Gallery Lane Cove - Calling for Exhibition Proposals for 2012/2013

Are you looking for a local art gallery space to exhibit your art work in the New Year?

Well, good news! There is a new gallery in Lane Cove that is set to officially open in February 2012 and we are asking for submissions for exhibitions. The gallery, named Gallery Lane Cove is an initative of the Lane Cove Council who have engaged architects, DRAW, De Mancour, Russell Architecture Workshop to refurbish the top level of the Community Centre at 164 Longueville Road, Lane Cove. Building is taking place as we speak and here is a sneek peek of some of the work that has been done so far and above you can see the artists impression of the entrance to the gallery.

Centrehouse Community Art Centre have been contracted to manage the gallery for the community and will be developing a program of exhibitions, which includes hiring the contemporary gallery space out to artists based on submissions, due on the 30th March 2012.

We are still in pre-opening mode, however there is some initial information for you to consider over the New Year break. Read the Pre-liminary Exhbition Application Hiring Details and Fees . We will be providing further information and photos of the new gallery space at the beginning of February 2012, so keep your eyes and ears posted to our website http://www.centrehouse.org.au/.

If you are interested in exhibiting, please contact the Gallery & Centre Manager, Felicity Martin after the 23rd January 2012. In the meantime, Happy New Year!!

We find out what inspires artist and Centrehouse Children's Drawing Techniques and Silk Screen Printing teacher Laura Carey

CH:  I see on your CV you studied print-making in Ireland. What bought you to Sydney?

LC: After a while in the art scene in Ireland, I found myself in a bit of a rut. I’ve always loved to travel, and I’d met some really great people from Australia so I decided to come here to study and focus on my work. Really, it was a bit of a whim, but it turned out to be a great decision!

CH:   Can you outline for us the general print making process?

LC: In screen printing, the first thing is to find images and make them into stencils, either by hand-cutting stencils or using photographic exposure. You have to think backwards in a way; figure out what you want and then make each individual piece into colour layers, it’s kind of like a jigsaw puzzle.

Example of stencil by Laura Carey 

After that, you can start printing! You print one colour at a time, so you have to line up the screen very carefully. Then you use a squeegee to apply ink through the screen onto the paper. Wait for that colour to dry and then start over with the next colour. If you’ve only got a few colours it’s pretty simple, but when you create complex images the process can be quite challenging.

CH:   What appealed to you about the process of making prints?

LC: I became interested in printmaking after being exposed to some basic workshops at the beginning of my fine art degree in Dublin because it was such a different way of image making , there was so much to try and so many new tools to make images so I just had to explore more.

CH:   If there was one print making process that everyone should get the chance to do at least once in their lifetime, what do you think it should be?

LC: Obviously, I’m a little biased towards screen printing, but there are so many other fantastic print making processes like lithography, etching, lino cuts, wood block printing and so on. Any of them would be a great experience.

CH:  What is your favourite print making process and why?

LC: I really like the screenprinting process, and how it becomes part of the work itself. I try to allow my work to form in the process. Screen printing is also very versatile; you can use drawings, photos, shapes - a lot like collage. I like that you can play and experiment with the different elements of the image like colour or composition , you can add or take things away etc. It can be used in so many ways; most of my work is on paper, but I’ve also made books, magazines, cards, and prints on fabric.

 Stencil printing on fabric by Leanne Garrity

 Printmaking for gift ideas by YaChin You

CH:     I have been having a look on your blog http://lauracarey.wordpress.com/ and see your own art work uses a variety of materials. Can you outline what informs your artwork?

LC: My work is multi-disciplinary although I am a printmaker, I dont feel confined to that, I work with drawing, painting, collage, video and installation to explore my art practice  My work has been heavily based around my personal relationship to suburban life, having been intrigued by the mass of suburban landscape that surrounded me in Dublin. My work looked at our evaluation of the landscape in which we live. Looking at the houses around me has allowed me to see how we are all trying to stand out among the banal. From travelling and experiencing new landscapes I have found I am very influenced by my new surrounding, I am intrigued by being able to connect, capture and depict what I find my self surrounded by. Robert Rauschenberg had a quote I loved ,  he wanted to work "in the gap between art and life," which I think suggested a questioning of the distinction between art objects and everyday objects. I try to look at the everyday in the suburban/urban landscape, that I find my self surrounded by and reexamine what we may usually overlook.

Laura Carey, Clevelizabeth Street, 2008. Ink on paper. 

I have also been working on ideas that focus on the interrelationship between fiction and reality. I take these banal images of the world around me and try to deconstruct them and create a new image somewhere between the reality in front of me and a created distorted beautiful alternative. I have been working on creating  a world that is instantly recognisable but at the same time allows the viewer to escape from the everyday and see the ordinary in a new uncanny.

CH:    Who are the most inspiring artists for you?

LC: It’s hard, screen printing has so many iconic figures like Andy Warhol and Tim Marr. I find Robert Rauschenberg’s use of appropriated images in screen printing very influential. He was always experimenting with new techniques and questioning what would work. Outside of the screen printing world, David Hockney uses colour in very concentrated and saturated way; even if you’re looking at something dull and dreary, his colours animate it and fill it with life.

Laura Carey, Björtusalir, 2007. Ink on paper.

CH:      How do the projects you have planned for Centrehouse fit into your art making philosophy?

LC: I really like to experiment and create different things, so I want to show people how versatile screen printing can be. I’ll be teaching people how to use their own images, designs or drawings to make stencils by breaking them up into two or three colours and cutting out stencils. Then we’ll use the stencils to make a number of prints on both fabric and paper. We’ll provide canvas tote bags, but if anyone would like to bring t-shirts ,pillowcases, teatowels or notebooks in we can print on those too. One of my favourite parts of screen printing is the process, deconstructing an image and putting it back together in a new and beautiful way, so I’m aiming to teach that process and all its possibilities.

Laura Carey, The Robin in the bushes, 2008. Ink on paper.

Exhibition News

'Imaginary Narratives, Here to There,' an exhibition of figurative prints by Bernhardine Mueller & Denise Scholz-Wulfing

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the opening of an exhibition by two of Centrehouse's print making teachers. Bernhardine Mueller has been teaching print making at Centrehouse for many years and has a Solar Plate workshop coming up in the early part of 2012 and Denise Scholz-Wulfing has taught our print making classes during the term, which we will be offering again in Term 1 2012.

Denise's etchings are hung as a narrative that is based on a series of illustrations of the Book of Job, by William Blake. The difference with Denise's work is that she tells the story with Mother Nature as the key protagonist, who tests Job and his treatment of the land. The story begins with Job tending his flock , where there is a definite divide between the bush and the farm. Mother Nature then turns her back on Job and he is faced with plagues of rabbits and locusts. Job finally decides to work with Mother Nature, repairing the land from the ravages of over farming, seeking redemption and finally living again in harmony with the land. This series of nine etchings is technically very skillful, with each one engaging the viewer with subtle messages and a dense patchwork of imagery.

Image 1:

Denise Scholz-Wulfing, The Job Series, Tending the Flock, etching and collagraph

Image 2:

Denise Scholz-Wulfing, The Job Series, Harmony, etching and collagraph

Bernhardine Mueller's etchings also look at man's relationship to nature, however she constructs her 'little vignettes' from the imagination and these works have a uniquely Australian feeling, using humour to ask questions about the way man interacts and sometimes struggles with the environment. There are recurring themes of the vessel in her images of boats and balloons that seem to help secure and navigate her characters through. Bernhardine has hand coloured these prints, bringing her characters alive and giving the works a more painterly quality.

There are a couple of more abstract works in this exhibition, that are layered with references to the Australian landscape. Being less literal, these densely patterned works make you feel like you are standing right in the midst of the thickly tangled, yet beautiful rainforest or bush. Bernhardine masters the traditional techniques of print making in a fresh and inspiring way.

Both women are extremely passionate about printmaking and having attended classes taught by both of them, I have come to realise that to create such high quality and compelling images from printmaking you really need to get the technical aspects right. Both Bernhardine and Denise can help you on your own journey.

Image 1: Bernhardine Mueller, Dancing with the Wind, hand coloured etching

Image 2: Bernhardine Mueller, Fish River, hand coloured etching

This joint exhibition 'Imaginary Narratives, Here to There', continues until Friday 12th November 2011 and is held at the Marianne Newman Gallery in Crows Nest. For information on the printmaking workshops and term classes, call us on 9428 4898. by Felicity Martin.

Going Gocco

Today, Fayroze Lutta took a small number of students through her gocco paces. This fun and relaxed workshop used one gocco machine to pump out multiple postcards, bags, fabric and images. What is a gocco machine I hear you ask? This nifty little device was designed in Japan in the 1970'a and by the mid 1980's it was in almost 70% of all Japanese households. It uses light to transpose images on to a photographic screen, which you can print in a variety of ways using coloured inks.

Here is Fayroze with her trusty gocco machine. As you can see, it's small, compact and with the right instruction was easy to use. The possibilities are endless and although we managed to print bags, fabric, postcards and paper in the 4 hours workshop, I am already thinking of the zines and posters that could be great using this technology. Here is a drawing I made and then photocopied to an A5 size. It was then gocced and transferred onto a transparent screen. The screen on the right hand side was then inked up with purple ink and using a squeegy, transferred onto paper.

Others in the class used a mixture of text, photographs, hand drawn images and etchings to create their designs. It was so easy to run off a huge number of postcards and I even made my christmas cards....how organised am I? Fayroze brought in an old type writer and stamped letters so we could experiment and layer our images.

This was an etched image made by one of the other students, which was photocopied, transferred on to the gocco plate and then printed on fabric multiple times. Dreaming of a barb-b-que shirt range!

If you wish you had made our workshop today, then do not fret as Fayroze will be holding another one on the 17th September at Centrehouse Community Art Centre. It starts at 11am and goes to 3pm, so if you are interested give us a call on 09 9428 4898 or go to the website http://www.centrehouse.org.au/.

We catch up with Todd Fuller, winner of 2009 Lloyd Rees Awards

It's been 2 years since Todd Fuller won the 2009 Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award and Centrehouse has been keeping an eye on this very talented and busy artist. We spoke with him earlier in the week to find out how he spent his $5,000 prize money and how the award contributed to his art practice.

.           CH: Todd, you won the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award Prize back in 2009, how did the prize money help support your art practice?

        TF: Not long after winning this award I was notified that I was the recipient of the Storrier/Onslow residency to the Cite Des Arts in Paris through Friends of the National Art School and the National Art School. With this in mind I invested the money and then used it to help pay for some of the expenses associated with the residency. Strangely Paris was cheaper than Sydney so the prize money went quite a long way. It helped pay for short trips to London as well as new animation and drawing equipment that I used while working throughout my time at the cite`. I also found books in Europe to be wonderfully affordable so it has helped me establish a useful reference library full of literature and artists that I have brought back to my studio in Sydney.

2.       CH: The art work that won this Award was the animated drawing Watt Art? With Permission and I noticed that you have made a number of other animated drawings since, can you tell us a little about your process and what the animation means to your work?

      TF: I think that cartoons have had a large impact on not only me, but my generation of young artists. In the nineties there was a morning ritual in which animation and cartoons accompanied the morning breakfast routine, they were engrained in our daily life. When I was young I was always doodling these cartoon characters, who are essentially moving drawings, later in life I worked in cartooning so it seemed logical that I should attempt to make my drawings (within my fine art context) move. I also spent a great deal of my teenage years studying dance so with this in mind it is a wonder my drawings were not moving sooner.

      When I worked in cartooning I would draw on stage in front of crowds of children, once you use nothing but a few lines on a page to silence a room full of kids you realise the sheer power of drawing. Some people think about drawing as a secondary act which supports other disciplines such as painting and sculpture but for me drawing is the core to everything!

      This is why I love animation, it is a celebration of the magic of drawing. It is a process in which every single mark is savored and given due attention, it is not just about the static resolved result but rather the entire process and journey. Animation allows every mark, mistake, realisation and moment to be given some attention. When I animate, I photograph every single action, every line of charcoal, splash of ink or stroke of paint and every scrape of the eraser is recorded. It takes a great deal of time and an intense dedication to the process. It is almost a ritualistic dance back and fourth between the canvas and the camera in which looking and re looking helps the drawing rapidly progress. Once I have a series of photos they are then sequenced and edited to fill a block of time which ultimately becomes a film.

      My early animations were about exploring drawing and then I moved onto using it to tell stories. I try and use animation to develop a narrative without concealing the marvel that is drawing. Drawing remains the silent star of the stories I weave. Even when I sculpt it is derived from the logic of observational life drawing. I think this is why I think of animation and drawing as the ultimate story teller.

3.       Winning the Storrier/Onslow residency to the Cite Des Arts in Paris from the Friends of the National Art School  & NAS must have been amazing. What did you work on over there and how do you think Paris impacted on you art work?

        Months after returning I am still processing the amazing experience and wonderful people I met in Paris. I learnt so much about myself as a person and as an artist and I really struggle to articulate the extent of my gratitude and personal growth while in Europe. I did not treat the experience as a holiday and adopted a disciplined approach to the time and tried to do all that I could. That said there was so much to do and see that it is really impossible to do it all. Paris allowed me access to the old and the new of the art world. I would draw from the masters but also experience the latest and greatest of the contemporary commercial art world. I added poses, techniques and characters to my repertoire.  

        One of the biggest impacts has been on my career, this period showed me how small the world truly is, especially the art world! It gave me access to information and opportunities as well as the confidence to begin showing my work elsewhere in the world. As a result I have recently been included in group shows in England and America. Traveling made me question my work and how it sits in an international context, it also made me more aware of the Australian context from which I make my work.

4.       You are involved in a number of curatorial projects, like Sculpture in the Vineyards and now a new project with the Cessnock Regional Gallery. Can you tell us about these projects and what you find interesting about the curatorial process.

        I believe engaging in as many aspects of the industry as possible and that each has something to teach. I love to write and I also work as an educator while curating and of course art making. Each of these processes continues to strengthen my artist practice as well as each another. I really love the Hunter Valley and Newcastle, they are where I grew up and I love the diversity and strength of work taking place up there. 

        Cessnock Regional Gallery is a very unique institution which offers the Cessnock community access to some wonderful art and artists. The Gallery is relatively new so it offers this area access to something which I did not necessarily have when I was growing up there. With this in mind I am delighted to be apart of the CRAG team. I feel like I am making a difference and look forward to continuing my work through the recently awarded Sidney Myer Curatorial initiative mentorship program, which was administered by NAVA. The show we are currently developing will open in August and is focused on our regions mining heritage. It will bring together contemporary art and historical artifacts. It is exciting to be exploring our history in detail and we hope to present an exhibition which will really instill some pride in our regions fascinating history.

        Sculpture in the Vineyards is a completely different endeavor and one which I am blessed to be apart of. I am joining an amazing team and am already learning a great deal from my colleagues. This particular sculpture prize is one of my favorites and I think it offers some unique opportunities for sculptors. The outdoor exhibition is three months in duration and spread across an array of breath taking sites in Wollombi. I really encourage any aspiring sculptor to check our the competition at http://www.sculptureinthevineyards.com.au/ .

        I love the curatorial process for a variety of reasons. Coming to curating from an art making background puts me in a good position to empathise with the artist I work with to help ensure that their work is shown in the best possible manner. I am only twenty two but I love the places that curating is taking me and the people I get to meet. It is great to step out of my own way of thinking to work with other artists to try and give strength to what they are saying or doing. I am still quite new to curating and am more than aware that I have a great deal to learn, but am excited about the projects I have ahead of me.

        

5.       Your last exhibition with the Brenda May Gallery was a group show of figurative sculptures, featuring men in bunny suits, made from terracotta, ink, wood, acrylic and astro turf, can you tell us what inspired this work and what are you planning next?

see this website on the Brenday May Gallery for images from this exhibition.

My work and the stories it tells are currently concerned with masculinity but there is a lot more going on in them than this. I have an ensemble of characters which have been developing over the last few years. I utilise the characters in different ways to convey a variety of meanings but I am always aiming to evoke humour, pity, speculation and contemplation. I have a pair of lovers named Billy and Elliot who are a coal miner and a ballet dancer, they are both large, bald and round. There is also a tin robot, a petrified bather, the fallen angels and of course my men in bunny suits. I let my imagination go wild with their narratives, and over time their tales are getting more layered and are exposing more and more of my own personal story and personality. Some of these pieces are choreographed to offer thoughtful moments of contemplation while others are designed to provoke a deep belly chuckle or evoke a sense of theatrical drama.

 The men in bunny suits come from an animation titled 'burrow' (feel free to check it out at www.brendamaygallery.com.au), it is a bizarre story about a man who finds comfort in a bunny suit after losing a partner who also happened to wear the bunny suit. The bunny suit is flamboyant and obvious but innocent guise which alludes the to softer more tender sides to these very male plump characters. However the suit is only worn in private, in the mans room or in a park late at night when he dares to sneak out. I have taken this bunny suit motif a step further and begun flocking my ceramics so that their suits surfaces are actually soft and sensual. 

From this particular animation evolved an on going narrative about difference and belonging. A fat bald man continually emerges who wears the bunny suit in defiance of the nine to five practical world. He finds others like him but even when paired on in a group of fat men in bunny suits, he finds himself very alone. This character somehow locates a friend and together they brace themselves against the world. This was the preface to the 'together' sculpture from 'sculpture 2011' at Brenda May Gallery. 

 As for What is next.....

There are plenty more characters waiting in the wings but they won't emerge until they are good and ready. 

The most important thing I am currently planning is my next exhibition with Brenda May Gallery. It will be my first solo show with the gallery so it is shaping up to be extremely exciting. The show will include animation, drawing and sculpture as well as some integrations of the three mediums. I have designed the exhibition like a good soapie, it has characters you will love and others you will love to hate, twists and turns, moments of hope and others of intense personal struggles, drama and suspense and at the end a cliff hanger that will leave you wanting more....I hope. 

This exhibition will be open to the public from the 2nd of August while drinks with the artist will be on Saturday August 6th.

Applications Open - 2011 Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Awards

It's time to think about your work to submit for the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Awards. You've got just over 3 months as applications are due 19th August.The theme is open to what ever subject you would like to paint, draw or print. We are encouraging all artists to submit up to two artworks this year and it is open to those artitsts aged 18 - 28 years and live in Australia.

You can also sell your work at the exhibition (if you do not win the Aquisitive Prize that is) or if you prefer not to you can always put not for sale. We suggest that those not wanting to sell their work write not for sale, rather than putting an inflated price on the work.

It's really important to think about hanging and leaving enough time to either get your work framed or place strong d-rings on your canvases so we do not have to hang it from the frame as this can damage your work an important if you want to sell.

With over 60 entrants last year, there is a great opportunity to not only have your work shown and exhibited to an enthusiastic audience, but there are the prizes too. With over $7000 provided by the Lane Cove Council, The Lane Cove Art Society and Centrehouse Community Art Centre, this could really help you continue your art practice and development.

Please go to our website http://www.centrehouse.org.au/ to download an application form and for further details or call us on 02 9428 4898 if you need to discuss anything or email us centrehouse@bigpond.

Also follow us on facebook here.

The Art of Printmaking - Classes on Thursday Evenings

Wendy's Garden, Etching. Denise Scholz-Wulfing

Printmaking is a very traditional method of image making, however has been used in contemporary practice to create stunning artworks. Either used as a base for mixed media works, in artists books or as prints themselves, there are many techniques that can be used and experimented with.

Denise Scholz-Wulfing will be taking a print making class for term 2, which starts next week Thursday, 5th May and runs for 9 weeks. The classes start at 6.00 - 8.30pm. This is a great opportunity to learn a range of intaglio techniques as well improving your printing skills. Click here for more information on the class.

Denise's etchings have quite intricate details that show a high level of draughtsmanship. She received her BA from the Collge of Fine Arts and a Diploma in Education and a Masters of Letters in Visual Arts. Denise has had various solo exhibitions since 1985 and her printmaking practice spans across all intaglio and relief printing techniques.

The Centrehouse Print Studio has two working presses which you will learn how to operate and Denise will also teach hand printing techniques. You will make prints from a number of different mediums, including board, metals and plastics.

Collagraph made by a student during workshops at Centrehouse

Click here for more information on the class.

New Abstract Painting Classes and Drawing Workshop with Mitzi Vardill - Interview with Mitzi

Acrylic on Paper by Mitzi Vardill

Mitzi Vardill has been teaching around Sydney for many years and her art practice is varied, mastering a wide range of mediums and techniques. At Centrehouse, Mitzi has taught mixed media painting and she will be teaching a Pathways to Abstraction, painting class on Thursday evenings from 6pm and a special workshop for beginners, called the Drawing, the First Steps on 18th June 2011. Please go to the Centrehouse website to find out more about these courses and to enrol in the courses.

We caught up with Mitzi to find out what she is focussing on in her own art practice, what inspires her and a bit about her upcoming classes and this is what she said.


INTERVIEW WITH MITZI VARDILL  MCA, Dip FA

CH. How would you describe your art practice Mitzi?

MV: My art practice is dynamically multidisciplinary, and this has been my approach to my career. I have practised in almost all media including; drawing, watercolour, acrylic, mixed media oil, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture. Recently I have been indulging in the digital realm of expression. I am always seeking novel ways to articulate my creative soul.

My teaching practice is an important feature to my career. I have discovered that teaching is a creative medium unto itself and inturn it is being re-injected into my artistic growth. I am employed at six schools in New South Wales and currently looking to expand nationally, and eventually overseas with my workshop modules.

 

CH. What are you working on now?

MV: My focus for 2011 and 2012 is equally my teaching practice and my commissioned work. As explained, I work for many organisations teaching in watercolour, acrylics, oil, drawing and art theory. My preference is for intensive workshops as the students learn at an accelerated pace. I also conduct several weekly classes which find their success from the relationships formed over time. It is enormously satisfying to provide a haven for personal and creative growth.

The industry for commissioned work in Australia is distinctive and I have been fortunate to provide my clients with some uniquely inspired pieces.

Fortunately for me, I love to draw and paint in my time off as well. It is a 24/7 obsession.

CH. What things inspire or inform your work?

MV: Early in my career many of my works reflected the shy young immigrant discovering new worlds. It was an outlet for many of my fears and certainly helped me get through the challenges that that period of my life presented.

Since then, my inspiration and the artwork itself have matured as I have. My family and personal experience has been a feature in many of my works. The most compelling contributions I have made tend to be inspired by the watershed moments that we all experience.

As explained before, teaching has become a large source of my inspiration. It challenges my technical knowledge and inspires me to continue to grow at the rapid rate of my students.

CH. What is your teaching philosophy? 

MV: There are three parts to an arts education; tools and skills; knowledge of the theories, and developing the aesthetic perception. For my students the main motivation to attend my classes is to acquire the skills and become proficient with the tools. For me, in my role as an arts educator, I also to teach the theories associated with these skills and along the way develop their aesthetic perception.

To be a teacher of art to adults in the private sector requires much more than a firm technical knowledge and a passion for art practice. It requires empathy, sympathy and above all stoicism and tact. You are at once the hostess and the instructor, the actor and the confessor. Their personalities are as diverse as any group of people can be, and my aim is to establish a cohesive group and provide a safe and productive environment.

I teach creativity

I develop aesthetic perception

I clarify the concept

And I appreciate the art of reflecti

CH. The idea of abstract painting started with artists like Mondrian and then through Cubism, briefly describe what you will be covering in your abstract painting class, Pathways to Abstraction on Thursday evenings at Centrehouse.

MV:I would love to be brief about abstraction, but I would be cheating history if I was too concise. Essentially abstraction is an effect on the viewer’s awareness of colour, shape; this being the basis of most art. It distorts the painter’s response to the subject. In other words it becomes a very personal statement. Abstract painting is about, self expression, individuality, originality and discovering your own personal style.

To see the birth of abstraction we need to look back to the last third of the 19^th century and the impressionists and the post-impressionist movements who rebelled against the traditional teaching given in the art academies.  They were determined to accentuate colour, which they used fully and freely to express their emotions. During the first decades of the 20^th century artists called into question even more the norms and rules that had controlled the activity of artists for centuries and they challenged the concept of painting as an imitation of nature. Reality was variously deformed, manipulated twisted and decomposed in its colours shapes and proportions by the Pointillists, the Nabis, The Fauves, the Cubists, the Futurists as well as exponents of Art Nouveau all of whom emphasizes symbolic and decorative aspects and put adherence to reality in second place.

There are many notables in this journey and they include; Picasso and Braque and the cubist movement; Paul Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg and the De Stijl; and in particular Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky’s book Concerning the Spiritual in Art published in 1912 is still considered the fundamental text for understanding the birth and characteristics of abstract painting

Even a cursory look at art at the last 150 years of western art it gives us a wealth of inspiration and although the traditional pathway of learning to paint is to paint reality it is not the only way. The skills and knowledge needed to become an artist can also be learnt through abstract art.

The aim of this course is to investigate the interaction of the tools, techniques and materials and how an artwork can be brought to completion. We will investigate the many ways abstraction can be obtained either from natural objects which are altered, distorted, simplified or exaggerated or even works that have no reference to the world at all.

The focus is on acrylics and mixed media. Independent oil painters and watercolourists are also welcome.

CH:You will also be taking a workshop on ‘Drawing – The First Steps’ on 18^th June, what will students achieve in this workshop? What do you most enjoy about the experience of drawing?

MV:  I have found that many people see the barrier to taking up a creative pursuit is a lack of drawing skills. This course covers the fundamentals of mark making and how to draw simple objects. We also explore ways of drawing more complex objects which is always satisfying for students. The aim of this course is to equip the novice with the skills to use drawing as a tool in their own art practice.

Drawing is both a tool of exploration and an expressive medium. It is a fundamental skill of the visual language and I believe it is the key to creativity.

 Thanks so much for chatting with us Mitzi, and I know people can find lots of images of your work on your facebook page.

Creative Kids Learning About Colour & Tone

Our first week of holiday workshops is already over and the students have been making some really colourful and creative images. In the Portrait - Drawing & Painting class, teacher Laura Carey had the children experimenting with various mediums such as coloured pencils, thick waxy crayons and paint to create a range of tones and textures in their drawings. With the subject of their pictures the portrait, the students were encouraged to think about proportions of the face and how the nose, mouth, eyes, cheeks.ears etc are related to each other in regards to space on the head.

The photo above shows the students work in progress, with those finishing early gettting to draw other favourites.

As you can see from the portrait below, the tones from the waxy crayons were much richer and darker than those from the coloured pencils. These contrasts add to the images complexity and becomes visually interesting. You can see more portraits and works from the classes by going to our flickr site.

There are only a few spaces in the classes for next week, so please go to our website to check these out.

Laura Carey will be teaching the Paper Mosaics Class and the Animal Masks which will all include working with coloured papers, pencils, paints and a range of mediums for some exciting results.