Adults
West Cork Arts Centre is a resource for adults who are interested in the arts. There are opportunities for adults, art students and artists to further their education and experience of the arts and to network through projects like Life Drawing, Creative Writing, Painting and Drawing Courses, Masterclasses, Artists’ Talks, Seminars and Events. Many of which are available through our Artists in Residence public engagment Programmes, see residencies here.
There are a number of opportunities to explore Contemporary Dance through our Dance Programme
Find your Flow with Rebecca Keyser
First Friday of the Month from 4 October
2.00pm to 4.00pm
Booking through Becky only bexykeyser@gmail.com
thewellbeingnetwork.ie/49northstreet.ie
This session is designed to support people in finding their own creative path. With a wide range of materials available, participants are encouraged to make choices based on whichever medium they are drawn to. Letting go of any pressure to 'do a good picture', the emphasis is on discovery through experimenting.
Guidance is given when required, as well as introduction to techniques and ways of getting started. Music is always playing in the background, which helps create a relaxed atmosphere whereby participants can get lost in the process of art-making; or chat and share ideas.
Freedom to explore both materials and ideas can frequently lead to being pleasantly surprised! No previous experience is required, this group meets on the first Friday of each month.
'Our purpose isn't to learn to be creative; it's to cultivate our innate creativity; it's a drawing out, not a putting in' - Iain M. Robertson (from 'Cultivating Creativity').
Rebecca is graduate in Visual Art (Sherkin/DIT). Her approach to art-making is intuitive and multi-disciplinary, though she is primarily a painter. She has worked as an Artist Facilitator in a wide range of settings since 1996, and with the Mental Health Service since 2001.
Rebecca has also created art groups in the community across West Cork in conjunction with CMHCR/HSE over the last fifteen years. This includes one at creative hub No. 49 North St, Skibbereen.
She has undertaken residencies and collaborated with artists and writers over the years as part of other award-based projects and initiatives funded by Uillinn, HSE and Cork County Arts Council.
Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, No.49 North St. and HSE Mental Health Engagement and Recovery
Arts in Healthcare Workshops - For Healthcare Professionals working with Older People
Series of 3 evening workshops at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre
Tuesdays 12 to 26 November at 5.45pm - 7.45pm
Free to participate for HSE Cork Kerry Community Healthcare staff. All materials provided. Booking on info@westcorkartscentre.com or call 028 22090
You are invited to join a short series of three sessions to explore art in the context of building your own creative confidence in making and working with various art materials. While working, conversation will explore arts in the context of working with older adults and ways of working with artists who visit healthcare settings.
The series will include printmaking, drawing and bookmaking, exploring traditional art forms in a contemporary way. An important part of the sessions will be in giving yourself the opportunity to take time out to maintain personal wellbeing, reduce stress and warn off burn out through engaging and relaxed workshops.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Tyrone born visual artist Sarah is a graduate of Textiles from DJCAD Dundee, Scotland. Working across disciplines she uses textiles, print and illustration. She has been working on the Arts for Health partnership programme since 2008. Sarah builds creative connections through a combination of making and storytelling, while using a multi-sensory approach.
Sarah is the recipient of several Awards including from Cork County Council, Creative Ireland and the Arts Council.
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Life Drawing with Cora Collins
Four Fridays
Beginning on Friday 1 November, 10:15 – 12:30
Four Sessions €125 [10 hours]
All Materials Provided
Limited Spaces
Book in Advance
Hosted by Cora Collins
A Welcoming and non-intimidating workshop for artists of all skill levels drawing from life!
Contact Cora on [087] 8319929 or email coracollins.cc@gmail.com
Wilding the Watercolour - Contemporary watercolour workshops with Noël O´Callaghan
Wednesday's 13 November to 11 December, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
www.noel-o-callaghan.com
Booking direct with artist - 085 2748144 / nocal@gmx.net
This watercolour courses is energetic and bold in direction, taking inspiration from fauvism and expressionism.
The emphasis is on embracing the dynamic nature of the material, enjoying its sensuality and fluidity rather than a strict academicism. However, we also study classical techniques and concepts such as washes, layering, perspective, figure, foreground and background, and using the white of the paper as light. In other words, we find out about the rules, question them - and then break and bend them to serve our own individual creativity!
Watercolour as a medium is sometimes perceived as staid and conservative, but this does not have to be the case. In fact, the immediacy of watercolour makes it especially suitable to spontaneous work. The materials are light to transport making it perfect for outdoor work (even for those without a car) and because it is odourless and fast-drying, it is especially suitable for people with limited, or no, studio space. This workshop provides an opportunity to try out and get advice on professional quality watercolour paint, brushes and paper get a feel for the materials before committing to the expense of purchasing your own.
I will give a brief demonstration and present examples from my own work and that of artists such as Turner, Emile Nolde and John Marin. Then students experiment with colour and composition while receiving personal attention and suggestions. We explore the various properties of paper ans brushes,look at colour theory and colour recipes, gestural mark-making, negative space and practice exercises which take the fear and nervousness out of making a watercolour. We will strike the balance between delicacy, transparency, strength and intensity which makes for a vibrant, lively and modern watercolour.
We will also look at ways of rescuing ‘failed’ works in what is often considered an unforgiving medium. I will share tips on reusing and recycling materials, thus promoting sustainability in our practice. This is not only beneficial in terms of the environment and our pocket, but also helps to loosen up and can lead to painting in a freer manner.
Finally we will evaluate our output and discuss what we like (or don't like) in our own paintings. Then, using mounts and frames, we will see how these radically change our perception of our work. There is no pressure to create a "finished" work but most participants make at least one watercolour which they want to frame and have the basis for a number of others which will evolve to completion over time.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Born in Cork City, Noël’s early art experience was in the studio of her father, the artist, Diarmuid O´Ceallachain, who was teacher of painting at the Crawford College. She studied for a time at the Crawford College but found the art school system restrictive and left to follow a course of self-study through constant life-drawing and plein-air painting. She has used this experience to help many students to discover their own unique creative "voice" She graduated with a B.A. in English and History from UCC. She has worked as a professional actor, singer and percussionist in both Ireland and Berlin where she moved in the mid-80s. These experiences all feed into her art practice. She has exhibited widely with solo and juried shows in Germany, Ireland, China, the U.S and U.K. and has taken part in many festivals and events. She has received awards from the both the Irish Arts council and the Berlin Ministry of Culture and her work can be found in many private and public collections. She works in her studio in Berlin and, more recently, West Cork where she now also has a studio.
Events for 2024 include Feathers for Rosa a tribute to Rosa Luxemburg which will premiere at The New Theatre, Dublin in March and includes, painting, performance, music, poetry and film of which she is co- author; Changelings in Nighttown, a figurative solo exhibition at the Galerie Michaela Helfrich, Berlin, opening 16th June as part of the Zeitgeist Irland 24 festival an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Dept. of Foreign Affairs; Somewhere Else a solo show of landscape oriented work at Cnoc Buí Art Centre, Union Hall in July. She has been awarded a two-month residency at Uillinn beginning in autumn.
Among the places she has shown are : The Highlanes Gallery Open,(shortlisted for the Janet Mularney prize) Boyle Arts Featival main exhibition, The Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Uillinn, the West Cork Art Centre (Affinities, solo show with her father’s work), RHA, Dublin, RUA, Belfast, Dublin Theatre festival main programme, Catherine
Hammond Gallery@ VUE, The Fenton Gallery, Cork, The Drawing Hub, Berlin, Gallery im Turm, Berlin, Hallward Gallery, Dublin, Origin Gallery, Dublin., Lavitt Gallery Cork, Kunstverein T27, Berlin, Galerie in Körnerpark, Berlin, Brecht Haus, Berlin, Galerie Michaela Helfrich, Berlin
Mark Making & Mixed media with Catherine Weld: Abstracting from Life
Booking directly with Catherine on 0858308918 or catherineweld@gmail.com
With the introduction of many new exercises, these sessions will be suitable for those who have attended my courses before, as well as first time participants of all levels of experience.
In addition to individual and group mark-making and drawing exercises that will enable you to explore and develop your individual visual language, we will work from life to find the key elements – shapes, line and tone - that are the building blocks of composition, structure, rhythm and, through these, expression. As always, the emphasis will be on process - it will be an opportunity to practice letting go of ideas about outcomes or finished work and to enjoy using the materials and being in the moment. At the same time you will be learning skills that can be applied to your work outside of the class, regardless of medium or style.
The size of the group (6 - 8 people) will ensure mutual support and trust. The short coffee breaks each week will be an opportunity for discussion around art themes, sometimes using a short art film as a starting point, and chatting about shared ideas and experiences related to art and life, which is always inspiring and enriching. The aim is that the course overall provides time away from everyday life and concerns, to dedicate to creativity and enjoyment with like-minded people.
About the facilitator
Catherine Weld’s creative career began in the UK as a social documentary photographer, followed by seven years as facilitator of a hospice-based project making books and films with people at the end of life. A graphic design degree followed but finding commercial work restrictive, she moved to West Cork in 2012 and committed fully to life as a painter, which offers the solitude, risk and freedom to which she is temperamentally best suited.
Alongside painting, she loves life drawing and teaching adults mark-making at West Cork Arts Centre and from her studio. She also enjoy the challenges of exhibition curation and has been involved in several environmental campaigns through the arts.
She has exhibited widely including at the RA Summer Show in London, the RUA in Belfast, and the Vue Art Fair, RHA, Dublin. Paintings are in the OPW and Cork County Council art collections as well as in private homes in Germany, Switzerland, the U.S.A., the U.K. and Ireland.
Skibbereen Community Choir – Liz Clark
Thursdays 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Weekly on Thursday's
Pay as you go €6 per session or pay for a block of 6 sessions for €30
No booking required
Weekly social choir sessions for everyone who would like to sing - even those that think they can’t!
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Liz Clark is an Ireland-based singer, songwriter, performer, and musician. Liz has recorded 5 full length studio albums of original songs. She has performed and collaborated throughout the US and Europe working solo engagements as well as collaboratively in a group and leading full bands. She has performed alongside the likes of Sarah Maclachlan, Emmylou Harris, The Counting Crows and others. Over the past ten years she has been working extensively in the Arts and Health context in which she developed a collaborative approach to the songwriting process in healthcare settings across West Cork. As part of the Arts For Health Partnership Programme, she developed The Starling Song Project which preserves stories and heritage from older participants in the form of song. From this work, she developed The Starling Band, involving 3 other singers and instrumentalists to showcase this music in a wider context outside of the hospitals. They have been featured at the Skibbereen Arts Festival twice and performed in pubs and concert venues throughout West Cork. Liz is the leader of a community choir and 2 HSE choirs for the wellbeing of staff. She is the host of a new podcast, produced by Arts For Health, discussing ways of working, inspiration, pitfalls and challenges in the arts and health sector."
National Drawing Day
National Drawing Day began at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2005. Now in its eighteenth year, the initiative has blossomed, with thousands of people taking part each year all over Ireland. National Drawing Day is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Events, whether onsite, offsite or online, encourage and support access to the arts for all, regardless of age, ability or social circumstances.
Slow Art Day
Founded in 2010, Slow Art Day is a global event (more than 1,500 museums and galleries have participated) with a simple mission: help more people discover for themselves the joy of looking at and loving art.
Why slow?
When people look slowly at a piece of art they make discoveries. The most important discovery they make is that they can see and experience art without an expert (or expertise).
And that’s an exciting discovery. It unlocks passion and creativity and helps to create more art lovers.
Continuing Professional Development and Training
WCAC creates opportunities for artists and other professionals for training, networking, employment, creating new work, exhibiting work, dissemination of experience and ideas and creative exchange through Pre-School Arts Training; Arts and Disability training; Learning Days for Artists; Critical Discussion and Professional Development for Artists.
Professional Development for Artists
This part of the programme is about the individual artist and devising appropriate methods to increase their knowledge, awareness and skills. This may take the form of mentoring, bringing in professionals with specialised crew of knowledge and experience to mentor and work alongside artists of WCAC. We also support artists with less experience to work alongside our more experienced artists in a assisting, or learning role. Another key element involves sourcing ongoing appropriate and relevant training for artists and supporting artists to attend courses, conferences and seminars nationally and internationally.
Image: BAVA Film Course May 2017.Photograph Kevin O'Farrell
