Wed 30th April

• 2pm - 2:45pm ArtTalk with Martin Beek
• 2:45pm - 3pm Q&A session and short comfort break
• 3pm - 4:30pm Live demonstration by Karen Carter

 

This class is suitable for students of all abilities

 

Our 'In the Style Of' classes bring together our ever popular ArtTalks with the joy of a traditional class. Join us for an engaging talk with our resident art history expert, Martin Beek, followed by a live demonstration by the super talented Karen Carter.  This wonderful collaborative class is inspired by Ben Nicholson's still life paintings and is open to students of all abilities.

ArtTalk
Martin will offer an overview of the life of British modernist Ben Nicholson, focusing on his journey to abstraction inspired by his travels through Europe and his encounters with Post Impressionism and Cubism.

Martin's talk will be illustrated where possible with original photographs and slides. He will also provide a list of helpful books and links to further explore on a PDF following the talk. 

Demonstration
Using works of Ben Nicholson as our inspiration, we will create our very own abstracted still life, using a variety of materials and techniques to emulate his subtle layered imagery.

Firstly, we will look at making lively line drawings to use as a starting point – this is an optional work-along activity, utilizing a number of fun exercises to loosen up our approach to drawing.  Then using acrylic pastes and collage we will create textural backgrounds to work on.

Having constructed an interesting base we will then build up a combination of washes, thicker paint and drawn marks to create a lively layered still life composition – playing with viewpoint, perspective and negative shapes.

Combining sharp linework, lost and found edges, areas of opaque paint, and rubbing back through layers to create distressed surfaces, this is an exploration of surface, colour and line.