Collection: Short Courses

Discover the sensuous beauty of classical oil painting techniques and be guided through a series of structured exercises and demonstrations of methods and specific ways of using materials. 

Develop the skills to create larger, more complex forms on the potter’s wheel and expand your throwing techniques. You’ll be introduced to advanced methods such as coiling and sectional throwing, exploring the nuances of working with larger pieces.

A dynamic 2-day ceramics workshop which explores slab building and a variety of surface embellishment techniques using terracotta clay. Develop experimental hand-built slab forms with vessel-like structures. 

Expand your still life painting skills in an immersive weekend with renowned artist Jude Rae, who shares her insights into the genre within a cultural frame that supports both the traditions of realist painting and Abstraction. Through personalised instruction you’ll develop a personal visual language to create dynamic, engaging paintings.

Learn the fundamental principles of abstract painting and discover how colours change and move in a picture plane. Tonee Messiah introduces painting techniques from modernist abstraction to the present day and shows how painters approach the translation of subject matter using colour as a powerful expressive tool and emotive agent.

Discover how to draw from the figure, from initial sketches of life models to detailed portraits and sustained studies. Learn to see and draw anatomical structures, bring out the personality of the subject and breathe life into your drawings.

Explore the art of monoprinting and the creation of original prints using stencils and drawing techniques, with a variety of textured materials. Learn simple bookbinding methods and delve into the nuances of layering, printing, and colour processes to produce unique and dynamic prints. 

Enhance your expressive capabilities and expand your visual vocabulary with a focus on drawing and mixed media. Learn to use collage as a dynamic tool to explore subject matter, balance compositions, test colour and spatial relationships and venture outside your comfort zone. 

Are you eager to move from being an arts enthusiast to a practising, exhibiting and sustainable artist? Learn what it takes to become a professional artist; how to research and understand the investment of time, money, planning, energy and creativity it requires to survive in the arts.

Image courtesy of the Geoff Raby Opening, National Art School

Are you time-poor yet want to learn how to take great photos? In this two-day intensive photography workshop, you’ll let go of relying on the camera’s automatic settings and be taught the fundamentals of manual exposure, empowering your creative shooting capabilities.

Explore and learn to draw the forms and structures of the human head, facial features, and body dynamics and discover the connection between the ‘character’ and the ‘face’.

Using a variety of drawing mediums from pencil, charcoal, ink and wash to collage, via quick sketches and sustained drawings, students will investigate a range of subjects starting with the skull and plaster casts, to the live model and self-portrait.

Explore the art of collage and learn the practices of cutting and composition with award-winning artist Deborah Kelly. Learn to play purposefully with pictures and develop a range of technical skills to create original artworks, developing new imagery from historical materials.

Printing with coloured inks from multiple plates is an exciting way to advance and develop your etching practice. Progress from simple monochromatic prints and learn to confidently add colour to your etchings using more challenging techniques. 

Learn fundamental welding skills and complete small-scale welded steel sculptures. With demonstrations and techniques for using arc and MIG welders and oxyacetylene to cut, shape and bend steel, as well as ways to grind steel and use surface treatments suited to steel.

Join acclaimed Australian artist Juz Kitson’s two-day experimental porcelain masterclass and delve deeply into the making process, exploring new ways of manipulating and pushing the porcelain to create challenging and innovative objects. 

Capturing the subtle details of the face requires strong observational and drawing skills, and learning to draw portraits becomes achievable when broken down into key components. By understanding these foundational principles, you’ll enhance your portraits and enrich your sketchbook with greater confidence.

Enrol in an immersive and dynamic workshop that explores three-dimensional slab construction with terracotta clay. The emphasis is on developing experimental slab forms with an orientation towards vessel structures. An extensive variety of in-depth surface embellishment techniques will be explored.