Art & Design Courses - Online & in London  

Exploring the pleasure and challenge of sketchbooks; learn and improve your drawing skills and 'ways of seeing' and understanding, working from an exciting range of artworks in Tate modern.

Do you have boxes of old prints, negatives or transparencies gathering dust that you'd love to have digitised? Learn how to get your archive onto your computer using different methods from flatbed and film scanners to a digital camera.

Learn about the structure and function of narrative, and find out how it relates to your creative practice. In this workshop we will consider film, animation, moving image or other time-based practices, primarily, in which there is a clear and accessible connection to the unfolding of meaning over a linear (or non-linear) sequence, but we may also discuss examples across potentially any creative discipline, and other forms of expression. We will look at principles of narrative and narrative structures in film, the ‘conventions’ of storytelling across a range of examples, and how these have been used or subverted within the form. Storytelling is fundamental to human civilisation: across all cultures, narrative plays a central role in our understanding of our place in the world, and addressing profound questions about our existence. Children learn through stories; cultures cohere through shared narratives. We will consider the role of narrative as a fundamentally important pillar in underpinning societies, belief systems, and values, and why an awareness of these relationships is increasingly important in these ‘unprecedented’ times.

An introduction to drawing and mindfulness and how when practised together they can support greater confidence and creativity in drawing. Through a variety of guided exercises, explore how the two disciplines relate and how each can enrich the other. This course is suitable for beginners to drawing and/or mindfulness.

The archive is an invaluable resource for artists and designers, without some version of which it is virtually impossible to engage in practice in any systematic way. Whether it takes the form of sketchbooks, photographs, found items and clippings, internet bookmarks, or any combination of these and other items, the archive is a tool for organising, examining and reflecting. In this professional practice module, we will look at how to create and access physical and online archives, and how to use them in both research and practice, creating and organising personal archives. Many artists use the archive as a form of art practice: we will examine this, and how it differs from other forms of archiving. We will look at multiple approaches to storing information, organising it for accessibility, and working with the tools and perspectives of the archivist or curator, as appropriate to one’s individual practice.

An introduction to some of the main ways of thinking about photography, based on cultural theory, politics, philosophy and semiotics.

Join us for a sketchbook walk around Central London to observe, record and engage with the busyness of urban life. Using mindfulness techniques combined with drawing we will be examining our experience and opening up to the magic and surprises that the city has to offer.

Recent advances in technology and communications provide creative practitioners and communities with opportunities that, in historical terms, are unique. We have never before had the capacity to react to events and engage with issues that, in some cases for the very same reasons, can no longer be confined, in terms of their impact, to the location in which they occur. Consider, for instance, climate change, Coronavirus, the BLM movement and the global reaction to inequality and injustice. Artists and designers have at their disposal, through these same resources, and the full range of traditional media, the capacity to respond to these developments, and to effect change. With this, inevitably, comes the imperative of social responsibility. This workshop looks at how creative individuals engage with notions of collaborative practice (both via online/distributed models and through physical media/interactions) in the production or propagation of ideas, movements, memes or artefacts, including with those one has possibly never met, and perhaps does not even know. Besides collaboration in making, we consider the potential of social/viral media as a disruptor or organisational tool, (for example in events, happenings, flash-mobs, and organised protests or movements such as Anonymous, Occupy, XR, BLM and others).

Widllife in the city is an exciting opportunity to work off-site and enjoy various surroundings focusing on flora and fauna. Travel to some of some of London’s finest open spaces whilst learning the photography skills required in focusing on details, landscape and capturing natures beauty. Ideal for beginners, those who want to broaden their photography skills and those wishing to continue building their photography portfolio.

In this fun, 1-day workshop you will be taught how to print onto t-shirts, tote bags and other fabrics. Students will learn basic screenprinting techniques, including how to put your own designs onto screens, correct inks and printing methods and how to clean and prepare screens.

Does every creative act have meaning? Is there a statement – conscious or unconscious – inherent in everything we do as artists? Should we interpret or analyse what we see, what we do, what we’ve done? In this one-day workshop, we will examine a range of specific works, considering the question of whether and how meaning has been embedded (intentionally or otherwise) and can be identified and interpreted. This will, to some degree, touch on how individuals and societies make and ascribe meaning, perhaps as an attempt to process and come to terms with, for example, otherwise seemingly arbitrary events like a natural catastrophe or suffering. We will discuss and workshop these themes in the larger group, draw on examples presented, and the experiences of the members in the group. Other questions that may be considered include: discerning meaning as an attempt to find order in chaos, and whether or what we might lose by attempting to impose meaning, by attempting to explain within the confines of critical analysis, that which may, in fact, be critical to the character or intention of a work of art.

As artists and designers, we generally tend to observe a number of fundamental 'rules' when working with digital media for print-based or other forms of 2D output. These relate to steps or settings for proceses such as scanning, saving, resolution, image or data format, colour modes, compression... To a certain extent, much of this is received knowledge, and we don't necessarily know why we follow these rules. Knowing what they are based on, and why, is, however, fundamental to technical proficiency, and expertise, and knowing what these principles are based on allows us not only to produce work to professional standard, but also to exploit them to their full creative potential. This workshop will be of value to any visual artist who uses digital technology in their creative practice, from painters and printmakers to photographers and graphic designers. Coverage includes: principles and concepts underpinning digital imaging for print/static delivery: pixel/vector; resolution, scalability, application; acquisition, modes, formats and real-world constraints; file sizes/compression/data integrity; relation to physical output (size, resolution, process).