SwampFire Retreat for Writers and Artists
In July 2008, I acted on a long-standing desire to host a retreat at a family farmhouse in Larwill, Indiana, and SwampFire Retreat was born.
With my collaborators poet Mary Catherine Harper, and potter Steve Smith, SwampFire has grown since its first rag-tag band of Defiance College faculty and students, and in 2024 migrated to Michigan!
From the start, Mary Catherine has been my steady creative partner and co-organizer. She created and maintains the marvelous SwampFire site which showcases each year’s retreat through writing and pictures.
When Covid-19 hit, Mary Catherine kept the SwampFire spark alive by growing our community over Facebook and organizing virtual workshops and readings which continue today.
From 2010-2023 Steve hosted SwampFire at 4 Corners Gallery Studio and Pottery in Angola. Each year Steve shared his talents from pottery to printmaking, challenging SwampFire’s artists and writers to create in new ways.
Through Steve’s work with Good Foundations International (formerly Potters for Peace), he has also served as a model for the global good artists can do in the world.
I am forever grateful for Steve’s friendship and creative collaboration.
By 2024, living and working in Michigan, I had woven wider my web of connections and we needed a new location for our summer retreat.
Bonnie Jo Campbell, fond of swamps herself, graciously offered to hosted SwampFire at H House, her family home outside of Kalamazoo. H House was ideal for our group of 11, some participants coming just for the main day while others of us stayed for several to write, reflect, and connect.
I am grateful to Bonnie for her friendship and shared vision of what creative community–needed more than ever!–can be and do!
I am so grateful to SwampFire, the heart of my creative community and one of the greatest joys of my life.
Dawn Burns 