WEA courses

Do you want to learn the basics of watercolours? Have you tried before and given up in frustration? Why not join this course for support and encouragement? Watercolour, simply put, is water mixed with pigment which is then applied to paper. But painting with watercolours is something entirely different. It can be complex, confusing, and fun at the same time. While not a medium to be controlled or manipulated, part of the very beauty of working with watercolours is learning to let go! Come and join us to find out more.

Welcome to our comprehensive course on Drawing and Painting Portraits at Springbourne Library, where creativity meets skill development in a nurturing environment. This course is tailored for adults with some art skills and aims to unlock the artist within and provide a rewarding and enjoyable experience for all participants. This engaging course delves into the captivating world of portraiture. We will explore the fundamentals of drawing and painting portraits, offering a step-by-step journey from the initial sketch to the final brushstroke. Whether you're a beginner or looking to refine your skills, our program is designed to cater to all levels of experience.

Begin to develop your own artwork in this beginner friendly art class, by learning how to create portraits, by using a wide range of materials. It doesn't matter if you have never picked up a drawing pencil. This course is designed to build your confidence and skills in the art of drawing and painting portraits. All you need to bring is your favourite materials to the wonderful Springbourne Library and start expressing your inner artist. The sessions are run y experienced tutors, and they offer and safe and friendly space to be creative and develop your artistic skills and talents.

An introduction to practical drawing and watercolour covering landscape and natural forms, changing through the seasons. Working with a variety of drawing materials and watercolours, we will look at artists who work with a range of techniques and create art inspired by or in the style of an artist or a particular art movement. This course is taught online. You will need to get your own art materials for this course and participate in the sessions by creating practical artwork, upload your artwork and discuss with other learners. A list of art materials needed will be on your Canvas course. This is a 10 Session course.

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.

Join us to unleash your creativity and develop your creative skills. This day workshop will give you the opportunity to explore creative themes and ideas to inspire inventive response using a range of mediums to suit the project and your preference . Join us to immerse yourself in a day of creativity and be inspired. Learners will be encouraged to develop and share ideas within the session. Whatever your creative level or direction this workshop is designed to inspire and guide you to develop your creative confidence. Discover how the enjoyment of creative art can be creatively enjoyable and beneficial for well-being.

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.

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.

This course views painting produced in the twentieth century. The course will include developments of figurative and abstract painting. There will be views of artists already prominent in the early twentieth century and artists who set out after 1945 from a wide range of attentions. From those born in the nineteenth century to those born in the 1960s. The course will attend to direct visual experience of reproduction of the works involved linked to elements of comprehension and understanding through a considerable range of exciting encounters and engagements. There are no requirements from students prior the beginning of the course. Students would benefit from access to online sources during the course. Papers and images will be made available to students through the WEA Canvas site. You will need to have access to the internet to access the papers for this course. The course uses a secure digital learning portal for all the classes and for communications with the tutor and access to learning materials.