Ref: SSS39907
This course will include several short walks. You will need to be physically able to walk at a leisurely pace for approximately 1 to 2 miles at a time on uneven ground with very little equipment and a drink in a backpack.
To develop a sense of place requires that one knows the place intimately and reacts to it emotionally Yi-Fu Tuan, 1977
You will spend three full days around Monkton Lodge, a short minibus drive from the college. Inspiration for developing artworks will be varied: the traces of the deserted medieval village, a beech wood, the Devils Jumps, the largest beech tree on the estate, views across the valley to the sea.
Monkton Lodge is a simple rectangular building made of flint with a corregated iron roof with all the facilities necessary to give respite from the elements. It will be your base for drawing trips on foot into the beautiful landscape shaped by man since the Bronze Age.
Taking drawing as a starting point, together, you will try out different ways of connecting and recording the landscape. The tutor will help you to discover ways to express place-based experiences of the landscape through step-by-step drawing excercises. You will learn to work with unusual mediums and make your own inks and tools from materials gathered along the walks to create exciting outcomes. It might be that drawing will take you in a myriad of different directions. Plenty of time will be allocated to develop your studio practice in the lodge and in the studio at West Dean College. You will be encouraged to observe, think, focus and let go, guided by your tutors structured lessons and prompts.
You will be encouraged to use your sensory experience of the landscape and draw from memory and imagination. You will be given the opportunity to extend ideas of what drawing can be and discover where drawing can take you. You will be encouraged to develop ideas through further drawing exercises in the studio, leading to personal development, branching out into your chosen media. A guided session on drawing interventions in the landscape will stretch your artwork further. The course embraces ideas of in situ expression. You will be encouraged to share your work in groups and individualy with your tutor.
There will be a sewing machine, an overhead projector, glass slabs and rollers for monoprinting (without a press) and ink making facilities available for you to use.
You will be inspired to consider the past, as well as the future, by being fully aware of the present. A visit to the West Dean Estate Boardroom with West Deans Collections Manager and Archivist will give you another reading of the land by sharing with you some of the early estate maps, aerial photographs and drawings. The archives will open up ideas for your own mapping and drawing of the land. The Estate Ranger will join one of our walks to give an insight into the West Dean Estates ecosystem.
At the end of the course, you will have a new body of work with a sketchbook full of drawings and a series of developed pieces. You will have acquired lived experience of one of the most memorable places on West Deans Estate. Inspired by silence, wilderness, seclusion and wildlife, focusing on time and observation, you will have learned to translate being on the land into drawings.
Summer School Highlights
The Summer School week is an immersive learning experience with more time to develop your creativity and embrace opportunities for creative development beyond your chosen course. A detailed timetable for your Summer School week will be given to you on arrival. This will include:
All lunches and evening meals are provided for residential and non-residential students during summer school due to planned activities/events in the early evenings.
On this course, the College will supply some of the basic materials such as black Indian ink, black water-based relief ink, charcoal, graphite powder and a selection of papers available to share.
Drawing equipment and materials you like to work with on this course, students often need to replenish their materials or try out new ones from the shop. The list isn't definitive, it is about exploring and experimenting, taking inspiration from peers, artists, the walks and responding creatively and intuitively.
Available from shop: A good variety of art materials, including a good selection of different papers and drawing media, sketchbooks, glue, inks, pencils, rubbers, sharpeners, graphite sticks, watercolour paints, brushes, etc.
Please wear appropriate clothing/aprons for the workshop or studio, this includes stout covered footwear (no sandals or open toes).
The course will include several short walks. You will need to be physically able to walk at a leisurely pace for approximately 1 to 2 miles at a time on uneven ground with very little equipment and a drink in a backpack.
Arrival day - first date of course
Residential students can arrive from 4pm, non-residential students to arrive by 6.45pm for registration
Student welcome, followed by dinner: 6.45pm (dinner included)
Teaching session: 8pm-9pm (attendance is essential)
Daily timetable
Course teaching: 9.15am-5pm
Morning session: 9.15am-12.45pm including coffee/tea break
Lunch break: 12.45pm-2pm (lunch included)
Afternoon session: 2pm-5pm including coffee/tea break
Teaching finishes: 5pm
Evening working: students may have access to workshops until 9pm, but only with permission from the tutor and provided any health and safety guidelines are observed.
Departure day - last date of course
Course teaching: 9.15am-3pm (lunch included)
Teaching finishes: 3pm
All lunches and evening meals are provided for residential and non-residential students during Summer School due to planned activities/events in the early evenings.
Residential students will need to check out of rooms by 10am.
Please note, the tutor may make slight variations to the daily timetable as required.
Several evening events are planned throughout the week, a detailed timetable for your Summer School will be given to you on arrival.
Core Team Tutor - Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Short Course Tutor
Caroline Wendling's work explores ideas of place and belonging through layered projects that draw on history and explore local myths, inviting re-imagings of sites. She takes her audience on a physical, sensory and emotional journey leaving them with a poetic encounter and a story to tell.
Residential option available. Find out accommodation costs and how to book here.
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