EMILY BALL AT SEAWHITE | CONTEMPORARY DRAWING AND PAINTING COURSES |
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JOE PACKER & JULIAN BROWN
| Inspiring tutors, fantastic courses - book now! |
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Image: Julian Brown and Joe Packer working in their studios
Dear Visitor We are proud to have such a diverse and talented team of tutors at the Seawhite Studio. In this newsletter, we wanted to focus on two of them and the courses they are offering in 2024. Guest tutors Joe Packer and Julian Brown are both highly regarded and prolific artists who are committed to exploring the process of paintings in their own work and within the courses they teach at the studio. Their willingness to generously share their phenomenal knowledge and expertise through their teaching inspires other artists to try new approaches and develop their own creative practice.
Over the next 6 months we are delighted that Joe and Julian will be delivering several taught courses - and in Joe’s case a residency - here at the Seawhite Studio. Read on to find out more about each artist’s work, painting philosophy and their upcoming courses. |
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Joe Packer’s paintings evoke a mysterious natural world. Glowing glazes reveal sculptural stems whilst richly coloured and multi-layered petals envelop much of the canvas. His paintings have “…evolved through making processes that are not preplanned or prescriptive, creating paintings that aim to function as self-contained worlds, constructed objects with a kind of inner life of their own. Not reflecting the landscape, but recreating it.” (artist bio, Contemporary British Painting website) Joe’s deep fasciation with natural forms and the natural world informs not only his work but the courses he delivers at the Seawhite Studio. Observing their structure and exploring their spatial qualities are key parts of his courses – along with techniques such as layering, glazing and collage. He has so much to offer in terms of experience and expertise, and has an uncanny knack for structuring courses so that ideas and approaches are built up, helping students to not only develop richly nuanced work, but also develop their confidence in their creative abilities. The tools and techniques that he shares on his courses can equip students with new ideas that can feed subsequent work for months to come. |
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Image: LeefDream II and Duskcluster Luvsong, Joe Packer
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TRACING NATURE Lines, layers, patterns and rhythms with Joe Packer at the Seawhite Studio 12-14 February, £325 |
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Image: Studies for Tracing Nature (Joe Packer)
Shells, coral, fossils, seed pods, butterflies, insects, wood, mosses, feathers
Responding to natural objects using only line - and only in black and white – might initially seem like quite a strict limitation but it will become a liberating and versatile approach.
During this course, Joe will encourage you to experiment with layering, adapting and editing visual information according to criteria that are arrived at through the making processes rather than according to pre-conceived ideas. A key intention of the course is to help you explore how setting yourself some rules can sometimes result in more inventive results than an ‘anything goes’ approach. |
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Image: Joe Packer with his preparatory studies for Tracing Nature
“Joe was very good at showing the different stages so when you were doing what he asked, you had no stress of whether it was right or wrong, just a process.” ~ Bridget Gladwin, participant on Organic Structures course. For more information about the course and to book, please click on the button below: |
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ORGANIC STRUCTURES Spatial experiments in collage
With Joe Packer at the Seawhite Studio 13-15 May, £325
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Image: Studio set up during Joe Packer's Organic Structures course
“I was looking for a course that offered this level of inspiration and instruction; I wanted to do a course that would stretch me and give me ideas into a new way of working and process…The course has now kick started me to look at different approaches to my art. I am also intending to use sections of from my collages to turn into paintings, so the course has enabled in me a find a new process to work.” ~ Jane Horton
With the Natural world as your focus, ORGANIC STRUCTURES invites you to hone your skills of close up observation and experiment with new collage and glazing methods in order to create large scale work. |
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Image: students work created during last year's Organic Structures course
"The goal will not be to produce ‘finished works’ but rather to think about new approaches to making images that artists can then take back into their own practice." Joe Packer
During this three-day course you will make a minimum of 2 large scale collages informed by research and resource drawings and paintings, made prior to commencement of the large scale works. The course will start with making a succession of drawings from close up observation of flora and fauna, to establish shapes and forms that can then be used in different stages as ingredients for making components for larger works, constructed through collage making processes and incorporating painting and glazing techniques. |
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For more information about the course and to book, please click on the button below: |
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STUDIO RESIDENCY WEEK with Joe Packer at the Seawhite Studio 10-14 June, £480 |
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Image: Joe Packer working in his studio
"The opportunity to share the experimental nature of my often intuitive painterly explorations in real time with other painters is something that I think will be mutually inspiring and useful. I look forward to what will be a productive and rewarding 5 days.” ~ Joe Packer
This week-long residency offer dedicated time and space to commit to making your work. It’s a space to spread out and see your work as a whole, or one where you choose to work large or in series. It is a physical and mental space that you can stretch into and perhaps do work that you would not dare to do by yourself, in your own studio. Working alongside Joe is an invaluable opportunity to see how he approaches his own work and navigates the highs and lows of painting as it progresses. Joe’s role during the residency is to support each artist and facilitate group discussions, rather than to lead and “teach”. Supported and inspired by the company of other artists, the residencies are characterised by a positive and productive working environment – a lot can be achieved in five days!
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Image: Joe Packer teaching Organic Structures as a pre-recorded course
For more information about the residency (including the application process) and to book, please click on the button below: |
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Julian has a phenomenal knowledge of materials. He shows great sensitivity when he talks to each person about their work, gently guiding and making suggestions to ensure that they get as much as they can from his courses. Within his own work, there is a tension between control and expression. His paintings are a visual feast, containing an extraordinary balance of structured rhythm and geometry overlayed with smooth beguiling slices of colour that skip and loop over the surface. We asked Julian to share his thoughts on his forthcoming course in February and how he is beginning to prepare for it:
“Wherever we look or listen there are patterns and rhythms around us, from nature, textiles, architecture or music it’s part of our understanding of the world.
"This week I’ve been inspired by the crisp morning walks to the studio. The landscape is so stunningly beautiful at this time of year, where everything is pared down and back to its most minimal. All you need to do is look up into the trees and observe the majestic architecture of nature. The branch structure , the complexity of rhythm and the fracturing of space start to get me excited; it gets me thinking about the abstract systems, pattern and the intertwining of spatial planes that we will exploring on the course." ~ Julian Brown |
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Images: Tree branches, photographed by Julian Brown
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FREEDOM OF ABSTRACTION Expansive Large Scale Painting
With Julian Brown at the Seawhite Studio 19-21 February, £300 |
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Image: Liz Crossfield's work station during Julian Brown's Residency week
“By stripping back painting to its most primary concerns and looking at the relationship between yourself and the materials, we can discover painting through its most tactile components: process, surface and touch." ~ Julian Brown
In this course, Julian invites you to explore rhythms in abstraction by making a collection of expansive, large scale paintings and drawings. Core to the course will be the importance of creating systems to underpin your work and developing the work through layering, mark making and expression. It’s a chance to work on an ambitious scale and throughout the course there will be a number of different exercises to help develop the work. With a focused look on surfaces and processes, Julian will also guide you through an examination of the history of abstraction along with contemporary artists and their techniques, showing the expansive ways they are making paintings. |
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Image: Julian Brown work station during his Studio Residency Week
“I particularly enjoyed learning about Julian’s approach to developing systems and processes. I loved having specific drawing exercises to do as a starting point and some background information about abstract artists. The individual suggestions as to how the work was progressing was extremely helpful. I found Julian encouraging and very generous in his approach.” ~Julie Howells, participant on Julian’s previous course Patterns and Rhythms of Abstraction
Julian's course is now fully booked, but to join the waiting list and for more information about the course , please click on the button below: |
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