York. Working across sculpture, printmaking, and mixed media, his practice spans more than two decades and centers on creating environments that encourage intimacy, self-awareness, and social reflection. His participatory projects often use tactile materials and spatial design to invite viewers into moments of quiet exchange or collective experience—gently questioning the roles we inhabit and the systems that shape our behavior. Cox has exhibited internationally, including at the New Museum in New York, the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, and in Tokyo, Japan and Maihar, India among others. As an educator, he has taught at Columbia University, Indiana University, Parsons, Yale, MICA, SUNY Purchase, Southern Oregon University, and has been a core faculty member at Pratt Institute for 15 years.