This year we're offering a great range of classes to enable you to immerse yourself in art. Discover the joys of painting, sculpture, printmaking and more in small classes of up to 12 students, so you are guaranteed individual attention.

Scroll down to read through the many art classes and workshops available this term.  If you would like to discuss your options, please call us on 9564 1519.

Find out more about our tutors on the Teachers and Artists page.  You can also click on the tutor's name in the course information below to find out more.

Download an enrolment form here!

We'll announce Term 2 courses in mid March and, while many courses and workshops will be the same, we regularly add new classes to our program.  So, be sure to join our mailing list and check the website regularly for updates!

Students 16 years and over are also welcome to enrol in any adult art class (and receive a 10% discount on the adult fees).

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Enjoy the art of drawing. Designed for those who "can't draw a straight line"! Discover the pleasure of being able to reproduce an object in pencil and represent it in an artistic manner. A course for the raw beginner to learn about contour drawing, tonal drawing and lineal drawing.

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This course is designed to enhance and develop your skills in painting whilst working with an experienced artist. You'll use acrylic paints with either brush or other application methods.

During the course the techniques, materials and tools required for painting in acrylic will be explained and demonstrated whilst creating a work of your own choice.

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Sophie Gralton's art is a celebration of the innocence and simple pleasures of childhood. In this eight-week course, you will learn elements of Sophie's style which relies on layering, texture and a sense of re-invention. Painting in oils on collage, you will explore subjects close to you and learn to create beautiful layered artworks on canvas or board, incorporating personal objects and collage materials in your work.

View Sophie's recent exhibition at the Charles Hewitt Gallery

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This course is perfect if you haven't picked up a paintbrush since high school and want to learn some essential skills in drawing and painting working in oils, or acrylics if you prefer. This is a step-by-step approach for beginners or people wishing to venture back into the world of art.

Level I develops essential skills in drawing and colour, form, tone and composition. Exploring drawing and painting from the still life and other source material, you will learn fundamental principles of art. If you are looking for your first step back into art to gain some skills and confidence before embarking on other art courses, then this is the course for you.

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A perfect introduction to the world of chalk pastels. Learn how to create exciting and vibrant pictures from these beautiful chalks. Develop skills in composition, design and colour harmony. Work from your own drawings or photographs to develop finished works in pastel.

During this course you will explore the different surfaces available and when and why we use them. Some basic drawing skills would be an advantage, however, having said that, you will learn these as well.

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Learn to create beautiful and unique art on canvas, card or paper. Each week you will experiment with a variety of mediums and techniques, including watercolour painting, drawing, needlepoint and collage. This course is perfect for anyone who enjoys drawing, watercolour painting, or wishes to integrate a variety of methods and materials with their art.

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This course is perfect if you haven't done any art since high school and is a step-by-step approach for beginners or people wishing to venture back into the world of art.

Level I develops essential skills in drawing and colour, form, tone and composition working in pencil and pastels from the still life and other source material. If you are looking for your first step back into art to gain some skills and confidence before embarking on other art courses, then this is the class for you. Subsequent terms will build on these skills and then introduce painting techniques.

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This course is for anyone who wants to develop their oil painting skills. This eight week course covers techniques, colour mixing and use and care of oil painting materials. You will learn classical technique and theory by painting studies from still life, and enjoy personal expression through painting your choice of subject matter.

This course is suitable for anyone with basic drawing and painting skills. No oil painting experience is necessary.

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Learn how to 'see' a picture, and how to capture that moment in your sketchbooks, en-plein-air with various media. These sketches and paintings turn into precious pictorial diaries of your travels and can then be used to create works for exhibition in the same tradition and method that artists have used down through the centuries.

You will be shown how to gather your materials for outdoor work. The course will progress from learning to look critically and rapid sketching in sketchbooks, handling watercolour in the field, understanding the tonal scale and the laws of colour, to translating travel sketches into studio paintings for showing. A typical class will combine demonstrations with doing your own work.

Some drawing skills necessary for this course.

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Learn how to design your own fabric or print designs on t-shirts, tea towels or canvas bags in this six week course. You will learn to use simple but effective techniques with stencils and silkscreens. This course will introduce you to some easy and fun printing techniques, and give you an understanding of the formal elements and principles of design.

Course fee includes use of screens and inks. Bring your own t-shirts or other items to print.

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A course designed to enhance and develop skills in life drawing. With supervision from an experienced artist, you'll use various mediums, such as charcoal, crayon, pencil, conte, chalks, pastels and other items of equipment.

During the course, the techniques and materials required will be explained and demonstrated whilst you draw from a nude figure. Each session will commence with warm up sketches, which will gradually increase to longer poses.  As the course progresses, your knowledge of the human body will increase as will your ability to recognize various tools used in drawing.

Course fee includes life model each week.

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Discover the wonderful world of printmaking and throw away any preconceived notions from your school day experiences! Relief printmaking is such a great artfrom. This course will introduce you to the basic principles of printmaking through the use of relief printing techniques.  In the process of completing three printing projects, you will learn to use the printing press, the tools for cutting the matrixes and the process of editioning.  As well, you will explore the rich history of printmaking as a fine art medium.

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*This class is now fully booked. This course with Susan Baird is also held Wednesdays 10am-1pm or a different Foundations of Art Course also for beginners is on Saturdays with Mie Mawson.

This course is perfect if you haven't picked up a paintbrush since high school and want to learn some essential skills in drawing and painting working in oils, or acrylics if you prefer. This is a step-by-step approach for beginners or people wishing to venture back into the world of art.

Level I develops essential skills in drawing and colour, form, tone and composition. Exploring drawing and painting from the still life and other source material, students will learn fundamental principles of art.  If you are looking for your first step back into art to gain some skills and confidence before embarking on other art courses, then this is the class for you.

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Explore the freedom and enjoyment of sculpting in clay with a trained tutor. Learn different techniques of modeling with clay drawing from a variety of subjects including the figure, animals and abstracted forms. Learn about proportion, space, mass and form by looking at images of sculpture throughout history. This course will include demonstrations of techniques and different forms of sculpture including the figure, working from a live model, relief sculpting and sculpting the head. You can expect to take home three finished pieces. Firing will be an extra cost if required. Suitable for all levels.

Course fee includes life model and clay.

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A perfect introduction to the world of chalk pastels. Learn how to create exciting and vibrant picturesfrom these beautiful chalks. Develope skills in composition, design and colour harmony. Working from your own drawings or photographs develope finished works in pastel.

During this course you will explore the different surfaces available and when and why we use them. Some basic drawing skills would be an advantage, however having said that we are here to learn these as well.

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This course is designed to enhance and develop your skills in painting whilst working with an experienced artist. You'll use acrylic paints with either brush or other application methods.

During the course the techniques, materials and tools required for painting in acrylic will be explained and demonstrated whilst creating a work of your own choice.

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An untutored session that offers artists of all levels a practical and unobtrusive opportunity to sketch or paint the human form. You will work from life models, using surfaces and mediums of your choice in a professional studio environment. It is a relaxed afternoon which starts with some short poses, progressing to longer poses both sitting and standing. The model is included in your session fee. There is not tutor.

Download a flyer with more information

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An experimental and intuitive acrylic painting workshop that will give you an intensive insight into painting process, techniques, materials and expression. Working from your own photographs and other resource materials, you will be shown how to translate your images into contemporary and colourful paintings on canvas. Students will begin by doing some quick studies, and then complete two works on canvas in this one day workshop.

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A short course workshop in which you will realize a new direction to your work and break free of preconceptions by developing skills and processes not used before. A chance to take your own work that one step further. The course explores painting, mixed media and collage and is suitable for beginners or the more advanced student.

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From intaglio to relief, explore and be inspired by centuries' old tradition in a contemporary way. New techniques are being developed from time to time, adding to the classical methods, one being solar plate etching. 

In this relatively easy process, ultraviolet light (from the sun or a UV lamp) is used to 'etch' an image – drawn, painted or photocopied by you on a transparency film – onto a light-sensitive polymer plate. In this workshop, apart from learning this non-toxic process, you will also learn different colour printing techniques.

This new workshop is designed for beginners as well as more established artists.

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In this one-day workshop you will be introduced to artists' works that explore the urban landscape as subject matter for painting, and the opportunity to develop a contemporary work of art from direct observation inspired by the surrounds of Art Est.

We will gather stimulus for a painting outside [en plein air] from the surrounding buildings and use this information as the basis for a painting. The tutor will show examples  of studies and photographs from her own sketchbooks that have been worked into large scale paintings and explain her process. Students will be shown examples of artists work for inspiration and to help understand the links of this creative process.

Some drawing and painting experience is necessary.

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Bring out your inner Rodin in this workshop designed to help you learn how to capture the figure in clay working from a live model. This one-day workshop will discuss anatomy, form, proportion, space and mass and look at images of figurative sculpture throughout history. It will include demonstrations of techniques in sculpting with clay and how to realise the figure. You will begin with quick sketches and take home a finished piece. Suitable for all levels.

Course fee includes life model and clay.

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Learn how to design your own fabric or print designs on t-shirts, tea towels or canvas bags in this one-day workshop. You will learn to use simple but effective techniques with stencils and silkscreens. This workshop will introduce you to some easy and fun printing techniques, and give you an understanding of the formal elements and principles of design.

Course fee includes use of screens and inks. Bring your own t-shirts or other items to print.

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This course is designed to enhance and develop your skills in painting from a drawing.

Over the two days of the workshop, the techniques, materials and tools will be explained and demonstrated to, first, make a drawing and then create a painting in acrylic from the drawing, to create a work of your own choice.

A great course for beginners!

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This workshop is designed for students who seek to explore their creative potential and have fun with their art playing with textures, layering and drawing with a range of media. You will look at line, form, space and texture and discover how to represent them with mediums such as charcoal, ink and chalk pastel. A range of techniques and demonstrations of different drawing media will be introduced. You will be encouraged to experiment with different media beginning with quick gestural drawings working up to a longer sustained piece by the end of the class. Suitable for all levels of experience.

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Enjoy a one day workshop ' en-plein-air' working with various media to sketch outdoor scenes. John Haycraft is an accomplished artist and an avid traveller who has kept wonderful sketchbooks and journals illustrating moments in time. In this one-day workshop, John will introduce you to some easy techniques in drawing and painting with watercolours. You will learn how to look critically, rapid sketching in sketchbooks, handling watercolour in the field, understanding the tonal scale and the laws of colour.

This course is conducted outdoors. Some drawing experience is necessary.

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This Summer, the National Gallery of Australia is exhibiting over 100 paintings from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris including artworks by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Edouard Vuillard. This workshop gives you the chance to learn how to paint a series of masterpieces inspired by some famous artworks in the collection.

In this workshop you will choose artworks by three different artists to paint. You'll end up with three small paintings that capture the essence of Post-Impressionism and make a wonderful collection to display at home!

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This workshop will introduce you to the basic principles of printmaking through the use of relief printing techniques. In the process of completing a printing project, you will learn to use the printing press, the tools for cutting the matrixes and the process of editioning. As well, we will explore the rich history of printmaking as a fine art medium.

You will achieve a Limited Edition Fine Art Print in the workshop.

Course fee includes lino, printing inks, and use of rollers, cutting tools etc. Students should supply their own paper for printing.

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Choose a theme and design a beautiful book of inspiration utilising a variety of mediums and techniques, including watercolour painting, drawing, calligraphy and collage. Learn  how to incorporate words, images and memorabilia in your pages to create an artfully designed book to keep or give to someone special as a gift. Your art journal will evolve into a personally illustrated book of thoughts and memories.

This workshop is perfect for beginners and people who enjoy drawing, watercolour painting, or who wish to integrate a variety of methods and materials with their art.

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Slap around with paint like you need to have fun, then enjoy the beauty of drawing back into an acrylic painting with compressed charcoal and coloured pastel. Add that extra dimension to your painting with the inclusion of pure line. The textural delivery of pastel onto paint creates a unique visual delight. Learn about good design and composition, and about the elements that hold a painting together.

A fun and exciting workshop for all levels of artist.

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