Event type: Workshop

Sketching In The Park

Get creative, explore and record the beautiful Japanese and old English gardens hidden in Calderstones Park.

This sketching course is a mixed ability class suitable for practising artists who want to experience drawing in this unique location or beginners looking to learn useful skills to help record and celebrate the world around them.

Programme

As a group, you will visit various parts of the park and choose different features to sketch, with demonstration and individual assistance from your tutor

You will look at constructing landscapes; close-up observational drawings of natural forms such as trees, leaves and flowers; architectural features and how to deal with effects of light sources/dappling/shadows

With your tutor you will discuss different approaches to your drawing, referencing a range of artists to provide context and pointers on how to deal with challenges

You will do quick sketches capturing the essence of a subject as well as longer drawings focussing on detail

Using coloured pencils to achieve colour variation and foundations for turning your sketches into paintings
Group critique and feedback sessions

Tutor: Madeleine Pires

Dates: Saturdays 28 May,4 June and 11 June,11am- 4pm

Cost: £125 for 3 day course

To avoid a booking fee and pay by card, cheque or cash, please contact dot-art Services directly on 0345 017 6660

Materials: You will need to bring a set of drawing pencils, set of coloured pencils, erasers and an A4 or A3 sketchbook.

Don’t Fear Shakespeare: Julius C...

Think Shakespeare is long, boring and complicated? Think again! This workshop will help you sort your soliloquys from your silly sayings in no time.

The friendly team will tell you everything you need to know ahead of Globe on Tour’s performance of Julius Caesar this June, leaving you to sit back and enjoy the show happy in the knowledge that you won’t miss a single pun or plot twist.

No experience of Shakespeare necessary.

‘Things done well,
and with care, exempt themselves from fear’
– from Henry VIII, William Shakespeare

Collage Art Journalling

Creating a visual diary combining elements of collage, writing, drawing, ’zen’ doodling as a means of personal self expression.

Design and create your own characterful headdresses inspired by stories, films and myths using environmentally friendly materials.

Programme

This 10 week course will focus on students creating a visual diary combining elements of collage, writing, drawing, ’zen’ doodling as a means of personal self expression and a space for experimentation; exploring themes from everyday life, as well as bigger hopes, dreams, and fears.

Fun and relaxing, collage is a wonderfully creative outlet, particularly for people who want to make art but don’t feel they have the skills or confidence for other endeavours. There are no rules! You can’t get it wrong and collaging, art journals are an easy way to help you connect with the creative self within.

The purpose of art journaling is not to make every page a masterpiece but to go with the flow, encourage playfulness and to enjoy experimenting with creativity in a personal, safe environment with the support of the tutor.

This self-directed process allows a freedom of expression that will build confidence and empower thinking.

Each week will begin with a quick 10 minute warm up collage exercise and then participants will create an image in response to a prompt or theme.

Prompts & Themes could include:-

Creating a Mandala, zentangle
A favourite quote
A favourite poem
Your Hand
What’s in my head
Faces
Gratitude
Black Out Poetry
Nature
A favourite memory
Dreams
Creating a Surreal collage/ humour
A favourite song
Free writing & imagery

On completion participants will have started a beautiful personal journal and will have gained the skills to carry on with this expressive, mindful art form.

Date

Tuesday afternoons, 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Starting 3rd May

10th, 17th, 24th,13th June

7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, 5th July

Cost

£160 for 10 Week Course

To avoid a booking fee and pay by card, cheque or cash, please contact dot-art Services directly on 0345 017 6660

Materials

All materials are provided.

You may want to bring additional materials to collage such as pictures, notes, magazines and other scrap papers to personalise your Journal.

Still Life Painting

This 10 week course will give you the essential techniques used to create beautiful still life compositions in oil paint.

This course is suitable for beginners, or for more experienced artists looking to polish up their skills.

Programme:

Introduction
Light and shade
Working with colour
Perspective
Composition
Fabric
Glass and reflections
Organic forms
Flowers
Innovation and abstraction
Dates

Monday evenings 6-8pm

2nd, 19th, 16th, 23rd and 30th May

6th, 13th, 20th and 27th June

4th July

Cost

£160 for the 10 week course (full course must be booked in advance)

It is possible to split this cost into two payments of £80, please call 0345 017 6660 for more details.

To avoid a booking fee or pay via cheque or cash, please contact dot-art Services directly on the number above.

Materials

The essential materials will include:

pencils and paper for exercises

oil paint paper, palette, brushes, paints, cleaning rags, turps

(suggested range in order of importance: titanium white, ivory black, burnt umber, ultramarine, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, cerulean).

Don’t Fear Shakespeare: Julius C...

Think Shakespeare is long, boring and complicated? Think again!

This workshop will help you sort your soliloquys from your silly sayings in no time. The friendly team will tell you everything you need to know ahead of Globe on Tour’s performance of Julius Caesar this June, leaving you to sit back and enjoy the show happy in the knowledge that you won’t miss a single pun or plot twist.

No experience of Shakespeare necessary.

This is an online Shared Reading Workshop, which will take place over Zoom.

‘Things done well,
and with care, exempt themselves from fear’
– from Henry VIII by William Shakespeare

Landscape Painting

This course will provide an opportunity to explore landscape in paint.

Through a series of quick experimental pieces and more finished works, this landscape painting course will walk you through the process of developing your own unique visual response to the landscape.

Suitable for complete beginners who are new to oil painting as well as those with more experience looking to develop their skills.

Programme:

The course will cover a range of things including gathering your own reference material, testing out ideas and ultimately walking away at the end of the 3 weeks with a painting you would be happy to hang on your wall. Although centred around oil painting, the course will involve a variety of media, including charcoal and acrylic paint.

Please bring a collection of printed out reference photos, some colour and some monochromatic.

How to create a strong and balanced composition – learning the importance of tonal arrangement in creating a balanced composition

Linear perspective, eye lines i.e how the eye travels across the piece

Tri-tone charcoal drawings and black and white acrylic painting

Japanese inspired Notan drawings (black &white)

Using acrylic paint, simplifying a landscape into masses of colour – no detail

Colour wheel – science of colour and the interaction of colour – Josef Albers

Colour mixing – how to create or match any colour

Creating colour swatches/samples

Sketching in the landscape

Photos

Premixing colours – arranging your palette

Begin a landscape painting from photo references and sketches in the landscape – focusing on basic shapes and colours, no detail

Wet on wet techniques

Dates: Sundays 11:00-4:00pm, 1, 8 and 15 May

Cost: £125 for 3 Sundays. To avoid a booking fee or pay via cheque or cash, please contact dot-art Services directly on 0345 017 6660

Materials: The full material list for this course can be found here.

Shared Reading Against Racism – At H...

Shared Reading is for everyone – whether you love books or have never read before.

In this online interactive taster session, they’ll explore great literature by writers of colour and share meaningful conversations about racism. There’s no pressure for anyone to read out loud, you can simply sit back and listen.

Over the past year, staff at The Reader have been involved in a project called “Just Us” where black literature is read together as a way to spark thoughts, feelings and a different conversation about racism, as the start of a long term commitment to contribute through our work to a world that is free of racism. Olu Alake, a Trustee of The Reader will join the session to share his perspective on this work.

This session runs from 6.30pm – 8.00pm and will take place on Zoom. To make this event as accessible as possible, tickets are pay what you feel. If you do book a ticket and can no longer make it, please let them know so they can release the space for someone else to enjoy.

If you have any access requirements or if you need any more information you can get in touch by emailing tickets@thereader.org.uk.

Ways To Grieve

In this friendly and relaxed exploration, they’ll open up the conversation about grief – in all its forms – by delving into literature’s rich tradition of writing about loss.

The team at The Reader invite you to share in this supportive and relaxed session where the subjects of grief and loss aren’t taboo.

The grief that follows loss is one of the more challenging problems of life. We naturally grieve for the loss of a person or a pet we have loved, but are there other more hidden forms of grief – the loss of an idea about the future or the past, for example, or the sense of ourselves as we change. What can grief give us, if anything? How can we best negotiate our way through it?

All are welcome. Join via Zoom from the comfort of your own surroundings. You choose whether you want to read, talk or just listen along.

…any sensible person knows grief is a long-term project. I refuse to rush. The pain that is thrust upon us let no man slow or speed or fix.’  – from Grief is the thing with Feathers by Max Porter.

Shared Reading Against Racism

Shared Reading is for everyone – whether you love books or have never read before.

In this interactive taster session they’ll explore great literature by writers of colour and share meaningful conversations about racism. There’s no pressure for anyone to read out loud, you can simply sit back and listen.

Over the past year, staff at The Reader have been involved in a project called “Just Us” where black literature is read together as a way to spark thoughts, feelings and a different conversation about racism, as the start of a long term commitment to contribute through our work to a world that is free of racism.

Join them at the Mansion House in Calderstones Park for either a morning or afternoon Shared Reading taster session as well as lunch and further discussion about their work to explore racism through reading literature together.

To make this event as accessible as possible, tickets are ‘pay what you feel’ which means you can choose to pay as little or as much as you’d like. If you do book a ticket and can no longer make it, please let them know so they can release the space for someone else to enjoy.

If you have any access or dietary requirements or if you need any more information you can get in touch by emailing tickets@thereader.org.uk.

10.30am – 12noon – Shared Reading

12noon – 1pm – Free lunch provided

1pm – 2pm – Drop in session to discuss our work around reading and racism with founder and director of The Reader, Jane Davis, and director of impact, Geetha Rabindrakumar.

2pm – 3.30pm – Shared Reading

Screen Print on Fabric Workshop

During this one-day course you will learn the processes of Screen Printing and how to apply this technique to fabric.

At the end of this workshop you will leave with two of your very own printed tote bags for you to wear at your leisure (and make your friends jealous).

Workshop is lead by printmaker and artist Kate Hodgson.

No experience necessary. They will provide tote bags for the workshop so you do not need to bring your own fabric with you. Please be aware that this workshop is for printing onto tote bags only and that they will not be able to fulfil any requests to print onto other items.