Painting After Vanessa Bell (Bloomsbury Group) - The Figure

Tutor: Melanie Rose
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Date: A two-day course: Friday 5 April and Saturday 6 April 2024, 11am – 5pm
Price: £270

Course details
Vanessa Bell (1879 – 1961) was one of the foremost painters in the Bloomsbury Group, combining British Impressionism and Modernism. Bell produced a body of diverse work including from the figure, still life and landscape. A master of composition and colour, her paintings offer a quiet meditation that forces the viewer to slow the mind and look. As a means of creating a framework for painting, Bell founded the Friday Club.

In a similar vein, these two-day courses, beginning on a Friday, will take one of Bell’s paintings as a focus, with a mindset that, “the present can only be understood if we continue to keep the past in view” (Graw, 2018).

Working with your preferred drawing and painting materials, this session will begin with drawing from the figure. From these initial drawings, you will develop compositions from which to make either a series of paintings or one focused painting.

This first Friday Club will focus on the figure, working from a nude model on the Friday and continuing painting on the Saturday from preparatory sketches and concept drawings. The next Friday Club will be in July and will focus on one of the gardens or squares close to the college and the final Friday Club will focus on a still-life arrangement. As a suggestion, if you attend all three Friday Clubs, you will be able to integrate and layer your drawings to form complex compositions for painting.

A life model will be provided for the first day.

Materials to bring
Preferred drawing and painting mediums and equipment: 

• Surfaces to draw and paint onto
• Sketchbook
• Brushes appropriate to paint and a flat pallet
• Apron/overall

Materials included
The college will provide cartridge paper and some charcoal and black drawing ink to share amongst the group. A life model will be provided for the first day.

Equipment provided
All necessary equipment will be provided for use on the course.

About the tutor
Dr Melanie Rose explores landscape and place through painting. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Leeds Arts and Humanities Institute (LAHRI), after successfully completing a practice-led PhD. Prior education includes MA Central Saint Martins, BA (Hons) Trent Polytechnic and Foundation Winchester School of Art. Melanie is a member of LAND2, a national network of artist/researchers with an interest in place-oriented art. She has exhibited widely and has work in both private and public collections.

General information
Short courses are open to anyone aged 18 and over.
The course fee covers tuition and materials where stated. You will need to bring all other items listed under the ‘Materials to bring’ section.

Refreshments
Coffee and tea are included in the course fee, but you will need to bring lunch with you to eat in the refreshments room. There are plenty of local venues to purchase food locally, if needed, though we recommend that you bring a packed lunch.

Refunds and cancellations
Cancellations are permitted up to 6 weeks before the start of a course and subject to a £35 cancellation fee. Refunds will not be given for cancellations less than 6 weeks before the start of a course.

Students who do not attend due to illness, personal or professional commitments do not have the right to a refund. For this reason, we recommend that students take out personal insurance against any unforeseeable circumstances before the start of their course. It is not possible to transfer to future courses.

We reserve the right to cancel a class in unusual circumstances. We try to avoid this where possible, but sometimes it is unavoidable. In this situation, a full refund will be given. We’re sorry that we cannot be financially responsible for extreme weather conditions, travel disruption or any other situations that are outside our control.

Access
If you have any specific access needs, we will need to know about your access requirements in advance. Please tell us about your needs in confidence by emailing: bookingsoffice@westdean.ac.uk

This venue has steps to the front reception, with limited access via a side gate to the ground floor. There is a small lift to higher floors or stairs.

Safety
Short course students are required to sign a safety compliance form as part of West Dean Health and Safety regulations.

Disclaimer
The information given is accurate at the time of publication. However, West Dean College reserves the right to cancel or amend courses if circumstances require.