Art and Design for 11 to 15 Year Olds Chelsea Short Course
Course description
Course overview
This practical, week-long course at Chelsea College of Arts offers students the chance to explore the processes of making artwork and developing ideas in a similar working method to those used at art college and in professional art practice.
You'll engage with the work of modern and contemporary artists and designers, focusing on artistic practice, idea development, and experimentation with materials and media beyond the sketchbook. You'll also create works in different sizes and formats.
In the second half of the week, you'll develop your own personal project, moving from concept generation and experimentation to realisation and group direction. You'll then present and celebrate your work within the group on the final day of the course.
Throughout the course, you'll receive tutor demonstrations and personalised feedback to support your goals and development. There may be an opportunity for a class research visit to the Tate Britain during the course.
Who this course is for
- Students aged 11 to 15 with a passion to learn about the artistic process, from generating ideas to presenting work
- Students who want to strengthen their art portfolio, explore their creativity and build the basis for an art practice in the future
- This course includes a trip or visit off site
Key information
Topics covered
- Observational drawing
- Collaborative practice
- Idea generation
- Responding to research
- Material experimentation (painting, drawing, sculpture)
- Design and complete a project
- Project evaluation and critique
- Basic studio skills
Learning outcomes
- Make new work and explored contemporary art techniques and processes
- Develop planning skills in planning and exhibiting work which may be transferred to a portfolio for future studies
- Learn techniques to help generate new ideas for artworks based on primary research including observational drawing
- Learn basic studio skills, including how to look after materials and sustainably manage resources
- Have ability to respond to research sources with a range of different media
- Have a toolkit of techniques to start a personal project and the ability to make an informed decision about which technique is suitable for their aspirations and subject matter
- Develop strategies to generate new ideas based on researching other artists’ work
- Form the foundation for a regular drawing/art practice
- Developed your ability to critique and discuss artworks produced by themselves and their peer group
- Receive a digital badge and certificate of attendance
- Develop an open-minded approach to art and design
- Experience art school teaching
For practical information about our kids and teens courses, take a look at our kids and teens information hub. This includes details of our policies on safeguarding, food allergies, learning requirements and online study.
Materials
- Any favourite stationery that you would like to use (e.g. a sketchbook)
- Phone with camera / a camera to document work and creative development (useful)
Tutor
Francesco Poiana
Francesco Poiana, born in Italy in 1990, studied Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, then obtained a Master of Fine Arts at the Central Saint Martins in London and joined the Royal Drawing School in 2019. He lives and works between Italy and the UK. He has been involved in numerous national and international projects and exhibitions including Campari Creates "N100" at the Estorick Collection, the 7th Guanlan International Print Biennial at the China Printmaking Museum, since 2019 participating with his work at the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. He is collaborating with the film production company Rover Dreams Productions and Designwork studios in Italy. His works on paper were recently exhibited by Christie's and acquired in the Royal Collection. Since 2021 his work has been represented by Messums galleries. Poiana's practice is based around drawing, painting and printmaking and is usually concerned with landscape themes. The process often starts from an experience with particular qualities of light, memory and colour. He says that drawing is the discipline he practices every day and in which he expresses himself best since he knows himself. The distance between drawing and printmaking has become short alongside the collaboration with the celebrated Stamperia d'Arte Albicocco in Italy, of whom he has been attending the edition studio since 2018. "Using my hands, heart and mind I wish to construct a language with which one can convey their imagination and find solutions and escapes in different realities. In my work I always feel the need to chase a theme that I have not yet caught, that moves and keeps opening, expanding possibilities. In my urgency to create, I become lost and discover a new self." Poiana's works represent an intimate voyage - towards the image of an intangible place, imagined only in daydreams.Joe Richardson
Joe Richardson is a London-based multidisciplinary artist and artist-educator working across painting, drawing, walking, teaching and socially engaged practice. His work often begins with observational drawing out in the world: on trains, during walks through the city, and within everyday life. From there, he returns to moments of transition in the in-between spaces where roles, environments and ways of being shift, and where feelings of tension, balance and anxiety surface. These raw, immediate drawings often evolve into studio works, becoming paintings, cyanotypes, prints and other artefacts that carry traces of movement, place and lived experience.
Central to Joe's work is the belief that making, teaching and learning are inseparable. Through participatory projects, he invites others into the act of moving/walking and drawing, creating shared experiences and practical ways to generate imagery, reflect, and bring thought into motion. The routes he walks become a working space: a place to observe, to record notes and reflections, and to test ideas outside the studio. In this sense, drawing walks shift from incidental journeys to an essential method for connecting with place, people, and questions that shape the work and activate new ideas.
Joe regularly teaches Short Courses at UAL and is the course leader for Advanced Painting at City Lit. He holds an MA in Fine Art and MA Academic Practice from Central Saint Martins and University of the Arts London as well as a PGCert in Academic Practice from UAL. He also holds Advance HE Fellowship Status.
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