Human Masks: Expressive Portrait

Summer school classes at Leith School of Art

LSA is one of the most highly regarded art schools in Scotland, offering a wide range of classes including drawing, painting, printmaking, and jewellery making.

The school itself is based in a converted church originally built in 1868 by Norwegian Lutherans.

Each summer the school offers an excellent variety of intense, week long courses. These classes are very popular and tend to fill up quickly. This summer I’ll be leading a class called Human Masks: Expressive Portrait.

Human Masks: Expressive Portrait

Drawing initially from the portrait and then from a selection of tribal masks, students will be encouraged to combine traditional aspects of portraiture with a more expressive way of working. The creation of exciting, mixed media portraits will be underpinned by knowledge of anatomy and the structure of the skull. Exploring colour, composition, and expression will be done through looking at the work of artists such as Gauguin, Dubuffet, Klee, Nolde and Picasso. Students will be introduced to a variety of mixed media techniques to create their ‘Primitive’ portraits.

“Primitivism is nowadays seen as a relatively recent set of ideas, arising in Western Europe in the eighteenth century at the time of the Enlightenment, which coincided with the beginning of an unprecedented period of European colonial expansion. Colonialism, in fact, lies at the heart of theories about Primitivism.” Colin Rhodes, Primitivism and Modern Art, 1994

Most days will start with a lecture relating aspects of art history to the practical work in the studio. The courses are organised so that students get the maximum out of the class; everything is laid out at the start of each day and all the materials are included in the price of the course.

This class runs:
15 – 19 August, 9:30am – 4:30pm
£280.



Who would like to spend an entire week with me in Edinburgh this summer drawing, painting and ‘getting primitive’? If this sounds like something you’d be interested in please contact Leith School of Art to book.