Mentoring Course with Carys Wilson

Starting Tuesday 28th April (9:45-12:45),this Five-Session Mentoring Course with Carys Wilson offers a mixture of practical skills building sessions, group crits and individual mentoring, to enable you to move forward in your own individual practice with greater direction and purpose, with support. Suitable for artists with an established practice or have had ongoing mentoring support. Mini 'homework' tasks for you to test new ideas, put ideas into practice and be proactive in becoming more visible as a creative practitioner.

The course will continue monthly on the following dates:

April 28th (9:45-12:15)

May 26th (9:45-12:15)

June 16th (9:45-12:15)

June 30th (9:45-12:15)

July 28th (9:45-12:15)

Session 1: Finding your confidence and direction. Identifying where you want to go with your work and how you want to get your work out into the world! Work, life, play balance - identifying areas you struggle with and finding solutions, regarding work/life/studio balance, building resilience and recovery from setbacks, celebrating your successes with greater confidence. Aims and individual targets for you to follow up in your own time, to identify how you might want to develop as a visual artist.

Session 2: Practical session: Drawing and Looking: This session looks at the importance of observational drawing and how it can support your practice regardless of whether your practice is figurative, abstract or otherwise. Short individual mentoring sessions alongside practical work. Aims and individual targets for you to follow up in your own time, to identify how you want to develop your drawing and how it supports your practice.

Session 3: Writing about your work for proposals, applications, statements of intent. Talking about your work and finding that overall verbal statement that describes who you are, what you do and why you do it. Aims and individual targets for you to follow up in your own time, to identify how you might want to develop as a visual artist.

Session 4: Practical session: Monoprinting as a method to develop some of your own drawings and ideas from your practice. This session will explore line, texture, pattern, layering and the importance of finding enjoyment through playing and letting go. Short individual mentoring sessions alongside practical work. Aims and individual targets for you to follow up in your own time, to encourage you to continue to explore, play and be curious about your world and your practice.

Session 5: Practical session of walking and drawing outside (bring comfortable walking shoes), followed up with a group session of discussion/writing to identify your actions already in place within your own practice and ideas of how to move your work forward in future. Individual conversations and group exchange. Aims and individual targets for you to follow up in your own time, to identify how you might want to develop as a visual artist.

Carys Wilson is a draughtswoman and painter, based in Penwith, West Cornwall, UK. She received her BA (Hons) Fine Art from Kent Institute of Art and Design and achieved her MA Fine Art with Distinction from Aberystwyth University in 2022. Carys has exhibited her work internationally and attended residencies in England, Wales, Cyprus and Spain. She was a recent recipient of the Cultivator Cornwall Programme, alongside participating in FLAMM in 2023 and initiating the recent 'Walking Women' project at Falmouth Art Gallery.

Carys’ practice stems from a background of disciplined academic drawing and working directly from observation has always remained central to her practice. Running and walking in the wilds of Cornwall/Devon are at the core of Carys’ practice. Carys is exploring her own specifically female experience, by pushing her body physically and emotionally, as her paintings become direct responses to, and memories of, her relationship with her body and the land. Embodiment of landscape (bodyscape) is central to understanding herself and her sense of place, connection and belonging.

An experienced teacher, Carys has a background in Secondary, Higher and Further Education, working in both state and private sectors. She has facilitated projects in community environments for both children and adults, and her workshops have a strong emphasis on developing confidence, embracing process and getting to know one's materials through drawing, painting and printmaking.

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