A new term of creative courses Northlight Art Studios - the Back Door education initiative

Added Friday, 28 August 2009

Set up a year ago by the Northlight Art Studios Cooperative on Valley Road, the Back Door education initiative has successfully delivered a broad range of courses and workshops. The enterprise has helped to fill the gap left by the reduction of adult education opportunities in the area and utilises the extensive teaching experience of its membership. Building on this first year of well received and consistently high quality courses, the studios are launching a new twelve-week term from September 14th, with further opportunities for those keen to express their creativity.

Some courses have now become a well-known feature on the creative calendar and will continue to be offered to both regular and new participants. Mary Loney’s ‘Art for the Terrified’ class has proven so successful that she is now also offering an ‘Art for the Less terrified’ improvers class!

Perri Webster ‘s more general ‘Painting and Drawing’ class will again be available for all abilities. Val Hughes will lead a ‘Creative Textiles’ course giving the chance to explore and practice a range of textile techniques.

In ‘The Art of Making Books’ Helen Hayman will again offer a very creative angle on bookbinding techniques.

In addition to these established courses, the Back Door will present three new regular weekly classes. Local weaver Janet Clark will lead a ‘Weaving’ course introducing both traditional and contemporary techniques. Perri Webster will present ‘Roots of Modern art’ – an introduction to the history of art in the modern age. ‘Life Drawing’ will be taught by Don Myers and will give a structured approach for all abilities.

Alongside the regular weekly courses, a programme of day workshops gives the opportunity for an intensive full day experience. These workshops have proven popular for those who cannot commit to a regular weekly course. Planned for the Autumn are a the ‘Essential Toolkit for Writers’ - the first of a series of workshops led by Rachel Conner providing the basic tools needed for fiction writing; Don Myers will lead a ‘Long Pose Life Painting’ day; in ‘Landscape into Print’, Angie Rogers will combine looking at the local landscape with simple printmaking techniques and Perri Webster will explore expressive mark making in her ‘Experimental Drawing’ workshop.

Young budding artists should look out for a series of ‘Young Back Door’ Saturday workshops scheduled November.

Those wishing to find out more can visit the Northlight Website: or can phone 01422 843519. A special Enrolment Evening on Monday 7th September for 7-9pm will give the chance to meet the tutors and to find out more about the courses.

Thanks to Don Myers for the above information