Tragedy and Triumph : The Story of Polar Exploration
Few stories in exploration are as fascinating as the early attempts to find a way through the North-West Passage and the expeditions to be first at the North and South Poles. In the most hostile environments on earth, men perished, … More details …
The Virgin and The Gypsy, Vile Bodies &, Mapp & Lucia – Portraits of the nineteen twenties?
Do these novels by DH Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh and EF Benson seem an eclectic selection? They’re three titles you might have bought in the years 1930 and 1931. Are they still relevant today? What kind of reader would you be? … More details …
Art and architecture along the Silk Road
This course will take us on a journey in the footsteps of the merchants who travelled the Silk Road, studying some of the sites they would have seen in the first millenium when mercantile activity was at its height. We … More details …
Did the Berlin Wall Ever Fall
A blow-by-blow account of the most radical, unexpected and peaceful example of regime change ever witnessed, through the lens of contemporary images, videos and texts. We will consider how brave people brought down an oppressive government that, even months before … More details …
Shadow Appliqué
This course will not be running on this date but we hope to offer it again later in the year. Shadow Appliqué is a stylised appliqué technique and is also known as Shadow Quilting. The subject matter is usually flora … More details …
Great Spanish Masters: El Greco, Velázquez, Goya
El Greco was born in Crete, but later painted in Italy and then Madrid and Toledo. His highly dramatic and expressionistic art was not appreciated in his own time, but much regarded in later centuries. His altarpieces and religious themes … More details …
Paris 1925: The Birth of Art Deco and Modernism
This course is fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be placed on a waiting list for any cancellations. A thoroughly French affair, the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale Des Arts Decoratifs et Industrials Moderne was dominated by … More details …
Reading Paintings
This course is fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be added to the waiting list for any cancellations. Explore the links between art and literature, from the Mona Lisa to The Lady of Shalott. We will … More details …
Lionheart and Lackland – the reigns of King Richard and King John
In this course we will explore the reigns of the Plantagenet kings Richard and John. The course will cover the Third Crusade, the Angevin wars with France, the First Barons War and Magna Carta. Over six weeks we will consider … More details …
Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and the Fin de Siècle
This course will unfortunately not be running on the date advertised. It is being postponed to a later date, which will be confirmed in due course. Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula provides a fascinating look at late nineteenth-century concerns. This … More details …
Fierce Tears: A Day with Dylan Thomas
Original, intuitive and imaginative, Dylan Thomas brought his obsession with words and imagery into all his work: his poetry, stories, plays and radio broadcasts. But he also fostered a scandalous reputation as a hard-living, drunken, doomed poet who compromised his … More details …
Pools, Piers and Pleasure: Architecture at the Seaside
This day school explores the distinctive architectural heritage of Britain’s seaside resorts. Starting in the Georgian era, it will cover the evolving range of building types that provided first for health tourists, then for pleasure seekers. Cast iron was the … More details …
The Art of Cornwall – Newlyn and Lamorna
This course is now fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be placed on the waiting list for any cancellations. This day-school will examine how the foundations of modern painting developed in Cornwall in the late 1880s … More details …
Mixed Media Returns
Unfortunately, this course will not be running due to low numbers of bookings. Drawing, Painting, Printing and Collage. Have a go at all these media in an encouraging and stimulating group. You will produce artworks that may surprise and even … More details …
The Art of Cornwall – St Ives
This course is now fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be placed on the waiting list for any cancellations. This day-school will examine how the evolution of modern painting gained momentum during the middle of the … More details …