Ways into abstract painting

Mario Lautier Vella is a cross-disciplinary, award-winning artist who began his art career at City Lit. After completing a number of short courses in drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and textiles, Mario went on to do the two-year City Lit Fine Art course before going back to university to gain his Masters degree. Mario regularly exhibits in the UK and abroad and his work can be found in private collections around the world. Mario has enjoyed teaching at City Lit since 2011. For more info go to mariolautiervella.com

Ruth has taught drawing, painting and mixed media for more than 30 years, at many levels including Further, Higher and Adult Education, all over the country, including Manchester, Birmingham and London. She studied Fine Art at Liverpool and Birmingham Universities and has exhibited diversely, including the Royal Academy in London. As an artist and educator she has an eclectic mix of skills and interests. Drawing is pivotal. Mixed media has become a central focus over the years and her practice has developed towards the interface between Fine Art and Textiles where elements of painting, relief and experimental textiles meet. Coming from a background of accomplished artists and educators’ she has spent many years developing values in educational practice and enabling students to access their own creative potential.

Eleanor develops precarious and fragile forms through drawing, painting and sculpture. The abstracted forms of the sculptures are heavily influenced by drawings of architecture, organic forms and landscape. The work questions the interconnection between personal identity and place. Eleanor spent her formative years in Japan before moving to London. She completed the Drawing Year at the Royal Drawing School in 2008 and the Turps Art School’s Studio Programme in 2018. She has been teaching since 2008. Website: www.elbedlow.co.uk Instagram: @eleanorbedlow

After receiving a BFA degree from Kansas State University, Rebecca moved to New York and studied at the New York Studio School. There, she studied with a vast assortment of New York artists, many with ties to the abstract expressionist movement. The Studio School selected her as an exchangee student to study at the Slade School of Art in London for one year. Returning to New York, she received her MFA from Parsons School of Design. She has been teaching in London for over 20 years and created numerous courses, based on specific exhibitions and the permanent collection, at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Since 2010 she has been teaching at City Lit with courses including Life Drawing, Life Painting, Painting 2, Ways into Abstract Painting and many Watercolour courses. She has a background in figurative work, which has included observation, memory, and a love for tone and colour. More recent work is rooted in observation, yet more abstract in appearance, focusing on process and largely done using watercolour.

Rolina E. Blok is an artist of Dutch/Romanian origin based in London. She is a multidisciplinary artist with a speciality in Contemporary Approaches to Printmaking. Blok’s practice expands into the digital realm as well as printmaking, sculpture, performance art and curating. Blok is part of the Visual Arts team at City Lit and is currently a Screenprint Fellow at the Royal Academy. I think that working with the other tutors we can inspire and help the students advance in their practice and explore the creative potential within combined digital and print media. I am an advocate for experimentation and would like to instigate conversations surrounding the relationship between the physical realm and the digital world. The method is the vessel for the message to be portrayed. From pixel to halftone and back again.

Amanda works with loose canvas, painting with line and stain before manipulating the picture into a low-relief form. Imagery is drawn from the natural world, architecture, costume and fairground. The work references visual taxonomies – orders of things: peculiar worlds, made more curious or multi-dimensional when removed from their context. Amanda studied at Falmouth School of Art, Institute of Arts Bournemouth, and Central St Martins (MA). She has a City & Guilds F&AE Teachers’ Certificate (1995) and has been teaching since, including outreach work for the Royal Watercolour Society, National Theatre, and Lewisham Education Action Zone. She has been teaching at City Lit since 2012, with a particular interest in Abstract Painting, Contemporary Painting, and Communication Drawing. She wrote, led and developed the City Lit Advanced Painting course from 2021–25, and presently coordinates the Drawing & Painting short-course programme. Amanda continues to teach Abstract Painting Weekend, Beginners Painting, and short modules in experimental Drawing.