Last week we held our Falmouth School of Art Summer Intensives 2017. Three strands took place this year; abstract painting, figure painting and observational drawing.
We had another really successful year packed full of fantastic work by a great group of practitioners. We really enjoyed hosting this again and please do take a look at the wide range of work produced in the gallery below.
Falmouth School of Art is currently accepting applications for its summer Intensives – 5-day studio-based courses for artists and art educators. We’re always bowled over by feedback from participants at the end of their week with us, but we have just caught up with some of 2016’s participants to ask them to reflect on their experience nine months on…
Burgundys in project space – Gwenyth Fugard
Abstract Painting participant Gwenyth Fugard highlighted the benefit she had felt of being among a group of artists for the week, having worked alone for three years since graduating in Fine Art from Central St. Martins. She also experienced a development in her way of working, as a result of the environment and structure of the course: ‘Though my own practice does not respond to abstracting from life, I found the projects set were hugely beneficial. I was taken away from my usual methodologies and the studio spaces provided were fantastic [and] enabled new approaches and ideas to develop quite quickly’. After finishing the Intensive last summer, Gwyneth successfully applied for a place on an MA at City & Guilds London Arts School.
Oversized Raincoat, by Karina Barrett
Wales-based artist Karina Barrett, who took the Figure Painting course, similarly valued the experience of community that shaped the Intensive week: “I enjoyed working in a studio with other artists – something I have not done since graduating” Within that context, she recalls, ‘I found the tuition to be of the highest standard and incredibly informative. As a professional, working, painter, I gained a lot from the advice given to me by both Jesse [Leroy Smith] and Ashley [Hold]’. Figure Painting participants also commented that the opportunity to work from a model for whole week was something that they couldn’t easily replicate as part of their day to day routine.
Amanda Jackson chose the Abstract Painting Intensive in order to develop her mostly figurative practice in a more abstract direction, and the course made such an impression that she will be joining us again this year. She observes, ‘The course gave me many ideas and processes, through tuition, critique and lectures, to set this development in motion’. In addition to this, she too cites working alongside other artists as an important benefit to her: “…the great experience of spending a week with other artists, to explore my own ideas but have others’ input and critique and discuss work and network with artists, some of whom I am [still] in contact with via social media’.
Amanda has continued with her practice, and has found the influence of the Intensive staying with her in her work, “Almost a year on, I have continued the work started in Falmouth, enjoying pushing my work ever further into abstraction. I have found that since the course, my work is much looser; I spend more time developing the work through direct painting – that is, exploring ideas on the canvas and seeing where it might lead – rather than planning and replicating.
Her week at Falmouth has resonated in her subsequent studio practice, as well as in the work she has produced since last summer: ‘I am more focused on my work, spending longer in the studio, so the course has given me discipline as well as inspiration…The back drop of the garden and grounds at Falmouth, which was used as a starting point for abstract paintings on the course, has led to a body of work that will be shown this summer as part of Leigh Art Trail’s 20th Anniversary show’.
For many, the Intensives have provided the opportunity to work differently than they would in their own home or studio environment, with learning and experiences that have lingered and resonated in their continued studio practice. For London-based Val Coumant, ‘[it] was exactly what it said on the label – intensive. I haven’t worked so hard since my Psychotherapy training in the 1980’s. Or with such absorption and excitement’. But for Val, ‘the greatest insight was how the pieces I liked best were fortuitous rather than planned. It was like the Zen story about learning to paint bamboo: you go and live in a bamboo grove, and watch the bamboo in spring, summer, autumn and winter; in the morning, at noon, in the evening and in the moonlight; in mist, rain snow and sunlight, year after year. And then you go away and forget about bamboo. That’s when the painting starts’.
2016 Intensives participants relax in the walled garden with a cream tea.
The lasting impact of the week of focused creative activity is something we hear repeatedly. Karina noted, ‘I find that the advice of my tutors still echoes in my head, while I work…along with the memories of a truly fantastic week’.
For more information or to make an application to Falmouth School of Art’s Intensives – this year offered in Abstract Painting, Figure Painting and Observational Drawing, see our website:
www.falmouth.ac.uk/fsaintensivesThe application deadline is 28 April.
Falmouth School of Art Figure Painting Intensive
Applications are now invited for the Falmouth School of Art Intensives, our popular summer courses for artists, practitioners and art educators.
Taking place 3-7 July at our Falmouth Campus, we’re again offering a choice of 5-day ‘Intensives’. All are studio-based and provide daily input from specialist tutors including some of Cornwall’s leading artists.
Abstract Painting will be led by artists Simon Averill and Mark Surridge, who created and have delivered this stimulating course together for the last two years. Guidance will be given as participants explore a wide range of strategies, ways of thinking and processes for making abstract work.
Figure Painting, devised and delivered by artists Ashley Hold and Jesse Leroy Smith, promotes skills development and experimentation through daily practical and contextual workshops. Participants work from the life model throughout the week.
New for 2017 is Observational Drawing, delivered by Falmouth School of Art’s Drawing team who have diverse skill sets and expertise. Starting from the rich qualities of Falmouth’s coastal environment, the course is structured around practising observation skills in the field, capturing images from surroundings and building on those findings in the studio.
If you’re looking for some time and space to develop or reinvigorate your practise this summer, find out more on our website – www.falmouth.ac.uk/fsaintensives. We’ll leave you with the feedback of previous participants…
“The intensive week reinvigorated me and I came home refreshed and ready to start new work. I have lots of interesting threads to pick up on and gained new insights and ideas. The tutors were brilliant and helped and suggested in very subtle ways that were completely personal to each participant. It was exactly what I was looking for and I can’t wait to get working in the studio.”
“It has given me the motivation to pursue my work with greater commitment and energy and also to look more at the work of other artists, both current and historical.”
“The space allocated to us was truly fantastic and this generosity of space enabled us to expand into experimentation, which would otherwise not have been possible.”
“There was so much that was memorable. The beautiful setting of the campus and excellent facilities, the superb studio space, great tutors giving excellent lectures, a wonderful group of artists to be among, the social events and superb guest speaker were all wonderful. Mostly I loved the time and space it gave me to think and work without distraction, but help and support from my fellow artists if I wanted it.”
“I loved the experience. I was touched by all your thoughtfulness and kindness – the extra events you laid on for us. I found the tutors’ input sensitive and supportive at all times.”
“The best thing I have done for years: It was like a creative vitamin injection. My practice traveled a very long way in a short space of time.”
Last week we held the Falmouth School of Art Intensives in Abstract Painting and Figure Painting.
These focused five-day courses for artists and practitioners were delivered by specialist tutors Mark Surridge, Simon Averill, Ashley Hold and Jesse Leroy Smith.
During the week alongside expert one-to-one tuition, studio tutorials, group discussions and individually allocated studio spaces, participants also enjoyed key events including an inspiring guest lecture by artist Naomi Frears, a social dinner for a much needed mid-week break, Cornish cream teas in the sunshine, and to round of the week in style, participants showcased their work together in a group exhibition.
Immediate feedback from participants has been extremely positive; comments include, “I had such a fantastic week and I was so sad to leave. I met a brilliant group of people, I received the highest level of tuition (which I’m sure will resonate through my work in the future) and I was made to feel incredibly welcome by all the staff.”
The pictures here highlight the incredibly high quality of work produced by participants; we can’t wait to start planning for next year!
If you are interested in the Falmouth School of Art Intensives 2017, please email us at schoolofart@falmouth.ac.uk or keep an eye on www.falmouth.ac.uk/fsaintensives
Falmouth School of Art Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Simon Averill, is exhibiting at Anima-Mundi in St. Ives from 10 June.
Simon has lectured at Falmouth since 1989, and has exhibited his work widely in selected exhibitions in the UK and internationally.
“My paintings are a response to time spent within nature; I’m drawn to the commonplace, the unnoticed. I try to capture the fleeting and the transitory; the effect of light – not only how it appears, but also how it behaves…I am also interested in the psychology of decision making within the creative process and my work investigates the relationship between spontaneity and control. My paintings allow these seemingly disparate ideas to co-exist side by side.”
Next month, Simon with be co-delivering Falmouth School of Art’s Abstract Painting Summer Intensives.
Also showing, on the top floors of the gallery, is artist Youki Hirakawa‘s ‘Secret Fire’.
This summer, Falmouth School of Art is delighted to offer a choice of three intensive five-day courses for practitioners and art educators, delivered by some of Cornwall’s leading artists. All run at Falmouth Campus from 4-8 July and the deadline for application is 29 April 2016.
This year, choose from: Abstract Painting (tutors Simon Averill and Mark Surridge), Figure Painting (tutors Ashley Hold and Jesse Leroy Smith), and Drawing (delivered by the team behind our popular BA(Hons) Drawing course.
As well as generous studio time, the Intensives include daily one-to-one input from expert tutors, tutorials, group discussions and practical sessions and social time.
For more details and to apply: www.falmouth.ac.uk/fsaintensives
What last year’s Intensives participants say:
“This was a well organised and thoroughly enjoyable week. I very much enjoyed and benefited from talking to the tutors. I came away from this feeling like I had undertaken an MA in a week”.
“The course gave me the time and space to really think through making. This resulted in my work shifting and improving quite radically in five days…and allowed me to develop strategies to tie together various strands into my work more successfully”.
“It has helped me put my work into a contemporary context, helped me focus my ideas and practice and given me a boost of energy and inspiration”.
Observations – an exhibition of drawings by staff of Falmouth School of Art
Reflecting the ways in which observational drawing, often combined with memory, imagination and invention, informs a range of practice.
Selected from an open submission by staff of Falmouth School of Art’s courses, staff exhibiting are: Gemma Anderson, Claire Armitage, Simon Averill, Neil Chapman, Jane Chetwynd, Mark Foreman, Glad Fryer, Becky Haughton, Ashley Hold, Phil Naylor, Isolde Pullum, Jesse Leroy Smith, Mark Surridge, Roger Towndrow, Virginia Verran, Lucy Willow and Gillian Wylde.
02-12 February, Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm, the Project Space, Falmouth Campus – open to the public
The Falmouth School of Art is pleased to announce a cluster of focused five-day Intensives delivered by its specialist tutors. Intensive courses in Abstract Painting, Figure Painting and Drawing offer practicing visual artists and art educators an opportunity to make a step change in their work this summer.
Supported by daily one-to-one input from the School’s expert tutors – including some of Cornwall’s leading artists – participants can take part in studio tutorials, group discussions and practical sessions. Working alongside other practitioners in well-appointed studios and workshops in a unique subtropical garden setting, all conveniently close to Falmouth’s vibrant town centre and glorious beaches – we feel there can’t be a better place for concentrated creative activity.
Dr. Ginny Button, Director of the Falmouth School of Art, comments: ‘The School of Art is hugely popular with our students – understandably so, thanks to its unique combination of beautiful location, great facilities, inspiring legacy, pedagogic excellence and friendly, supportive atmosphere. I’m delighted to be able to open up our facilities to practitioners who want to further develop their work and their professional networks too’.
Former Intensives students’ testimonials:
“This was a well organised and thoroughly enjoyable week. I very much enjoyed and benefitted from talking to the tutors. I came away from this feeling like I had undertaken an MA in a week”.
“The course gave me the time and space to really think through making. This resulted in my work shifting and improving quite radically in five days…and allowed me to develop strategies to tie together various strands into my work more successfully”.
“It has helped me put my work into a contemporary context, helped me focus my ideas and practice and given me a boost of energy and inspiration”.
For more details about the courses and tutors, and to apply: www.falmouth.ac.uk/fsaintensives
Other queries: schoolofArt@falmouth.ac.uk or phone us on +44 (0)1326 370432
Unsettled, an exhibition of paintings, drawings, words and actions by 11 artists and writers. All are artists and writers are all lecturers in BA(Hons) Fine Art at Falmouth University – Simon Averill, Neil Chapman, Glad Fryer, Mercedes Kemp, Neil McLeod, Kate Southworth, Mark Surridge, Roger Towndrow, Lucy Willow, Lisa Wright, and Gillian Wylde.
Senior Lecturer on BA(Hons) Fine Art, Simon Averill, has a new exhibition – Splitter – opening at Millennium Gallery in St. Ives on 7 February.
‘I’m trying to imagine light as something tangible; as if you could pick it up and hold it in the palm of your hand; this is the territory where what has been seen, memory and the imagined co-exist’ (Simon Averill, 2014).
Splitter, (c) Simon Averill
The Millennium Gallery’s website hosts an online exhibition catalogue, which includes an introductory essay by fellow Falmouth Fine Art Senior Lecturer, Gillian Wylde.
The exhibition runs until 11 March.
nb: The Millennium Gallery is now Anima-Mundi
Falmouth School of Art 