News

West Dean College of Arts and Conservation is on a mission to get more of us tapping into our creativity with a new Make Time to Make campaign to launch a wide range of 300 short courses, which have just been released online. From October 2020 to April 2021, new courses include Crime Writing; Letterpress; Japanese woodblock printmaking and Painting on the iPad. There will also be a week in February (14-18) devoted to Sustainability titled RE-SEEN, that encourages participants to reclaim or reinvent through courses such as plastic-smithing and sustainable weaving as well as re-using and recycling your exisiting paintings or print work, making sculpture from scrap metals and creating ceramics incorporating found objects.

The College offers an escape to recharge, get hands on with arts and craft skills and boost your wellbeing in the process. Set in the heart of the South Downs National Park, in a stunning location, the College’s rural setting makes it particularly attractive as more of us take the opportunity to reconnect with and discover the restorative power of the natural environment. Many of the courses use the surroundings for inspiration.

The tutors are experts drawn from across the UK and there are several new tutors for the New Season. Many of the courses, are suitable for all levels and include painting and drawing; gardening; metalsmithing; ceramics; creative writing; textiles; sculpture; jewellery; woodworking and basketry. Prices start from £128.

New courses include Sustainable weaving with found and upcycled materials with Rita Parniczky (14-18 February/£519/suitable for all); Wild textiles – foraging and natural dyeing with Sarah Burns (25–27 October/ £299/Beginners/Intermediate); Waste not – screenprinting and stitch to re-imagine found fabrics with Maxine Sutton (27–30 October/£410/suitable for all) and an introduction to painting on the iPad with Roz Hall (30 October/£128/Beginners).
For further information on courses running at West Dean College, click here.