WEA courses

This course will help you develop further watercolour techniques interrelated with drawing skills, and in connection with inspiring examples in art history. It will help you learn classical techniques in a subtle way, by relating them to examples by various masters of drawing and watercolour (such as Dürer, Turner or Cezanne) and contemporary artists (such as David Hockney or Anselm Kiefer). If you would like to have a fresh view of watercolour painting and drawing, and learn how to achieve expressivity by carefully combining techniques such as glazing, graded wash or cross-hatching, this course will offer you an overview and will inspire personal artworks of great subtlety and sensitivity It will also encourage you to create your own original artworks based on the techniques learned and it will bring a fresh perspective on known techniques and styles, if you have already practised them in your own paintings. You will need to bring your own materials, paints and paper along for this course. The tutor will let you know what to bring

Enhance your appreciation of art with our Art Appreciation course. Learn about key artists, movements, and techniques from different periods of art history. Ideal for art enthusiasts and anyone interested in learning more about art.

Essex museums are full of wonderful and sometimes surprising objects. This course takes a selection of objects looked after in museums all over the county and uses them as sources for learning about everyday life in Essex in the past. Covering a range of themes and times the course will also give you some ideas for places to visit in your own time.

Discover for the first time, or re-visit an old favourite, this course will introduce you to a wide range of artworks from the national collection of Tate Britain in London. We explore specific works by historical, modern and contemporary artists in relation to wider cultural and social contexts. The aim of the course is to develop confidence and visual literacy skills when looking at and discussing art in London’s galleries. On this course, we examine work by prominent artists as diverse as Anthony Van Dyck, Joan Carlile, William Blake, JMW Turner, the Pre-Raphaelites, Gwen John, Mona Hatoum and Mike Kelly.

On this nine week history course held in Lutterworth we will learn what art can teach us about the times in which they were created. We will look at key events in the history of the Netherlands from 1300-1600; the significant political events in France before the Revolution, and also Napoleon’s rise to power. No prior knowledge is expected, just an interest in history and culture – the course will be accompanied by images of artworks. Learners are invited to ask questions if they choose to. Topics of art will include the history of Antwerp - Charles V abdication; and the beginning of the Dutch Revolt and becoming a Protestant-dominated city; and Amsterdam; Louis XIV and the succession by Louis XV in 1715; and the reign of Louis XVI to 1789 when the French Revolution begins.

Discover selected paintings, sculptures, works on paper and new media works from the National Portrait Gallery in London. Marking the relaunch in summer 2023 of this national collection after a three-year refurbishment, this course offers an opportunity to discover new or less well-known artworks; and to re-visit familiar portraits that epitomise aspects of British history. We explore ideas around the function of portraiture; and the range of approaches and styles that artists have employed through history to express individual and national identity. Artists featured include Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, Joshua Reynolds, Angelica Kauffmann, Pauline Boty, Jann Haworth and Liberty Blake.

An exploration of the history of Vienna and Berlin in the 19th century. We will look at how they became capital cities; the revolution in 1848-49 and its effects; massive migration as a result of industrialisation; political events; cultural developments; and some of the personalities based in these cities during this period; including the ideas and activities of Freud, Strauss, Herzl, Hitler and Trotsky. We will examine the paradoxical nature of the monarchy in Vienna in presiding over progress in democracy and tolerance but remaining officially absolutist; and will consider how William II’s personality affected his political decisions both internally and in foreign policy.

Go behind the scenes of the Government Art Collection, a less well-known national art collection, with Chantal Condron, a former curator at the Collection. Discover the fascinating origins of its history, and the people and events that have shaped its past. Explore how and why artworks are acquired or commissioned and discover some of the locations where they have been displayed. We explore works across a range of media from paintings to film, by artists from the 16th to the 21st centuries, including Marcus Gheerhaerts the Younger, Thomas Phillips, Bridget Riley, Michael Armitage and recent Turner Prize winner, Jesse Darling.

The Sistine Chapel is indeed a jewel box of great painting. With works by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Michelangelo, some of the greatest works of the Italian Renaissance are to be found there. But this is more than just a collection of great works. It is also the pope’s private chapel and so these works were created not just for display but to relay a greater message to the world, But how many of the thousands of visitors really understand that message or what these works are about? In this study day we shall seek to decode the 'messages' contained in these great works and see what Sixtus IV and Julius II and their artists were really saying to us.

In the 19th century, the population of Vienna grew from about 300,000 people to more than 2 million and it became the sixth largest city in the world, capital of an empire of 53 million and a centre for the arts, scientific ideas, and political theorising. We will see how Vienna became a capital city and how its importance was solidified by the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15. We will also look at the revolution in 1848-49 and its effects, the development of the Ringstrasse, and the massive migration to the city as a result of large scale industrialisation.