I have devised and delivered art workshops for over 20 years. What I have learnt over the years is that the biggest obstacle to creativity is self – judgment, which dampens enthusiasm and prevents progress, and takes the fun out of it!
My focus is to help participants to learn to approach the creative process with a sense of freedom; freedom to explore, to make mistakes, to experiment and let the work evolve. Once you make friends with the idea that you will make mistakes you stop holding yourself back.
A good question to ask is how can we bring a sense of wonder and curiosity towards the world and our work.
I paint in watercolour (with ink, oil pastel and wax resist) I’m inspired by traditional Japanese and Chinese ink painting, and my relationship with the natural world informs my work. Keeping things spontaneous helps me find my authentic voice
I love teaching at the art house, especially; the wonderful creative atmosphere from different activities going on all over the building, enthusiastic participants, fantastically supportive team in the office, well designed art studio & well stocked resources.
“Colette is a wonderful teacher. She’s encouraging and obviously bases her teaching on experience. Very enjoyable. I learned a great deal”
Student
Visit Colette’s website: www.colettecameronartist.co.uk.
Mark Beachell read art history at Cambridge followed by a masters in contemporary fine art at Sheffield Hallam institute of art and design. He is a lecturer in critical and contextual studies. His practice is driven by exploring ideas about science, time, exploration and the notion of the sublime. Many images derive from journeys taken in pursuit of a larger project, projects which may involve climbing an erupting volcano, searching for evidence of a meteorite impact or experiencing an alpine storm. Mark works in wide range of media, traditional and contemporary. Above all the work is driven by the pursuit of beauty.
My work ranges through various media from watercolours and oil painting to photography. The immediacy of photography allows me to explore many different areas from portraiture to landscape. I have always loved black and white photographs and still use traditional film. Water has always fascinated me and many of my paintings depict water in its many forms and how the human figure relates to it. Distortion, reflection, movement and colour are subjects I often return to. The human figure, whether in, submerged or simply near water is a source of constant inspiration. I love to be by the sea. I am inspired by many painters from Leonardo da Vinci and Giovanni Bellini to Lucian Freud and Stanley Spencer.
John currently teaches Watercolour and Life Drawing.
Carl has been working in the creative industries for longer than he cares to remember. After completing a graphic design degree in Leeds he moved to London where he worked as a freelance illustrator for publications ranging from Radio Times, Punch, and Readers Digest to New Musical Express, Select, and Sonic the Comic for which he created over fifty covers and numerous comic strips featuring Sega-owned properties and newly originated characters. More recently the focus of his work has moved towards storyboarding, mainly for TV commercials and channel branding. Amongst other work Carl storyboarded the award winning Atlas channel idents for Channel 4 in 2004. Other clients include Disney, Ridley Scott & Associates and Nickelodeon.
Whilst in London Carl ran the Children’s Book Illustration course at the City Lit in Holburn and also lectured at Chelsea College of Art and South Thames College.
In 2004 Carl moved to Malmö in Sweden, and then later to Gothenburg where he continued to create artwork for advertising and publishing for international clients. Carl has been living and working in Sheffield since 2012 and is currently working on a weekly series ‘Mobilisterna’ for the weekend magazine of the Gothenburg Post and also providing illustrations for the children’s books series ‘Barnen i Lyckeskolan’ (the Children of Luckyschool).
Areas of particular interest include comics, animation, film and cake.
"I began working at The Art House in April 2019 and I’ve really enjoyed the experience. It’s been great to meet students from different backgrounds with different skill levels and experience – I enjoy working with them all and hopefully nurturing and encouraging them. For me illustration is all about the ideas and the creative process, I’m constantly surprised and impressed by what the students come up with! I hope the lessons are enjoyable, entertaining and informative."
Website: www.carlflint.com
I believe that artists should follow their talent and a teacher points the way along this path by setting visual problems for students to solve. Over the years I met many students and all of them saw, responded and interpreted world in a new and unique way. Being able to help them on their way to develop as artists and to achieve their goals is what I find fascinating in being a tutor at The Art House.
I earned MA in Fine Art, Painting from Nicolas Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. I studied anatomy of human body, techniques of the old masters and technology of painting. I spend long hours on drawing the human form and still life. Most of all I learned to paint people, landscape in plain air and still life using mainly oil paints. I painted alla prima, inspired mainly by postimpressionists. I also learned by looking at paintings in The Hermitage, Prado, Ufizzi and Alte Pinakothek among others.
In my paintings I focus on painting imaginary landscapes using oil paints. I am inspired by the natural world and I am interested in colour relationships and how beauty brings us closer to the secrets of life. I took part in many exhibitions in the UK and abroad. In 2020 I received the Judges Prize at The Harley Open Exhibition.
If you would like to see my work visit my website www.marcinszuba.com or follow me on instagram @marcin.szuba
Inspired by my local environment, in 2004 I did a degree in Textile Crafts (after firstly completing a BTEC in General Art and Design), where I specialised in weaving. Over the years I have also tried many other types of art and craft – printing, sewing, film photography and felting, to name just a few.
When the Art House opened in 2015, I became a pottery volunteer, which has had such a positive impact on me – meeting others with a shared admiration of ceramics has been so inspiring. I love being around clay, in a studio environment and in an educational setting. The ceramic art I currently make is highly influenced by my background in textiles – I make jewellery by knotting and weaving with clay, put my handmade ceramic pendants onto cords that I carefully braid and my buttons are created with the hope that one day they will adorn handmade clothing, bags and other accessories. Like the ‘treasure’ I collect, my pieces look as though they have been weathered by nature – it’s as though water has worn their edges, the sun has bleached them and time has allowed them to acquire patina.
Until the Art House came into my life nearly 4 years ago, my whole life was about music. I’m a composer, horn player, music teacher, pianist but now I am also a pottery fanatic!
I started wheel classes at the Art House after a debilitating back injury, and found it so relaxing and inspiring that I continued both throwing and handbuilding and started practising every hour in the day I could find. I’ve been in the building almost every day for 3 years.
As a dare to myself, I applied for the 2020 Great Pottery Throw Down, and after several nervewracking auditions, won a place on the show! It was a fantastic experience, and has completely changed how I view my own work. I have more confidence in my abilities and realise that pottery should become a branch of my career.
I am starting to tutor classes when the Art House reopens, and hope to run classes on my current obsession – making unusual and functional flutes and ocarinas!
Instagram: tomjamesmusicandpottery
In my degree in sculpture I focussed on ceramics as a second subject and chose to persue a career in teaching, working with diverse groups in the community of Edinburgh. I went on to work in secondary education in Hampshire and then Glasgow. I have worked in specialist education at Freeman college, and then retraining in Horticulture to work at Seven Hills school. I have worked with primary age to Open College students.
My work is influenced by my horticultural and architectural interests. When building I focus on weight and balance mixing different clay, grog and local clay to tint surfaces. The pieces I produce are strip coiled and slab built, abstract organic in nature and incorporate oxides to enhance texture. I have been producing work for over 35 years and have exhibited in galleries and exhibitions in Dundee, Edinburgh, Manchester, Hampshire and Sheffield.
