WINTER SCHOOL 2012
Monday 2 – Friday 6 July

Rug up and get creative! Enrolments are now open.

The enrolment form can be found as a PDF here. Click on the name of the course in the table below
to open a PDF fact sheet on that course. For general information on the Winter School, click here.

Basketry - fibre with a twist with Adrienne Kneebone     Suitable for all levels
Learn and extend on the weaving techniques of twining, cobbling, coiling, blanket stitch and wrapping.  Students will complete a pandanus shell, a pair of grass slippers, a lomandra doll, plus a fibre triptych for which you will be encouraged to create form that satisfies concepts.  Also learn about plant harvesting, dyeing and processes for preparing fibres.
Adrienne Kneebone spent five Years working with Western Arnhem Land weavers developing a community building project titled The Pandanus Project.  Adrienne is currently studying for a Masters of Visual Arts at Monash University and will travel to Beijing for an artist residency in 2012. Adrienne’s work has been exhibited in Indonesia and has been accepted and acquired in several National Art Awards. Adrienne is also co-ordinater of Barthulha Webs Artist Camp (www.barthulhawebs.com) in the Northern Territory.

Bookbinding – the complete book with Caren Florance  Suitable for all levels
Artists’ books are different to ‘normal’ books because every part of them counts: the design, the materials, the content. Spend the week exploring the various parts of books and how to create, decorate and manipulate them to become book art. Make unique books from scratch and alter found books, always with a purpose. The emphasis of the course is upon play and exploration, so think about personal themes and interests when choosing materials to bring. Click here to visit Caren's blog.
Caren Florance teaches typography and bookarts at the ANU School of Art in Canberra and has a private press called Ampersand Duck (www.ampersandduck.com) producing a wide variety of books and things inspired by print and paper. Caren has a strong belief in play and accessibility, so her workshops are always fun for beginners yet can be pushed to extend the knowledge of experienced makers.

Botanical drawing & painting with Leonie Norton    Suitable for all levels
Enjoy the beauty of botanical art & discover the fascinating forms and structures of a favourite plant or flower, seeds, pods, nuts or fruits and vegetables. Learn not only to draw and paint, but to observe.  Students will work at their own pace and take home a completed tonal drawing and a watercolour painting.
Leonie Norton is an international tutor and one of Australia’s most prominent botanical artists. Leonie is past President of the Botanical Art Society of Australia and has paintings in Australian and overseas collections, including the prestigious Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation in USA. Leonie exhibits annually in Australia and is in demand for workshops throughout Australia, New Zealand, UK, Fiji & Canada.

Build & fire a raku kiln with Stefan Jakob    Suitable for all levels
First produce ceramic ware suitable for a raku firing. Then construct a wood-fired raku kiln from a 40 litre Ikea rubbish bin which requires approximately 2 shoe box sizes of finely chopped wood per firing and a temperature of °1000 C is reached within 30 minutes. Then use your own kiln to bisque and then raku fire your work! The material fee includes clay and the materials to build and operate your kiln.
Stefan Jakob is a potter and teacher from Switzerland who will be Artist in Residence at Sturt from July to September 2012. Over the last 15 years Stefan has built around 2000 raku rubbish bin kilns in Europe. 

Digital photography - Beginners DSLR with Debra Pearson  Beginners level
Increase your technical skills and learn the creative controls within your digital SLR camera. Professional tips, classroom discussion and slides combine with practical shoots and an introduction to editing and saving images. Students need to know how to operate their camera in Automatic mode, be able to use a mouse and keyboard and know how to open and save documents on a computer.
Debra Pearson is an arts photographer and tutor teaching at regional art galleries, TAFE and adult community colleges. Debra has run a successful wedding photography business, as well as working as a community arts photographer and visual arts curator. Debra has produced photography for the media, corporate publications and exhibitions.

Drawing on yourself with Andrew Antoniou  Some prior drawing experience preferred
Maximise your creative potential by drawing on the wealth of your imagination and memory. The power of visual memory and its use in imaginative composition will be combined with mark making exercises, poetry, text, music and song, culminating in outstanding black and white drawings.
Andrew Antoniou has had extensive experience teaching drawing, painting and printmaking, and has exhibited work in Sydney, Melbourne, USA and UK. Andrew has works in the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of NSW collections and was awarded the 2004 Australian Print Council Commission. Andrew has been a seven time finalist in the prestigious Dobell Drawing Prize at the AGNSW.

Multiple Resists - sculptural forms in felt with Anita Larkin For those with prior felting experience
Move beyond the solitary resist and explore the next dimension! Using many resists simultaneously, create multi-layered 3D felted forms.  Unusual convoluted and multi-chambered forms are possible, such as strange cabbages, roses, segmented seedpod vessels, and interconnected 3D shapes. Choose to make a multi-layered scarf, a rosette bangle, a bag, a hat, or explore purely sculptural forms of extreme texture and the stacking of shapes.
Anita Larkin began felting in 1993 and was immediately enamoured with the sculptural potential of this ancient craft. Anita studied a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts, has learnt feltmaking skills in Turkey, Hungary and Australia, and is represented by Defiance Gallery in Sydney. Anita’s felt forms have been exhibited in Australia, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Mexico and the UK. In 2011 Anita won the Salon for Textile Art Object at the 6th International World Textile Art Biennial of Contemporary Art in Mexico.

Fresco painting with Tracy Smith  Intermediate and experienced painters, no experience of fresco or tempera necessary
Learn traditional buon fresco techniques for outside undercover situations using a detachable method with pigments. These images can be remounted on wood or other surfaces so that it is light and able to be framed. Other techniques covered are sgraffitto, a traditional method of engraving through to black plaster, contemporary fresco techniques with gypsum plaster and sinopia, used to create the underneath drawing in traditional work.
Sculpting, painting, writing, living and working on Scotland Island, Tracy Smith has been selected to exhibit in The Salon des Refuses, The Gallipoli Art Prize, Sculpture in the Vineyards, Sunshine Coast Traveling Scholarship and many more.  Tracy won the Fleurieu Peninsular Vistas Prize with a small Triptych fresco Mapping Histories.

Wild Knitting with Loani Prior       For all who can cast on, knit & purl    
Learn to take your knitting to a whole new level of creative confidence.  Loani will share with you her voracious lust for colour, good design and beautiful wool.  A tea cosy is the perfect project to learn a great number of knitting (and crocheting) skills.  If you can knit a stitch, purl a stitch, cast on and cast off, or consider yourself an advanced knitter and would like to lurch a great leap away from your woolly comfort zone, this might be the class for you.
Loani Prior was born knitting.  She has published two fabulous books, Wild Tea Cosies and Really WIld Tea Cosies.  Her third book, How Tea Cosies Changed the World (well where else was she going to go) will be released in March 2012. You might find her on tour at a bookstore near you this year.  You can find all her knitty nonsense at  www.grandpurlbaa.com

Marquetry with Katalin Sallai     For all levels
Use the world’s most beautiful timbers to create unique pieces applying the basic steps of marquetry making. Construct your own special parquetry and a marquetry work to take home and see timbers in a completely new way.
Katalin Sallai is a practising marquetry maker, who learned her traditional craft overseas 25 years ago. She teaches a technique that is very easy to set up at home without special tools or equipment, and is the most rewarding way to discover the beauty of timber.  Katalin tutors marquetry in several schools around Australia and in New Zealand.

Metal work - jewellery for beginners with Sondi     Beginners
Enter the world of the alchemist, melting and joining materials to create your own unique pieces of jewellery gaining a range of skills including sawing, filing, hammering and soldering. First complete a ring to learn the basics and then choose your own direction.
Sondi has a unique and distinctive style, creating hand-made commissioned and limited-edition pieces.  Spanning almost thirty years of professional practice, Sondi has taught at the Sydney Institute Design Centre at Enmore, is a mentor to many aspiring contemporary jewellers and conducts workshops from her own studi.  Sondi’s work is collected and sold by galleries around Australia and internationally. 

Intensive painting course in acrylics with Dr Suzanne Moss  Beginners and those with minimal experience
A comprehensive guide to the methods, techniques, materials and language used by acrylic artists, filled with encouragement and inspiration.  Practical demonstrations will complement theory while participants explore their own methods of mark-making and learn about colour and colour mixing. Still-life, landscape and abstract painting will be produced on a range of papers with at least 3 paintings on canvas board.
Suzanne Moss PhD is a painter and educator at the ANU School of Art in Canberra. Suzanne has been painting for over 20 years and was awarded an ANU Medal and a travelling scholarship to Spain (2003). Suzanne completed her doctorate on the painting of light in 2010 and has exhibited in both Canberra and Sydney including the 2010 Blake Prize.

Masterclass in colloblock and mono type with Paul Smith  Some experience of printmaking is necessary and also suitable for very experienced printmakers
Create a mono type from a drawn image, make colloblock plates for multi colour printing using various mediums and learn techniques for printing without a press.  Reduction printing techniques, registration, cleaning and caring for your prints will also be covered. Complete at least one print with concepts to go on with at home, taking a print into 3D and making uses of the plate in sculptural form.
Over the years Paul Smith has developed a unique printmaking technique he calls colloblock printing which combines woodblock and collagraph into a multi-plate colour print with infinite possibilities to explore.  Paul has been working as a Master Printmaker for the last 25 years, collaborating with some of Australia’s most prestigious artists.

Text in art (text-u-alise– calligraphy and beyond) with Rhonda Ayliffe     Suitable for all levels
Explore the potential of TEXT in art using personal handwriting as a departure point. Ideas and techniques will include free lettering, collage, stamping, embossing, transfer and calligraphy, using various traditional and non-traditional supports.  The emphasis is experimentation through individualised project work - so bring your favourite resources and a spirit of adventure.  Pay tutor for extra materials if needed.
Rhonda Ayliffe has a hybrid arts practice that includes calligraphy, book arts, textiles, installation, and photography. She is a past guild member of the ASC, an award winning book artist and widely exhibited contemporary artis. Rhonda is currently completing her MFA/PhD with Monash University. See her website at: www.rhondaayliffe.com

Weaving - pattern with Martine Peters      Beginner to Intermediate
Explore pattern and design concepts through different materials, with projects using interlacing techniques to provide direction for individual ideas. Recycled materials have had a long tradition in the textile arts (e.g quilts, rag rugs, etc). Use these materials to explore plaiting as a technique for design and use these skills to develop further exploration in weaving of samples on the loom.
After an apprenticeship in NZ under Margaret Mecchia, Martine Peters established her own business weaving accessories for department stores, homeware and retail shops, followed by textile studies at ANU. Martine accepted a scholarship and teaching position in the fiber department at Kent State University, Ohio, USA from 2007-2010.  Martine is currently teaching in the Textile Department at ANU, Canberra.

Woodwork – a coffee table with Leon Sadubin         Suitable for all levels
Make a coffee table with naturally shaped slabs, slats, offcuts, daggy ends and other impossible bits and pieces, each an individual with attitude! Learn a range of skills and techniques using hand tools, including planes, rasps, files, draw knives, spokeshaves, chisels, mallets, plumb bobs, scrapers, and abrasives.
Leon Sadubin, a founding member of the Woodworkers Association of NSW, has had a significant impact on furniture design and making in Australia. Leon’s works are included in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, New Parliament House, Canberra and many private collections. Leon has regularly taught furniture design at Australian universities and taught the first 12 Week Wood Course at Sturt in 2011

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Sturt Winter School Information

Please note that the Frensham and Sturt site covers a large area which slopes up hill from Mittagong. There are a number of steps on site and several classrooms are on the first and second floors.

Course costs
Course fees are $595 for most courses (including GST). There may also be a fee for materials, models or firing costs. This fee covers a set amount of material for each class; further materials may be purchased in class for extra or larger items.

Minimum Age
Students must be at least 16 for all adult classes.  Participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult to stay in accommodation on site.

Enrolment
Enrolments are in order of application as class sizes are limited.  Enrolments must be accompanied by full payment of the course fee and an enrolment form.

Cancellation and Payment
All payments are through Sturt Gallery (open 7 days 10am-5pm) by credit card, eftpos, cash, cheque or postal order.
Sturt reserves the right to cancel a class if minimum enrolments are not reached by 1st June 2012. In that event, students may be offered placements in their second choice, or a refund of all fees.
Cancellations before 1st June incur a $100 cancellation fee. No refunds of course fees will be given after that date.  In that event other payments (accommodation, meals and material fees) will be refunded in each case.
Enrolments can be made up to July 2nd, where positions are available.

Class Times
Classes begin 9am Monday 2nd July 2012. Daily times are from 9am - 4.00pm. On Friday afternoon, an exhibition of participants’ work will be displayed and friends and family are invited to attend.

Accommodation
Accommodation (including all meals) is available adjacent to Sturt, in boarding school rooms (single bed, cupboard, desk, lamp and wastepaper bin). The rooms are heated.  All linen (blankets, sheets, towels, pillowslips) is provided. Bedroom doors are not lockable. There are facilities for washing, ironing and drying. Single, or twin share rooms are available. All bathrooms are share (separate male and female). 5 nights (Sunday to Friday lunchtime) $510 single $440 twin; 4 nights (Monday lunchtime to Friday lunchtime) $423 single, $367 twin. Limited ground floor accommodation is available, please request this on your enrolment form if required. We may be able to cater for some special dietary requirements, please contact the office to discuss.  

Meals for Day Students
Lunches are available for day students from the Dining Hall (soup, salads, cold meat, tuna, cheese and fruit) and must be ordered at time of enrolment for $15 each day. Sturt Café will continue to serve its regular menu.

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Some images from the 2011 Winter School:
Some images from the 2009 Winter School:
Some images from the 2008 Winter School:

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