Summer School
Slade Summer School Short Course Programme 2009
The Short Course Programme provides a variety of courses for all levels of experience.
In addition to our evening lecture/gallery programme, classes include slide talks and seminars to
complement the studio timetable. We hope that you will look back on your Summer School experience as a time
of artistic stimulation and personal fulfilment.
COURSES
Drawing Courses
Fine Art Media Courses
Painting Courses
Experimental Drawing, 6 - 17 July 2 weeks
Tutor Ron Bowen
The course is aimed at students who would like to extend their drawing knowledge through a series of
question-based projects. This year these will be focused on the questions that surround the idea that
drawings are essentially records of experience. To do this we will investigate the means by which
drawings establish themselves as factual, or true records of events. We will develop and compare the
polarities of extreme selection and elaboration, of close observation and memory, consider drawing in
relation to other kinds of records - writing, photography - and explore the possibilities of
integrating them in combined works. The course consists of practical sessions punctuated by seminars,
informal discussions and regular critiques.
Drawing I, 20 - 31 July 2 weeks
Tutors Daniel Preece, Ian Rowlands
This course is suitable for beginners, or those who have some practical drawing experience but have
not yet had the opportunity to study the issues underpinning the making of a drawing. It
explores the many aspects of drawing and its uses. The emphasis of the course is for students to
experience an introduction to drawing as a means for articulating form, as a tool for thinking, as a
feeder for ideas into their art practice and to encourage students to explore and nurture ideas
through drawing.
It will incorporate many traditional methods of working such as observation of
the human form, the use of measurement, geometry, proportion and light; and more contemporary ideas
about spontaneity and immediacy, scale, spaces and objects, memory and imagination, abstraction and
construction. Students will experiment with a variety of techniques and materials including pencil,
ink, white chalk, willow and compressed charcoal.
Every day of the course is tightly structured. At the start of each day, a
subject is set to explore a particular aspect of drawing and through group and individual tuition
students are encouraged to explore their personal vision at their own pace. Each week will end with a
short critique of the work and discussion of future plans.
Life Drawing, 20 - 31 July 2 weeks
Tutors Atul Vohora and Adele Wagstaff
This two-week course of drawing from the model is open to students of all levels. It is designed to extend students' powers of perception, to look closely, critically and selectively. The class will explore movement, weight, scale and the spatial qualities of the human form through a selection of long and short poses. The course will encourage students to develop their drawing skills. It includes a visit to the National Gallery to draw directly from the collection. The course concludes with a group crit and an individual tutorial to review the body of work each student has created during the course. Students will primarily use pencil, but there will be some work with ink, charcoal and paint.
Drawing II, 3 - 14 August 2 weeks
Tutors Jim Hobbs, Max Holdaway, Juliana Cerqueira Leite, Hephzibah Rendle-Short
This course is for students who have experience of drawing and who are interested in experimenting and extending their skills and knowledge. Students will be encouraged to develop their own methods of translating ideas into form, as a way to generate questions pertinent to their own practice. It provides the opportunity to study, in depth, the activity of drawing both as a way of thinking - how we think through drawing - and as a way to develop personal research.
The course will be divided into two parts. The first half will be tutor-led, setting up parameters to work within and exploring formal ideas of what drawing might be, for example, the subject may be observed, found, recalled, imagined, felt or constructed. Each day will explore a different concept and approach to making. The second week of the course will enable students to develop their own approaches to drawing, with individual tutorial support. This week's work may either be generated from ideas arising during the first half of the course, or from issues pertinent to students' own established practice and will ideally be a combination of both. There will be an emphasis on experimentation and students will be encouraged to use a wide variety of materials, working both inside and outside the studio. Throughout the two weeks there will be informal discussions, slide talks and regular critiques to discuss ideas and methods.
On Looking, 3 - 7 August 1 week
Tutor Aliki Braine
This course is designed for students who are interested in developing their observational skills and their ability to decipher visual material. The course is open to students of all levels of drawing ability, including beginners; the course's focus being on developing students' powers of perception.
The course will involve spending time looking at works of art and will include daily visits to museums and galleries including the UCL Collections and Strang Print Room, and the National Gallery. With an aim to unravel images through observation and analyse drawing and painting techniques, the visits will act as starting points for informal discussions and critiques, along with drawing, verbal and mnemonic exercises. The act of looking will be translated into drawings using different ranges of materials and techniques.
Etching, 17 - 21 August
Etching 24 - 28 August
Tutor Penny Brewill
This course offers an intensive introduction to the methods and materials involved in the traditional and
non-toxic techniques of etching, including hard and soft ground intaglio, drypoint, aquatint, sugar lift,
spit bite and chine collé, all on copper in ferric. The Slade etching studios have a long
tradition of printmaking and as in all disciplines at the Slade, drawing will play a fundamental role
within the course. Students will be encouraged and guided in translating their ideas directly on to the
plate. The course is suitable for students of all levels.
Please note: copper and paper will be available to purchase during the course.
Painting 20 - 31 July
Painting 3 - 14 August or 17 - 28 August 2 or 4 weeks
Tutors Daniel Preece, Virginia Verran, Caroline de Lannoy, Ian Rowlands
This course is aimed at students who are interested in developing their own ideas and preparatory material with tutorial support and guidance. Students are encouraged to develop their own practical and aesthetic interests by setting up an individual studio-based enquiry from the first day. This will be supported by a series of morning workshops (for optional attendance) which include working from secondary sources such as paintings and drawings; mixing and applying colour; discussing supports and grounds; methods demonstrations and learning some of the essentials of the painters' craft. There is the opportunity of booking a life model to generate source material. In addition there will be individual tutorials, slide shows of tutors' work and group critiques.
The tutors represent a wide spectrum of professional practice in terms of style and subject matter. We strongly recommend that students have a rudimentary knowledge of drawing and prepare note and sketchbook work before coming to the class in order to gain the maximum benefit from the course. This course may be followed for two, four or six weeks as appropriate.
Drawing into Painting I, 3 - 14 August 2 weeks
Tutors Daniel Preece, Sandra Smith, Ian Rowlands
This course is designed for students who are interested in how to develop their drawings into paintings. It is suitable for those with at least some experience of drawing and is aimed at students who wish to bridge the gap between drawing and painting through learning some of the first principles of painting. The course will begin by exploring some of the formal issues of drawing through observation, looking carefully at tone and mark-making. These drawings will then be translated into paintings via tone and temperature and through the use of colour. Special emphasis is put on the translation of tone and line into colour, the role of colour and the ways it can be manipulated. Crucial areas of study are composition and paint handling, i.e. how colour and surface are changed by the quality of paint and the tools used.
Students will use a variety of materials including, pencil, charcoal, emulsion paint, ink and acrylic or oil. Each student's personal development will be encouraged through the taught studio sessions, informal discussions, slide talks and regular critiques to discuss ideas and methods.
Drawing into Painting II, 17 - 28 August 2 weeks
Tutors Hephzibah Rendle-Short, Caroline de Lannoy, Laura Emsley
This is an advanced course, suitable for students who are experienced in drawing and want to extend their artistic practice through researching the connections between drawing and painting. The emphasis will be on how the two disciplines interrelate and inform each other, as well as discussion and exploration about their difference.
Over the two weeks students will consider issues such as what distinguishes drawing from painting, how drawing underpins decisions taken about marks made on a painted surface, what is drawing with paint and how drawing can be used as an interventionist tool in painting. The role of materials, space, light and colour within both disciplines will be discussed and explored.
There will be an emphasis on experimentation and an encouragement to use a wide variety of materials. Although primarily a practical course, there will be informal discussions, group seminars and regular critiques to discuss ideas and methods. The course is structured with the development of the students' future personal research in mind.
Life Painting I, 17 August - 28 August 2 weeks
Tutor Ian Rowlands Visitors Adele Wagstaff, Atul Vohora
This course offers the opportunity of full-time working from the model. It is open to students of all levels from beginners to more experienced painters (although we do recommend that students have a rudimentary knowledge of drawing). It allows for sustained perceptual concentration, with the freedom to experiment and revise. The course begins with a series of studies, using a variety of poses, exploring tone, colour, light, space, composition and pictorial structure. This series develops into a single pose which continues to occupy the final week. This course is supported by slide talks, group discussions and critiques. There will be demonstrations on canvas preparation, paint application and colour mixing. Technical support will be available for those students who wish to construct canvases. Though we encourage the use of oil paint, other media may be used.
Life Painting II, 31 August - 11 September 2 weeks
Tutor Ian Rowlands Visitors Adele Wagstaff, Atul Vohora
This course gives an opportunity for experienced life painters to work with the life model without having to undertake a structured, taught programme. Individuals will be expected to work at their own pace and to set their own goals within their work, but will be given close tutorial support from artists whose primary working focus is the figure.
During the first week students will work from one of two model poses set by the tutor. Each pose will be prolonged over the duration of the course and will enable artists to make one piece of work or several studies from a number of perspectives. Members of the studio might expect to engage with analytical approaches to drawing the human form, appropriate exploitation of materials and their properties, form through tone, understanding of local and broad use of colour, and systems of measurement.
During the second week students may continue to work from the model or concentrate on portraiture and the head. While students will want to set their own parameters, they should expect to explore analytical approaches to drawing the anatomy of the head, character portrayal and expression of volume through line.
Colour in Practice, 31 August - 11 September 2 weeks
Tutors Caroline de Lannoy, Ian Rowlands, Phoebe Unwin, Alex Bates
Colour is a fundamental phenomenon in culture and a major element in the practice of artists and all media professionals. To understand the many aspects of colour, this two-week course explores the wide subject of colour through lectures and seminars, practice and critiques. It interweaves aspects of colour science with colour practice in order to equip students with an in-depth knowledge of colour theory and its practical application. It aims to inform their creative decision-making and increase their ability to realise the power of colour in their own work.
Through a series of morning lectures we will examine the chemistry and physics of colour, the history of colour in art, the role of our culture and language in colour concepts, and the psychology and emotion of colour. The practical element of the course will take place after the lectures and will involve exercises in the articulation of form and spatial dimensions through colour, the mixing of colours, the interaction of colour, colour in relation to memory and perception, texture, scale and the fundamentals of organization. This course includes an element of painting from observation to look at tone, temperature and light, but please note that this is not a course based on painting from observation alone. There will also be workshops with invited fine artists for whom colour plays a key role in their work, including the use of colour mixing on the computer to produce art works, and the making of paints and mediums.
The project work will encourage students to experiment with the medium and develop their research skills as the basis for their practice. During the second week students will have time to develop their personal work in relation to their colour research, with close tutorial support. This work might either be generated from ideas arising from the lectures and practical exercises in the early part of the course, or arise from issues pertinent to students' own established practice. The emphasis will be on the development of ideas, preparation and process as much as the production of finished pieces of work. A wide range of materials will be used with a variety of approaches and techniques.
History of Art Lectures and Artists' Talks
There will be a structured series of evening lectures on art history and artists' talks on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5pm. These are open to all Summer School students.
Applications
To apply for any of the above courses, please read the General Information, download the application form and send it along with your deposit to Slade Summer School, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT.
View the Summer School Foundation.
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