More than 30 one-day courses will take place at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation, near Chichester in West Sussex, during August and September for those who are yearning creativity, escapism or to perhaps learn a new skill in a day. It’s a perfect opportunity to inject a new experience and creative interlude into summer in the UK.

Many of the courses, which have just been released online, are suitable for all levels and include painting and drawing; gardening; metalsmithing; ceramics; learning your family history; millinery flowers; sculpture; letterpress; woodworking; fan-making and basketry. Prices start at £128.

New courses during August include: an Introduction to linocut with Mary Dalton (Thursday, August 6/ beginners/ £144), while Anne Tomlin is focussing on Millinery flowers, a quintessential English silk rose (Thursday, August 6/ suitable for all/ £138) and a week later: Metalsmithing with Cara Wassenberg, which offers the chance to forge a three-dimensional textured panel (Thursday, August 13/ Intermediate/ £149). Later in August; Chris Gilvan-Cartwright will be focussing on Large scale expressive figurative painting (Thursday, August 20/ Intermediate/advanced/ £174); Annie Guilfoyle will be giving tips on Creating a planting plan (Saturday, August 22/ Suitable for all/ £128) and Deborah Petch is giving an Introduction to ink (Saturday, August 22/ Beginners/ £144).

September sees an impressive range of courses, with the new including Tom Boulton’s Letterpress – poster printing (Thursday, September 10/ Beginners/ £148); Annabel Tilley will be teaching Paper cut-outs - colour, line and form (Saturday, September 19/ suitable for all/ £140); while Helen Turner will be offering Painting with mixed media (Thursday, September 24/ Intermediate/advanced/ £136) and Caroline Allington will be giving An introduction to fan making (Saturday, September 26/ Beginners/ £158).

As Alison Baxter, Head of School of Art, West Dean College of Arts and Conservation, commented: “We are very pleased to be releasing new one day short courses as the College looks forward to welcoming students back into the workshops and studios We’ve got a brilliant line up of tutors from across the UK, and there’s a lot of interest in learning new skills at the moment.”

To ensure a safe and welcoming campus, the College has put in place measures operating on a principle of the same as, or better than, national guidelines. This includes social distancing, self-opening doors, less students in workshops, and extensive cleaning and sanitising protocols to protect students and staff. For more details on Social Distancing and COVID-19 measures, please visit https://www.westdean.org.uk/coronavirus  

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