Helping people connect to the creativity inside of themselves is why I run workshops. Workshops can be conducted in person, via zoom or as a correspondence course.
Drawing – an exploration of tools and the marks they make
I believe one hundred percent that everyone can draw. I can’t tell you how many times I have been told by someone that they “can’t even draw a straight line”, well, neither can I, nor do I want too! Drawing is simply about learning how to make marks. About how to use tools and then how to arrange those marks on a surface. It is also about connection and making a deliberate response to our environments, emotions, objects and people. As a result through making our unique marks we are expressing how we see, hear, smell, feel and translate those things. Nobody can or should draw like anybody else.
We are each a unique one of a kind creation full of our own individual expressions.
Through teaching you to draw I am simply helping you to develop a new language.
An integral part of learning is exploring the ability to play and let go of our preconceived ideas of what drawing is. Also understanding that there is no right or wrong but instead a great sense of discovery. I will be your guide through this discovery giving you prompts and exercises to push your mark making abilities. Workshops can be tailored to any individual or individuals involved and I am keen to help you achieve your goals by the end of our time together. Equally if you are up for a challenge I can surprise you with a series of mark making exercises.
Artists book making workshops – the art of cutting, folding and telling stories.
Artists books can be almost anything.
Any shape, any topic, any size, any material. What a workshop or workshops with me will do is give you a series of tools to use to help translate your ideas into the perfect object.
As with drawing, play is the key at the centre of learning and discovering a staple range of cuts, folds and structures useful to making artist’s books.
I often combine drawing workshops with book art making because a sheet of your own marks is a fantastic material to use as a starting point to create very unique pieces of work. Using the materials all around us in our homes is an important part of caring for our planet and can enable a project to be as cost effective as possible. So this can be as simple as some paper bags and a cereal packet! We can work together through a number of different book structures folded or stitched. Equally if there is a specific structure you would like to work with we can begin there.
As a taster here is a simple tutorial about concertina books.
Papermaking workshops – an everyday alchemy
Papermaking too sits well with my ethos of using everything that is around us as material.
I will take you step by step through everything you need to know to successfully make paper at home. I will then show you how to make moulds simply and at little cost. Culminating by sharing with you the wide range of household waste that can be used for your paper making experiments. During our sessions I will provide a detailed work book. This will allow you to continue unaided in your own time. Finally, play is central to developing your own unique range of beautiful papers ready for all sorts of purposes.
Drawing, papermaking and artists books have a symbiotic relationship and each one can be of mutual benefit to the other. The most valuable thing I can teach you is to try everything at least once and to play until your heart is content! Do this with a generous smattering of encouragement and I am certain you will discover all sorts of creativity from within you never knew was there.
I would be honoured to be a part of your learning journey so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if I can help.
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