WEA courses

From the Blue Rider to the Bridge to Dada, the emergence of modernism in the early 20th century saw a flourishing of artist groups who challenged what art is and how it should be made and seen. In this course, we’ll look at some of the key collectives, leading artists who were part of them and their artistic innovations, including among others Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Ernst Kirchner, Kurt Schwitters and Marcel Duchamps.

The portrait has flourished as an art form from the ancient world to the present day and this innovative course will explore its continuing popularity. We shall study not only the painted face and figure but a variety of formats and formulae, from statuary to pendant medals and miniatures, and study artists as diverse as Holbein, Titian, Gainsborough, Singer Sargent and Francis Bacon. We include a reflection on the place of the photograph in this history of portraiture.

Settled by the Greeks in the 7th century BC, the city which is now called Istanbul, became Emperor Constantine’s ‘New Rome’ in AD 330 and it was named Constantinople. In 1453 the city was overrun by Mehmed II and it became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The study day explores the rich architectural and artistic legacy left by both Byzantine and Ottoman rulers in a city which was shaped by being for centuries the meeting point of Europe and Asia.

The story of my journey into collecting old postcards, vintage photographs, and interesting artefacts/ephemera, and the motivation behind establishing a virtual museum, with the generous assistance from others. Throughout, numerous images depicting each stage of my collecting will be displayed, categorised by subject matter. Predominantly featured will be vintage photographs depicting scenes and people from northern Lincolnshire, particularly Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Additionally, there will be recent photographs showcasing intriguing collectibles mainly associated with this region. Lastly, I will outline my future thoughts and plans for this venture.

American art historian Linda Nochlin in 1971 posed the question as to “Why have there been no great women artists?”. Women artists have been overlooked, undermined, and forgotten over the centuries. This course will write them back into art history by focusing on the most committed and accomplished women artists from the 17th Century to the 21st Century covering women painters, sculptors, installation artists, and performance artists.

Welcome to our spook-tacular Halloween Wreath-Making Workshop! Dive into the enchanting world of Halloween crafting, where we combine creativity with the thrill of the spooky season. On this one-day workshop, you will discover how Halloween has evolved to be as exciting as Christmas, with its own unique flair and festivities. Join us for a bewitching good time and take home a piece of Halloween magic! Why not ask a friend or family member to sign up today and learn something different together? Make this Halloween as memorable and magical with your very own handcrafted wreath with your unique touch of creativity.

In this course we will read a specified book each month and come together to share our reactions to the writing. We will examine amongst other features the plots, the characters, the context and the over all message intended by the authors. The books chosen for the course will offer a range of genres and styles. Students will be required to purchase one book on the reading list, the others will be provided free of charge by Arnold Library. All views are valid in this course and you will not need to have any prior experience of discussing writing.

A Medieval Recipe: Take 600 Norfolk Parish Churches, mix in a handful of 16th century Churchwardens’ Accounts and just add water! Through a triptych of subjects, we’ll whet your appetite with a three-course menu which, for starters, reveals the origins and development of Norfolk’s iconic architectural masterpieces - its ancient parish churches - investigating their oft-times pagan roots through to the Christianity of the late medieval period. Churchwardens were key players in implementing and recording the changes which affected these churches as they grew in size and complexity, particularly in the devastating years surrounding the Reformation and their accounts provide fascinating details of those changes. This Day School bill of fare finishes with an esoteric analysis of the importance of the Water of Life in medieval monasteries both in its symbolic, ritual use and its practical life-supporting function. This is no dry subject!

This day school looks at a thousand years of Irish history through ten important historical documents. Through close study of the sources, we will attempt to shed light on the momentous events, personalities and trends in this most fascinating story. We will start in the twelfth century and from there move forward until we reach the twentieth century. Throughout we will not only consider the sources themselves and the history they reveal but also consider issues of reliability, provenance and authenticity. By the end of the school, we should have deepened our knowledge and understanding of Irish history and our ability to interrogate historical records

On this two session course, we will look into the background to the Gunpowder Plot and what the plotters hoped to achieve. Some disaffected Catholics felt it necessary to attempt to assassinate King James I because of the continuing religious conflict in England. In the two sessions of this course we will focus on Guy Fawkes and how he came to have the responsibility for carrying out the operation to blow up the parliament chamber, as well as the involvement of some of the other people behind the plot, including Robert Catesby, generally regarded as the main instigator. We will also consider some of the consequences of the plot's failure and the deaths of most of the conspirators, and why some aspects of the story remain unexplained.