The Salisbury Museum: Artist Workshop led by Helen Garrett

Saturday, September 17, 2022 - 10:00 to 16:00

A full day creative workshop led by Helen Garrett, working with the idea of expressing the human condition through landscape imagery. 

The day will begin with a viewing of the Hardy’s Wessex exhibition, with a focus on landscape, drama, and expression in art. This will be followed by experimentation with materials in the work room, looking at how to create atmosphere and mood, natural mark making and effects with the ink / bleach technique.  After lunch the focus will be on drawing together ideas from the morning session into a larger ink painting on watercolour paper, adding detail and narrative and working with an image inspired by Hardy’s work.

Helen will draw on the work of Romantic painters throughout the day as well as descriptions of Hardy’s female characters and their struggles from his novels and poems. 

Helen is a practising artist and masterclass teacher based in Bridport, West Dorset.

All materials will be provided. Lunch is not included.

Venue: Lecture Hall

Course: The Art of Trees

Drawing into Life with Helen Garrett

The act of drawing is one of our most ancient and universal forms of communication and expression. During these workshops we will celebrate how each of us is inherently creative and has a unique style and approach to making art. Using natural form and trees as our inspiration, we will create a space for curiosity and wonder together.

Participants will experiment with a variety of materials including graphite, acrylic inks, charcoal Chinese brush, and collage. Poetry and sound may be woven into our learning to inspire a sensory and imaginative approach to our subject. Many participants choose to continue throughout the year so there is always a sense of warmth and welcome within the group. This course is suitable for beginners and experienced artists alike.

 Venue: The Ballroom, The Bull Hotel, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 3LF

Date: Thursdays: September 8th - October 27th 2022
Time: 10 – 12.45pm

Contact: info@helengarrett.org

Hardy’s Wessex: Drawing on the ancient past

17 June - 11 July 2022, 10:00am - 1:00pm

This six-week course led by artist Helen Garrett will take you on a creative journey through Thomas Hardy’s work, inspirations and Dorset Museum’s collections.

To celebrate ‘Hardy’s Wessex’ exhibition at Dorset Museum we will be running an exciting six -week Art course designed to encourage a deeper engagement with some of the objects on display as well as exploring some of the themes and social issues present in Hardy’s time.

Participants will have the opportunity to experiment with a variety of materials during these courses including goose feather quills, inks, Chinese brush, natural pigments, graphite and a range of nature-inspired drawing techniques and materials. This is a dynamic class where we are encouraged to experiment and enjoy creative time together. No previous artistic experience is necessary.

Drawing into Life Classes

Summer Workshops for Young Artists – July 2022

Watching the children Collage… making rubbings from natural forms, observing carefully with magnifying glasses, curiosity, wonder, joy, learning, asking questions; where did it come from?

What is it…what lived inside of this?

Touch

Hand-eye co-ordination

Sharing ideas and materials whilst we create

Collage; selecting shapes and images with care

Seeking balance

Visualizing a scene

Composition and aesthetic awareness.

Creating a concept - an idea… watching it materialise.

Making it.

Making a landscape, how will I build and construct it?

Forming a narrative, thinking about it

Wondering about evolution of life forms on this planet

Reflecting on a sense of time, change and adaptation.

Gaining confidence and reassurance when perceiving the adaptations and survival of species - of life continuing, always.

Wonder.

Please could you tell me,

Which of these qualities and skills do we not want for our children - for our next generation of adult human beings?

Why then? I ask again, are the arts and aesthetics being purposefully irradicated from the national curriculum?

Day Course: ‘Ancient Landscapes Seen and Imagined’

A one-day art course as part of the exhibition Hardy’s Wessex: the landscapes that inspired a writer, with Helen Garrett. 

Venture into the ancient landscape of Wiltshire, to see how the burial mounds and beliefs of Wessex seeped into Hardy’s writing. A short journey from Stonehenge, one of the most iconic prehistoric monuments in the world, this exhibition will explore how past and present merge in the writings of this ‘time-torn man’. Within this ancient landscape, old beliefs died hard, and Hardy’s plots are set against a background of superstition.

Through his writing Hardy evoked a sense of the landscape whether quiet, foreboding or elemental in its expression – it was almost as if the landscape stood with a watchfulness or as witness to what was to come. Hardy’s curiosity and interest in archaeology added a deep layer of meaning and poignancy to his descriptions. We sense keen observation and understanding of the sensibilities of the local country folk, their wisdom and their folly as their converging lives affect each other. How does landscape express itself through the spirit of the people? 

‘Something moves between me, and it. Place and mind may interpenetrate till the nature of both is altered. I cannot tell what this movement is except by recounting it.’ 

 Nan Shepherd -    ‘The Living Mountain’

Wiltshire Museum, Devizes, June 2022

Date:  Saturday 25 June 2022
Time:  10.30am to 3.30pm
Location:  Wiltshire Museum

Workshop: ‘Playful Spring Printing for Adults’ 

As part of Drawing into Life with Helen Garrett 

23 April 2022, 10:00am – 12:30pm

Join artist Helen Garrett for a fun morning of experimental printing from clay using natural forms as inspiration. Developing images with coloured pencils and inks, a chance to discover some new techniques! No artistic experience is necessary.

Venue: Dorset Museum, High West Street, Dorchester DT1 1XA

Date:  Saturday 23rd April 2022

Time: 10am – 12.30pm

As part of Drawing into Life with Helen Garrett 

‘The act of drawing is one of our most ancient and universal forms of communication and expression. During this workshop we will celebrate how each of us is inherently creative and has a unique style and approach to making art. Using natural form as inspiration we will create a space for curiosity and wonder together’

Participants will use and experiment with a variety of materials including graphite, charcoal, Chinese brush inks and reed pens. Poetry and sound will be woven into our learning to inspire a sensory and imaginative approach to our subject. Many participants choose to continue throughout the year so there is always a sense of warmth and welcome within the group. No previous artistic experience is necessary. 

Venue: The Ballroom, The Bull Hotel, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 3LF

Dates:     Thursday 3rd March - April 7th 2022

Time:      10am – 12.30pm

The Poetic Imagination

A Journey Through Natural Form with Helen Garrett

Using natural form as our starting place and inspiration we will work in an intuitive way allowing our writing to emerge naturally from our sense of connection with material and the power of the imagination. We will explore ideas around language, perception and diversity and create poetry together. Participants with have the opportunity to use goose feather quills and Chinese ink for writing.

Story Town Festival, The Table Gallery, Corsham, Wiltshire, October 17th 2020

Drawing on the Ancient Past

During this eight-week course we will be Drawing on the Ancient Past for inspiration; from rocks and fossils in the earth to Cave Art, Celtic Art and even some Anglo Saxon treasure. We will work on developing our foundational drawing skills as well as having the opportunity to experiment with new and exciting materials including Graphite, Charcoal, grinding raw earth pigments and painting in gold.

We will have access to some of the artefacts in this wonderful museum collection; this offers us a unique opportunity to connect with history in a closely profound and imaginative way.

Wiltshire Museum, Devizes, 2020

Wiltshire Museum

Drawing into Life with Helen Garrett

Ancient Landscapes

Many artefacts in the Wiltshire Museum collection represent people who held a deep knowledge and understanding of their local landscape and who used their resources creatively and efficiently.

These people worked the land, through necessity, tending crops and animals producing meat, milk, wool, and skins. Bone was made into tools. Flint and stone were mined and building materials such as wood gathered from nearby woodlands. Trading provided other desired and sought-after goods. 

Clay was scraped from the earth and formed into offerings then thrown into rivers or placed at a sacred spring, hill or hollow, holding the inner world of the people together through meaning and symbolism. It is thought that white chalk covered certain ancient sites perhaps creating a glow as night fell and so was recognisable to the community - illuminated against the dark landscape.

Special knowledge of how to work with metals held a magical status as we notice with our ‘Shaman’ displayed enigmatically in the Wiltshire Museum.

Was this connection to material and the immediate landscape beneficial psychologically to the human sense of identity and belonging?

How do we relate now to our own immediate surroundings if they are no longer a necessity?  Does having a strong connection with landscape enhance our sense of self and community? Does it still matter? 

Drawing Into Life

Connecting Through Drawing

The act of drawing is one of our most ancient and universal forms of communication and expression. During this course we will celebrate how each of us is inherently creative and has a unique style and approach to making art. Using natural form as inspiration we will create a space for curiosity and wonder together.

Drawing often requires a particular kind of attention as we work with our subject. It could be said that drawing increases our sensitivity to the world around us. Noticing our initial approach to drawing can reveal at times our wider approach to life. How do we make our mark? and what happens when we try to change our normal patterns.

This reflective eight - week course will bring our attention to the intricate patterns and rhythms of the natural world and strengthen our own sense of connection and belonging. Participants will be able to experiment with a variety of drawing materials. No previous artistic experience is necessary.

The Pound Arts Centre, Corsham, Wiltshire, September 2020

The Nature of Relationship

Exploring Human Connection Through Drawing

With Artist Helen Garrett

The act of drawing is one of our most ancient and universal forms of communication and expression. This dynamic workshop will combine drawing with an inquiry into relationship - encouraging curiosity in the relationships we notice within nature and how we may relate as individuals to others and the world around us. Using natural form as inspiration we will work with simple drawing exercises that illustrate ideas of information, perception and our unique approach to experiencing the world - drawing influence from philosophy and Eastern thought and painting techniques.

This reflective half day workshop will bring our attention to the intricate patterns and rhythms of the natural world we will celebrate how each of us has a unique style and approach to making art.

Participants will use and experiment with a variety of materials including natural inks, charcoal, graphite and Chinese brush.

“Relationship is the fundamental truth of this world of appearance”

Rabindranath Tagore - Indian Poet and Philosopher

Cowslip Studio, Corsham, Wiltshire, August 2020

Painting With Nature

Painting with nature is a course designed to encourage you to explore natural form in all its beauty and variety. This Autumn we will be looking at how nature has inspired individual artists as well as some important art movements, such as Impressionism, The Romantics, The Expressionists, and the mindful embodiment of nature within Chinese painting. Our course will include observational drawing, painting with acrylic, reed pens and inks on paper. Poetry and sound will be woven into our learning to inspire a sensory and imaginative approach to our subject. This course runs as a series of 8-week blocks. Many participants choose to continue throughout the year, so there is always a sense of warmth and welcome within the group.

Pound Arts Centre, Corsham, Wiltshire, September 2018