Arts and Crafts


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Arts




Welcome to the new stimulating programme of quality Art Courses available at ACRES for 2010/11. Our varied and inspirational programme is designed for students of all abilities, developed to provide a relaxing environment so you can really discover the joy of the creative process. Many of our tutors are practising artists and therefore are able to bring that depth of experience and knowledge to their teaching.

Courses this year vary in length from single day weekend workshops to 12 week courses. It is planned to offer continuation courses in both the spring and summer terms, subject to student demand, for some courses running for 6, 10, 12, or 15
weeks. Please see the course key as to whether your course is new (N) or continuing (C) through to the spring and summer terms.

In the brochure we state what level the course is aimed at, e.g. all abilities, beginners or improvers. We run courses for all abilities where our tutors can vary the projects to suit the level of experience. If you need further information on what
course would suit you please contact us on 01825 761820 or visit our website www.acreslearning.org.uk for a course information sheet which provides useful details and clarification for each course.

Courses in the arts on offer this year
Life Drawing
Art workshops
Draw and Paint
Mixed Media Workshops
Printmaking
Wood Sculpture
Sculpture
Art History

Life Drawing - These courses are designed to be intensive but highly creative 1 or 2 day experience. Students will work through a variety of timed poses from very quick to longer studies, where you will be encouraged to experiment with expressive mark making, colour and form while tackling the fundamentals of composition, proportion, and sight measurement.

Art Workshop - Art Workshops this year are offered in levels. Beginners will in the first term work through a structured but flexible programme which will take you through the basics of image making with a variety of mediums. You will learn about the importance of line, mark, tone, form and colour while working on creative projects. The second and third terms will focus on consolidating the skills learnt in the first term through extended projects. Improvers will be encouraged to experiment further still with a greater focus on personalised projects and using their works books for research, ideas and playing with mediums and techniques.




Draw and Paint - all abilities Our Draw and Paint courses are designed for all abilities where the tutors will be able to work with each individual according to their experience. Students will experiment and explore mark making, tone, line and form while working on still lives and landscapes and more. There will also be an emphasis on mixing colour and applying paint while looking at artists and art movements to enhance and inspire the work.

Mixed Media Workshops On these new workshops students will create exciting set projects, with plenty of scope for personal creative input. You will experiment with a wide variety of mediums, such as ink, pens pencils, paint, handmade papers and paints, collage, found objects image and text, and have the opportunity to create a book with your discoveries later in the course.

Printmaking This course introduces the student to a range of printmaking techniques to produce your own unique hand finished or edition prints on paper. You will learn the process of lino printing, monotyping, relief and block printing. This year we offer an improver’s course for those students who have experience of printmaking either at ACRES or another establishment and would like to extend their printmaking skills further with increased emphasis on personalised projects.



Wood Sculpture This course enables each student to learn to carve in wood and explore its natural sculptural qualities. Each student will learn the skills and techniques needed in order to carve and create their unique sculpture. Those with carving or sculptural experience will be extended with more complex works. All students will get a chance to show their work at the end of the course in a group exhibition.

Sculpture This course provides a 10 week introduction to sculpture using a variety of materials to create your own 3 dimensional forms. You will be using materials such as clay, plaster , cardboard and wire construction. This is a hands on course which will enable you to experience how you move from a partly formed idea or design on paper to a sculptural fine art form.




Art History




Edwardians - Whistler and his legacy This course explores the extrovert self publicist and ground breaking artist Whistler, who had a major impact on British Art from the 1870s until the turn of the century and, some would say, beyond. You will explore the influence he had on his contemporaries, who either loathed or respected him: the latter included John Lavery, some of the Glasgow Boys, and younger artists like James McBey, William Orpen, George Clausen and Augustus John.

Landscape in Britain 1920 to 1960 This series of sessions looks at the period of British Art that spans two World Wars and goes far beyond, an epoch packed with many different strands of interest and material. The course will focus on the emergent reputations of the era, including Paul Nash, Ivon Hitchens, Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, David Jones, John Piper and, post-war, Peter Lanyon. A galaxy of talent!


Crafts


This year’s programme at ACRES offers a broad brush of creative possibilities. In all our craft courses students learn hands on practical skills from specialist tutors, which will enable you to produce an object – whether it be jewellery in fused glass or silver , stained glass mirror frame, an upholstered stool, a cabinet, an embroidered sample, or a willow sculpture for them garden. Our tutors are practising crafts people and bring this depth of experience and knowledge to their teaching.

Courses this year vary in length from single day weekend workshops to 15 week courses. It is planned to offer continuation courses in both the spring and summer terms, subject to student demand, for some courses running at 10, 12 or 15 weeks. Please see the course key as to whether your course is new (N) or continuing (C) through to the spring and summer terms.

In the brochure we state what level the course is aimed at, e.g. all abilities, beginners or improvers. We run courses for all abilities where our tutors can vary the projects to suit the level of experience. If you need further information on what course would suit you then please contact us on 01825 761820 or visit our website www.acreslearning.org.uk for a course information sheet which provides useful details and clarification for each course.

Craft courses on offer this year
Stained Glass
Stained Glass Copper Foiling
Kiln Fused Glass Jewellery
Jewellery Making
Beaded Jewellery
Machine Embroidery
Patchwork and Quilting
Wood and Willow Sculpture
Willow Sculpture for the Garden
Woodwork Workshops
Soft Furnishing and Upholstery Workshops
Pottery
Floristry
Embroidery Workshop

Contemporary Stained Glass Two day Saturday courses will enable you to produce a stained glass panel or mirror frame using traditional leading techniques from a beautiful selection of coloured glass. For those with experience of stained glass the tutor will support and guide you with a design of your choice.

Stained Glass Copper Foiling On this one day workshop students will learn the copper foiling technique famously developed by Tiffany. You will be able to choose from a selection of projects provided by the tutor . Some experience of glass cutting would be helpful, however there is time provided in the day to refresh your glass cutting skills before you begin your project.



Kiln Fused Glass Jewellery Due to a growing popularity for this subject ACRES has provided several courses at varying lengths, times and locations. Students will be taught how to cut and assemble glass pieces that then can be fused in a kiln to create distinctive highly coloured pendants, earrings, brooches, cufflinks and rings.

Jewellery Making This is a popular course at ACRES which runs throughout the year in two 15 week blocks. This year we have created two levels, beginners and improvers. In the beginners course during the first 15 weeks students will learn the skills and techniques to make silver jewellery. In the following 15 weeks students will consolidate the techniques learnt and pursue negotiated personalised projects with tutor guidance. In the improvers course there will be more emphasis on individual projects and extending skills with more complex pieces of jewellery. The tutor will encourage the use of workbooks on both courses for ideas, research and experimentation to help you achieve good quality designed jewellery.

Beaded Jewellery This is an intensive but creative one day workshop where students will work with a variety of good quality glass beads. Students will make a chained linked necklace or a bracelet and earrings depending on experience.

Machine Embroidery This course introduces students to the world of machine embroidery where the cotton threads and the sewing machine work together to create unique and individual embroidered items. This course is designed to cater for students with experience and those who are new to this craft.



Patchwork and Quilding On the beginners course you will cover a wide range of hand sewing techniques which will lead to the completion of a sample lap or bed quilt. On the improver course you will learn a wide range of techniques on a sewing machine in order to complete your log cabin quilt.

Wood and Willow Sculpture Workshops These are new one or two day courses for ACRES where students will learn the techniques and skills to create individualised wood and willow sculptures for an interior or an outside space, with plenty of support and guidance from our specialist tutor.

Woodwork Workshops ACRES continues to run these popular courses in a specialist technical room at Uplands Community College. Our experienced tutor is able to teach both beginners and the more advanced student the necessary carpentry skills to complete a project from an idea on paper into a functional piece of furniture or object.

Soft Furnishing and Upholstery Workshops Due to strong demand ACRES runs a number of these courses at different times and locations around East Sussex. Our tutor will enable each student to transform their furniture using both modern and traditional methods. On some Upholstery courses the tutor also provides a Soft Furnishing course where students are taught how to make curtains, blinds, lampshades and cushion covers. The tutor also teaches the skills and techniques to create cane and rush seating.

Pottery Beginners to ceramics will learn the basic skills to create pinch pots, coil and slab mould construction with decorative techniques and glazes. The college provides a specialist studio with a kiln and 3 potter’s wheels. Improvers will be guided by the tutor to embark on more extended longer projects with a greater emphasis on workbooks for design and research.



Floristry All floristry courses will allow students to learn about the care and conditioning of flowers and foliage, basics of colour, form and texture and balance, as well as floristry techniques and mechanics.