Adult Courses

Artists such as Bonnard and Matisse stepped away from mimicking nature instead painting a personal view of landscape. Their colours expressed an interpretation, rather than how it appeared to the world. Let Juliet lead you along pathways of colour, through exercises and exploration into the approach of those masters, so you too can express your own vision of the known. She will teach you how to break from your habitual palette into new ways of using colour whilst experimenting with brave expressive brush strokes. This will be exciting and lots of hard work!

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $30 materials *some experience

Juliet Holmes à Court’s work is quickly recognised due to her ability to capture light.  Over the years, her fascination with light has become integral in her paintings and it is often likened to Turner yet with the colours of Lloyd Rees, leading to many highly successful solo exhibitions. A winner in the Waverley Art Prize, Juliet has also been a finalist is several other significant prizes and is a passionate and energetic teacher.

Enjoy a practical search for solutions in the ‘Still Life’ genre with emphasis on composition, tone and colour to produce detailed work, with a respect for individual style. Work in acrylics to create your own provincial masterpiece, using seasonal fruit, foliage, vegetables, china and linen as props. 

Level: All | Cost: $825 + $40 materials 

Charlotte Thodey has exhibited her work for over 25 years. She has produced a number of posters for the Botanic Gardens and Historic Houses Trust and illustrated many books. Charlotte regularly teaches at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney and exhibits her work in Australia and France.

Enjoy a fresh and contemporary approach to drawing and watercolour painting. Explore new techniques in capturing light and shade while developing your fundamental skills of sketching and drawing as a foundation to your painting. Learn travel sketching, improve studio drawing and painting skills
while capturing a range of subjects, including landscapes, still life, architecture and people.

Level: All | Cost: $825 + $10 materials 

Malcolm Carver’s fascination with architecture is only matched by an absolute commitment and passion in sketching and painting. With an eye for simplification of detail and an obsession with light, Malcolm is increasingly pursuing the ‘less is more approach’ to watercolour with minimal strokes, fresh colourful pigments, taken directly to paper rather than mixed in a palette. This delightful immediacy of watercolour brings vibrance and richness to his art.

Learn to compose a figurative theme from your imagination. Using compositional drawing methods, mark making, collage and your own reference material, create compositions of personal vision. Enjoy drawing exercises in charcoal and Conte crayons to explore drawing as a medium and create spacial distortion. Gain confidence using reference material to nurture an idea into a finished image. Then develop the image into a drawn composition incorporating structure, movement and tone to create emotional impact.

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $10 materials  *some experience

Andrew Antoniou has been teaching drawing from the imagination for over 30 years, thoughout many institutions in Australia including the ANU and National Art School. He has been a finalist in many drawing prizes including the Dobell, Jacarandah, National Works on Paper and the Hutchins. Andrew was the recipient of the Swan Hill Drawing Prize in 2014 and has appeared in many publications. 

In this pastel workshop you’ll learn to ‘KISS’ - keep it so simple. We focus on finding simplicity in the complex, giving you skills to create, keep it simple and find success! Play with underpainting, texture application and layering to create amazing forest and ocean rock paintings. Turn what seems complicated into straight forward processor by learning simple, effective layering techniques. Be prepared to play, laugh and learn through an inspiring week of KISS.

Level: All | Cost: $825 + $20 materials

Tricia Taylor is known for her seascapes and international plein air painting tours. Tricia became a Master Pastellist with the PSA in 2011 and has won many awards including Pastellist of the Year in 2010. Her work is held in collections worldwide.

Join Keiko Matsui on an investigative journey to find your form, discovering new skills and design inspiration throwing fine porcelain. Let Keiko guide you through Sturt’s Permanent Collection, demystifying the technical secrets of past master potters before continuing to refine your own skills and throwing repertoire. This advanced workshop will explore techniques to produce statement vessels, taller, wider and finer in this elegant, challenging medium.

Level: Advanced | Cost: $825 + $20 materials

Keiko Matsui is a Japanese born, Melbourne based ceramic artist primarily working with porcelain. Her approach to the creation of both functional and non-functional objects is one of poetry and whimsy, yet always displaying the simplicity for which she is known. Keiko completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at the National Art School in Sydney. Since she has taught pottery at UNSW blockhouse, Eastern Suburbs community centre, Hornsby TAFE, and Melbourne Clay School. Sturt Gallery exhibited her solo show in 2012. Her recent achievements among many awards include Gosford Art Prize (Winner in Ceramics, 2018, 2014, 2012) and winner of Small Art Object Prize in Vallauris, France.

Join Steve Williams in a unique journey of techniques in solid mass compression to produce ceramic forms with a strong continuous relief surface. You will plan, make and refine a vase and/or platter form with attention to the principles of design and decisions that supports the development of your own individual ‘work character’. This workshop is aimed at makers seeking to critique and power on with ideas and direction... knowing what refinement questions to ask. Steve will cover the use of wood ash and native materials in glazes and how packing/firing the kiln is a significant determiner of the surface treatment.

Level: All | Cost: $825 + $30 materials

Steve Williams has focused on making and developing techniques that allow him to produce work that is finished in ‘one sitting’... the shortest journey with least intervention from plastic clay to the kiln. His work captures the playful, plastic quality of clay and has been described as ‘hard and soft in one’. Steve has been wood firing and working with local materials for over 30 years and has presented his innovative approaches to making at conferences and festivals in Australia and internationally.

Join one of Australia’s most respected printmakers and educators, Basil Hall, exploring various colour etching methods – both traditional and new – using zinc plates. Incorporate into your prints drypoint, BIG hard soft ground (non toxic) aquatint, sugar (coffee) lift plus chine collé and if the weather permits, drawing on key plates outdoors. Add colour using additional plates, mono printing or Basil’s own pigment and chine collé techniques. This workshop welcomes anyone who can draw and is willing to embrace new ways of making images, including printmakers with etching
experience.

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $110 materials  *some experience

Basil Hall has worked as an art teacher and lecturer (ANU and CDU), as an artist and as a custom printer for 40 years. He has run workshops for artists from beginners to advanced all over Australia, and since 2006 a studio on Skopelos in Greece also. As a printer he has collaborated with major city-based artists, First Nation artists from over fifty remote communities, colleagues, and friends.

Explore a range of two dimensional and three dimensional techniques drawn from textiles, basketry and contemporary jewellery practices, to develop an individual visual and material language to express personal narratives. Melinda will also introduce ways of creating daily habits to support and nourish a sustainable and mindful making practice. You will learn new skills (or refresh existing), with an emphasis on material play. Learning outcomes include a range of guided journaling and mark making exercises, creating coiled vessels and wearables, slow stitching, and exploring jewellery made from fibre, thread and collected materials.

Level: All | Cost: $825 + $70 materials

Melinda Young is a contemporary craft artist and educator whose work spans jewellery, textiles and collaborative art projects. Her work explores materiality, with an emphasis on found or re-purposed materials and the stories they hold. Melinda has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally since 1997, her work is represented by galleries in Australia and overseas, held in public collections and included in numerous publications. Melinda has been teaching for over 20 years, leading workshops around Australia and abroad. She is currently an Associate Lecturer in the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture UNSW.

Reassess what you imagine a basket to be and consider it through the lens of nature; explore traditional basketry from a sculptural perspective. This workshop is more than learning techniques, it’s an opportunity to relate to nature, revisit your stories and delve into powerful creativity that is ready to surface. Using freshly foraged and harvested natural fibres, weave various vessels and sculptural forms. Catriona will guide you through her favourite basketry techniques including: random weaving, twining, Neolithic twining and looping. and complete a series of woven forms culminating in your own sculpture using the techniques and materials you have explored during the course.

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $110 materials  *some experience

Catriona Pollard has had many solo exhibitions and exhibited extensively in selected and group exhibitions. She has been shortlisted in various awards including Emerging Artist of the Year Craft NSW, finalist Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize, Northern Beaches Art Prize, North Sydney Art Prize, Warringah Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, and Little things Art Prize. Catriona teaches a range of basketry workshops in Australia and internationally. theartofweaving.com.au

‘Weaving new stories’ workshop will focus on creating concepts and developing narratives for weavings that are contemporary, innovative and relevant to the weaver. Woven stories can reference your experiences, surroundings, place or time; your community, cultural or environment – all can provide ideas for materials, scale, colour, texture, pattern and structure. Woven outcomes can be functional or non-functional, cloth, installations or purely experimental. The workshop will involve discussions, defining your story, designing, selecting materials and weaving. Weave structures could be plain weave, twills, double weave, patterned or any variation that is appropriate for your own, new woven story.

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $10 materials + loom hire (if required)  *some experience  

Liz Williamson has been weaving since the late 1970s with innovative and diverse outcomes: designing for industry, weaving for exhibitions, commissions and production in her Sydney studio, teaching nationally and internationally, curating exhibitions, engaging with artisan groups in India and organising ‘Cultural Textiles’ tours to Gujarat and West Bengal. Liz’s practice was acknowledged in 2008 with a national award exhibition and publication. At the heart of her practice is an interest in innovative, experimental and unusual designs created at the loom. Liz has been an educator since 1991 and is an Associate Professor at UNSW Art & Design, Sydney, Australia.

Extend your textile creativity in this introduction to cloth printing and earn the fundamentals of mixing fabric paints from scratch to develop a full colour palette. These principles will then be used to explore hand painting, block printing, stencilling and screen printing onto fabric. Learn how to transfer designs, carve print blocks and combine with readymade stamps to develop fabric prints for unique gifts, household items and beautiful works of art. No experience necessary, just the willingness to explore and
experiment with your ideas.

Level: Beginner-Intermediate | Cost: $825 + $55 materials

Julie Ryder is a textile designer, artist and educator based in Canberra, who has gained international recognition for her work. She has been a practicing textile artist, designer and educator for over 26 years.  She exhibits regularly both nationally and internationally. Her work is represented in many public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Powerhouse Museum and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Enjoy a week of natural dyeing and stitching to create vest, wrap or cushion covers. Learn to prepare fabric and yarn for dyeing, apply mordents, dye fabric using foraged and prepared natural dyes. Then proceed to alter the dyed fabric with post-mordents and modifiers, using brush work, block prints, stencils and shibori.  

Level: All | Cost: $825 + $25 materials

Sylvia Riley is a designer, dyer and maker specialising in resist dyeing and natural dyes. She is an active member of the World Shibori Network and has exhibited her naturally dyed creations in France, Mexico and Japan. Sylvia brings with her 18 years of experience in dyeing and professional garment construction skills.

Learn how to craft a uniquely shaped felt hat (a cloche or fedora style) using basic millinery knowledge. With just a dome block, a steamer and an iron, discover how to free form a uniquely shaped, one off masterpiece. Trims and finishing details for your felt hat will also be covered, offering further scope to customize your individual piece. Very basic hand sewing skills required. 

Level: Beginner | Cost: $825 + $35 materials

Bronwyn Shooks’ millinery career began in 2000 when, after receiving a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts, she began her training with the renowned theatrical milliner Jean Carroll OAM. Bronwyn’s work can be seen across theatre, film, and TV, including the stage musicals Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Matilda. Screen credits include: The Nightingale, The Water Diviner, A Place to Call Home, and Underbelly Razor.
Bronwyn has taught theatrical millinery at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) and TAFE NSW Sydney Institute, as well as workshops at the International Millinery Forum and masterclasses for the Millinery Association of Australia.

Be guided through the process of carving an organic, seed inspired
form from conceptual design to finish, with master wood carver, Hape Kiddle. Using seed pods and shells for inspiration, create your own design through the process of modelling and marquetting. Continue to realise your design as you are guided in carving materials selection best suited to your individual piece.

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $70 materials *some experience

Hape Kiddle is a Master wood carver and goldsmith working from his studio in Griffith NSW. He has exhibited works in group and solo shows for over a decade. His beautiful organic forms reflect a connection with the natural world and are in demand internationally. Recently the National Museum of Australia commissioned Hape to carve a sculptural work from Redgum, 2.25 metre, 600 kg depicting the great Murray River Cod.

Create your own Japanese plane called Sunroku Mamehira Kanna - a small 48mm traditional wood working tool. Fashion your “dai”, wooden block for the plane using River Oak (Casuarina) and fit the supplied Japanese plane blades from Inoue
Hamono, specialised traditional shop in Tokyo. This workshop explores chisel skills and aims to understand the plane in detail. This knowledge can be utilised in tuning western planes. Our focus is to get a good basic knowledge of the tools, including
sharpening skills.

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $190 materials *some experience

Hiroshi Yamaguchi began training as a woodworker in 1994 in Japan at Shinrin-Takumi Juku wood school, under master craftsman Osamu Shoji. 10 years teaching at the Gifu Academy of Forestry, Science and Culture followed, giving him strong experience in education. In 2012 Hiroshi moved to the ACT and established his studio Koitoya in 2016.

Immerse yourself for a week in wood veneers and fine furniture making to create a beautiful ‘sunburst’ sidetable, topped with your own design. Learn how to handle and select veneers, substrates, glues and finishes then be guided through various cutting techniques and veneer laying methods. Explore leg joinery utilising the Festool Domino machine, before shaping them with a combination of machine and hand tools.

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $165 materials *some experience

Peter Young is a former research scientist who retrained in furniture making and design at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine. He has run a solo fine woodworking practice for the past 15 years, specialising in veneering techniques including marquetry and parquetry. Peter is a regular instructor at Sturt School for Wood and a regular Summer and Winter School instructor. He is
also a frequent contributor to Australian Wood Review magazine.

Discover the decorative technique of etching copper and brass to create intricate designs and patterns with accuracy and little pain! Proceed to form your etched, flat sheet using a hydraulic press and personalise your work using your own die forms. Dies can be used repeatedly and are a useful tool in producing multiple runs of the one shape. The results of your Summer School workshop can be used to create jewellery or applied as decorative inlay into items such as wooden boxes
or furniture.

Level: All* | Cost: $825 + $70 materials

*Please note this course is not suitable for beginners. It requires basic
jewellery bench skills of sawing, filling and drilling.

Barbara Ryman has employed the techniques of etching and die forming in her career as a jeweller and enamel artist spanning almost three decades. Utilising both traditional and experimental techniques, Barbara has exhibited widely; her works are in collections in Australia and overseas. She has received many awards, particularly in Japan. Her success has enabled her to study in Nagoya with her mentor and teacher, Mr Sakurai, since 2005.