Foundation diploma in art and design

Dr Pete Gomes is an award winning artist and filmmaker who makes transdisciplinary work with moving image, performance and media art. He currently teaches artist moving image, narrative, documentary, experimental film and performance at undergraduate and post graduate level in London. He leads the Moving Image pathway on City t Lit Art and Design Foundation. His doctoral research developed a new methodological model for ensemble improvisational filmmaking and alternative group film practices using improvisation. His research has been presented and exhibited internationally His current practice encompasses moving image and performance and all styles and forms of filmmaking. His most recent work is Directing for theatre and a forthcoming feature film. He runs improvisation workshops internationally. He has collaborated extensively including; Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Michael Nyman, Errollyn Wallen, Jocelyn Pook, Donnacha Dennehy, Scanner, Throbbing Gristle, John Wynne, Funki Porcini, Cornershop, Furtherfield and others.

Amy graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2010. She has worked and exhibited internationally, most recently including high profile shows and Art Fairs; Art Miami, British Art Fair, the London Art Fair and ‘Collect’ with Cynthia Corbett Gallery. Amy has been nominated for several major awards; in 2023 she was shortlisted for the Brookfield Properties Craft Award with the Crafts Council, in 2016 she was selected for the prestigious Perrier-Jouet Arts Salon Prize by Barney Hare Duke in. In 2015, she was chosen for the inaugural Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize for artists who show an ‘exceptional command of ceramics’ and in 2014 represented the UK in ‘New Talent’ at the European Ceramic Context. In 2015, Hughes became the first ‘Ceramics & Industry’ residency at the V & A Museum working in collaboration with 1882Ltd. The resulting piece ‘Tryst’ being acquired by the Museum and put into limited edition production. Her work is shown at several London galleries and is held in private collections. Amy specialises in hand building: from coiling to slab building, press moulding and sprigging with a passion for surface decoration.

Claire Hynds is an artist specialising in printmaking, her work combines drawing and photography with traditional and digital print techniques to create hand printed, limited edition prints and books. Claire studied Fine Art at the University of Wales and was awarded an AHRB to study MA Multidisciplinary Printmaking at the University of the West of England. She has been teaching printmaking and drawing since 2002 and specialises in traditional etching, photomechanical intaglio processes (photoetching and polymer), screenprinting, bookmaking and artist books. She is a member of East London Printmakers and the Printmakers Council, dividing her time between teaching and her studio practice. Claire has exhibited throughout the UK and internationally and has work in permanent collections at the V&A, the Printmakers Council Archive and the National Museum and Gallery of Wales. Claire’s research investigates the urban environment. Visiting examples of modern architecture and new towns she examines what remains of the utopian vision of post war Britain, developing work through drawing, photography and print that explores how these spaces are experienced today.

Lauren Ilsley is an artist who predominantly makes ceramic sculpture. She works from her studio in East London, which she set up after graduating from the Royal College of Art with a Master’s degree in Ceramics and Glass. Lauren specialises in combining industrial ceramic processes with hand-building, often modifying tools and techniques to build unique objects. She exhibits her work regularly and is a member of the artist collectives/research groups - Undertow and [ALLOY]. Lauren is committed to teaching alongside her creative practice to pass on her knowledge, skill and passion for ceramics and sculpture. She is currently a ceramics tutor at City Lit and the London Sculpture Workshop; at the latter she helped to design and set up the ceramics facility. http://www.laurenilsley.com

Rosie James is a Textile Artist living and working in Kent, UK. She has a BA Hons Textiles degree from Surrey Institute of Art and Design and an MA in Textiles from Goldsmith College London. Rosie started off with a small business making dyed and screen printed fabrics, scarves, ties, cushions etc, but once she discovered that she could use the sewing machine to draw with, she found herself doing less printing and more stitching. She began creating larger and more one off pieces and brought back her screen printing skills to mix up stitch and print in large-scale illustrative pieces. People and crowds became her focus and particularly specific groups in particular places, such as art galleries or tourist spots. She gets in amongst them with her camera and then translates these photos into drawings and then stitches them using an old Bernina and black thread. Rosie has exhibited her work all over the world and has large-scale pieces in hotels and museums in the UK and the USA. Rosie has published a book called “Stitch Draw” which illustrates and demonstrates her techniques.

Rod Judkins is an artist and writer. He gained an MA at the Royal College of Art and has had numerous one man exhibitions across the world. He has also exhibited at Tate Britain, The National Portrait Gallery and The Royal Academy. He lectures on the subject of creativity at universities and to businesses around the world. His first book, Change Your Mind: 57 Ways to Unlock Your Creative Self and his second book, The Art of Creative Thinking, were international best sellers, with sales in hundreds of thousands and have been translated into over fifteen languages. He has delivered creative thinking workshops and talks to some of the worlds top companies such as Apple, Google, Bombay Sapphire and Samsung and to Medical Science students at University College London in The Royal Free Hospital for the last few years.

Ute works in sculpture, drawing, photography and print. She exhibits in the UK and abroad, including shows in Janus Avivson- Paris, Gallery Unwahr- Berlin, The Watermans Art Centre, National Trust, The Round Chapel- London, St Pancras Chambers and studio1.1.london. She is interested in 'Art and Landscape' and has collaborated with other artists in this area. Residencies and public art include ‘SelfScapes’ in Dalby Forest, an artistic research project with catalyst funding from York St John University; Hurlingham and Chelsea School - ACAVA;Winton School- The Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust. Publications: Kate Wilson, Drawing and Painting Materials and Techniques, 2015; The E list,Winter.No 55. Work reviews include: Time Out by Martin Herbert; Catalogue Essay by Tom Mc Carthy. Ute worked as Trustee member of Shoreditch Town Hall Trust and as gallery curator, Tram Depot Gallery. Ute has over 10 years of experience teaching in Further and Adult Education, on the Art and Design Foundation Diploma; Developing Art Practice; EDAM and The City Lit interior design course, specialising in sculpture - 3D, drawing and colour. Qualifications: MAFA and PGCE

Lara is a printed textile designer, with a passion for colour, pattern and mark-making. She holds a degree in Fashion and Textile design from Brighton University, and a PgCert in teaching adults. Lara draws inspiration for her designs from landscapes, gardens and foliage. Her colourful and joyful hand-printed fabrics are lyrical and abstracted representations of this environment. She has sold work to major fashion brands, printed scarfs and hangings, and exhibited her intricately printed designs. Lara uses her eclectic repertoire of print, dye and design knowledge to research contemporary printing with natural dyes. These experimental prints inform and shape her current professional practice. Lara is a founding member of Ceres; an eco- conscious trio who collaborate on environmental and sustainable design projects. Lara enjoys sharing her creative ideas; and is short course tutor at University of the Arts London, West Dean College, and other education venues. At City Lit, she teaches a range of specialist courses that include; shibori and indigo, drawing for textile design, dye techniques, and natural dye printing.

Jera is a visual artist and creative educator who has worked in community and educational settings for the last 20 years. She has a BA, PGCE and MA in Fine Art. She has also worked in creative management roles including Head of Richmond Art School, Program Leader HND Fine Art, course leader and tutor on a range of Foundation Art and Design diplomas. Her art practice is mixed media based, working with found materials, collating and responding to images, enviroments and objects through assemblage, collage, installation and drawing and painting interventions. As part of her practice she develops projects and co-creates work with different communities for public art commissions. As a neurodiverse artist she is passionate about inclusive teaching practices and alternative drawing approaches.

Ian is a cultural theorist and creative practitioner, with 15 years experience of teaching & managing in the areas of contemporary art, critical, cultural and communication theory, and art history. Ian has taught at City Lit for over 10 years, and has previously been Programme Manager for the Foundation Diploma in Art & Design and Art History departments, and Head of School for the Humanities & Sciences. Ian's current interests include creative learning and transformative education; contemporary art and theory; and mental health in relation to education and the arts. Alongside his teaching and management work, Ian is an arts based life coach, creative practioner and poet, and is currently training in Arts Psychotherapy.

Heidi Wigmore BA MA PGCE is a visual artist whose diverse practice including public art projects, billboards, banners, film and participatory live art events is informed by drawing, particularly relating to dynamic performative female figures. The impulse of the work is to challenge, resist and critique societal perceptions of female experience through a hybrid visual language appropriating myriad historical, global and cultural references. She has been the recipient of a number of public arts funding awards for her projects including Arts Council England. She is artist workshop leader for English National Ballet where she has developed ‘live drawing’ events at The Coliseum, Sadlers Wells the Royal Albert Hall that explore the common language of drawing and dance. She has also led drawing events at Tate Liverpool, at the Turner Prize for Hull City of Culture and for the British Museum exhibition ‘Lines of Thought’.