Courses 2016

Taking inspiration from the Themerson and Holmqvist exhibitions, this fun four day course offers children a unique opportunity to create their very own animations. We will explore the world of visual poetry to learn new techniques in photography, film, model and mark-making to create drawings that come to life. There will be an exhibition on the last day for parents and carers to attend.

Betsy Dadd is an artist who works with animation. She uses drawing and printing techniques to produce moving image and devises ways to present them as projected installations. Since graduating from Royal College of Art in 2013, she has exhibited at Marsden Woo Gallery and screened works at various international film festivals. Betsy has also collaborated with choreographers and set designers to make projections for the stage, such as Sum of Parts at Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

Alice Foxen

Drawing inspiration from the Themerson and Holmqvist exhibitions this course will bring poetry and storytelling to life. We will create characters, scenery and props in clay developed from our own storyboards, as well as looking at how to bring movement to these objects once they have been fired. We will also explore a range of hand building and decorating techniques and use different materials and surfaces to add texture to our work. There will be an exhibition on the last day for parents and carers to attend.

Alice Foxen is a London based ceramicist who graduated from Brighton University. Alice has worked on a variety of education workshops with children and young adults and has recently completed a residency at the International Ceramics Research Centre in Denmark.

An inclusive tour and workshop for older generation art enthusiasts, Create a Scene is a friendly and welcoming space for those seeking creative opportunities to view, discuss and make art.

This fun four day course draws inspiration from the Franciszka & Stefan Themerson exhibition, in particular their photographic works and experimental ‘moving photograms’. We will explore the magic of light sensitive processes such as cyanotypes, photograms and pinhole photography to produce beautiful and peculiar images. These analogue methods will also be combined with digital tools in imaginative and playful ways. There will be an exhibition on the last day for parents and carers to attend.

Taking inspiration from the Franciszka & Stefan Themerson exhibition we will use clay to make a world of crazy creatures, peculiar people and surreal scenery to create a ceramic storyboard. We will use a variety of ceramic building and surface techniques to construct collaborative and individual objects. Selected works will be fired for collection after the course and there will be an exhibition on the last day for parents and carers to attend.

Lydia Hardwick is uses clay to create objects that sit between the fields of art and design. She has worked on a wide variety of educational workshops with children and young people. Lydia graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2013 and has exhibited both in the UK and internationally.

This fun four day course explores colour, shape, pattern and print inspired by the current exhibition Making & Unmaking curated by Duro Olowu. Working with artist Joceline Howe, children will design their own printed fabrics using a wide range of materials, processes and techniques to create pieces of art that can be worn. There will be an exhibition on the last day which will involve an interactive photoshoot for parents and carers to join on the last day.

Joceline Howe’s art practice investigates subcultures, semiotics and identity pre and post internet. Recent project Haus Of explores film, dance and costume to create spaces where choreographed, improvised and interactive collide to create new works. She has worked on various educational projects at Serpentine Galleries, Tate and South London Gallery and is currently a collaborator with Hubbub at the Wellcome Collection. 

This two day course will look closely at the human form as a source of inspiration to unravel themes pertinent to the exhibition Making & Unmaking: An exhibition curated by Duro Olowu. Responding to ideas around representation, participants will work with a range of materials in a variety of different spaces including the Drawing Studio and the Centre’s garden, with both nude and costume models.

Jake Spicer is a painter, author of Draw Faces in 15 Minutes and founder of Draw (Brighton). He regularly teaches on drawing courses at Camden Arts Centre and other institutions

During this two day course participants will explore unconventional knitting techniques as a form of self-expression and communication. Considering the human condition, we will experiment with unusual tools, processes and materials to subvert traditional modes of making and craft. We will respond to Making & Unmaking: An exhibition curated by Duro Olowu and to the current practice of the tutor.

No previous experience, skill or knowledge is required.

• Week one: Practical work will focus on experimentation, through hand processes and material, to construct fabric and forms.

• Week two: Development and extension of fabrics and forms explored in week one with other materials to produce experimental works.

Freddie Robins is a Senior Tutor in Knitted Textiles and Reader in Textiles at the School of Material at the Royal College of Art. Freddie uses knitting to explore pertinent contemporary issues of the domestic, gender and the human condition, more recently exploring and expressing intimate feelings of sadness, fear and loss. Her work is internationally renowned; her practice crosses the boundaries of art, design and craft.

Sunday 7 & Sunday 14 August, 10.30am – 4.30pm 

Led by ceramicist Dan Stafford, this two day course offers a unique opportunity to test smoke firing techniques. Throughout the course participants will explore organic and non-organic surface decoration to create experimental forms, culminating in an exhibition of finished pieces on the last day.

This course is ideal for beginners and those looking to progress their ceramics practice through a specialist firing process not normally available on our courses.

• Week one: Creating hand-built forms using techniques such as coiling, slab building and press moulding which will be bisque fired.

• Week two: Developing work created in week one using masking techniques to create unique surface patterns during the smoke firing process.

Dan Stafford is an experienced ceramic artist who makes hand-built architectural ceramics pieces using earthenware, slips and glazes. Dan has worked in many educational contexts including a tutor and technician at Camden Arts Centre.

Eva Masterman
Thursday 11 & Thursday 18 August, 10.30am – 4.30pm

During this two day course participants will be encouraged to think outside the traditional means of making, to consider using clay as a sculptural medium. Combining practical making skills and critical discussion, this course arises from the current resurgence of clay as a central material in contemporary sculptural practice. Each student will be asked to react and expand upon another’s object. Final sculptures aim to be an expression of the whole group, emphasising ceramics as a fluid and cross-disciplinary material.

This course is suitable for those looking to work in an experimental and collaborative way with ceramics. No previous experience is necessary.

• Week one: Participants use clay to generate ideas and experiment with traditional techniques such as, hand-building, throwing on a potter’s wheel and sprig moulding.

• Week two: Participants use ideas and critical discussion to collaborate and expand on forms and methods discovered in week one.

Eva Masterman is currently studying a Masters in Ceramics at the Royal College of Art. Eva’s work is centred around ideas on site-responsivity and synthesis between process, material and concept.

Taking inspiration from our exhibitions, this fun four day course offers the chance to work with clay as a sculptural material, using hand-building processes and decorating techniques. Selected works will be fired for collection after the course and there will be an exhibition on the last day for parents and carers to attend.

Lydia Hardwick uses clay to create objects that sit between the fields of art and design. She has worked on a wide variety of educational workshops with children and young people. Lydia graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2013 and has exhibited both in the UK and internationally. Recent projects include design collaboration with Turner Prize winners Assemble.