Fifteen years ago I located my studio to Dominica with the intention of handing down the creative skills I had acquired in a lifetime to a new generation of artists and thus help to fill the void that exists in tutoring for the visual arts in Dominica.
Few of our secondary schools offer CXC in art and the subject is non-existent at the State College. However, my attempts to introduce a one year foundation course in the Visual Arts for school leavers and college students in conjunction with the fledgling Dominica Institute for the Arts never materialised.
I am now in the process of re-launching a modified version of the course from my studio at Antrim. This time around it will have a greater emphasis on creativity in general and modelled in the direction that most art colleges are taking following the COVID-19 pandemic: that is, a minimum of one half day face-to-face studio session each week with the rest in the form of interactive support and guidance on-line.
The visual arts, better than any other course of study, lend themselves to this approach. Every major art gallery in the world has its collection on the internet and artists are increasingly sharing their working methods on-line. My own blog is followed by hundreds of art students in over seventy-five countries.
Course content will be tailored to suit the interests and abilities of individual students. This can include: Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Print Making, Book Illustration, Calligraphy, Interior & Furniture Design, Architecture & Townscape, Animation, Stage Set Design, Ceramics, Fashion, Creative usage of Dominica’s Natural Resources and all aspects of craftsmanship related to Wood and Metal Work.
The end qualification will be a portfolio of the student’s work together with a journal on their specific area of study. The course can serve as a preliminary for entering art colleges overseas or as an aid to students wishing to sit CXC and A Level in Visual Art. Many of the pupils that I have tutored over the last fifty years have become artists in their own right and as such, won major awards.
To ease the financial strain on families at this point in time, tuition fees will be kept low and due on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Those who have attended my ad-hoc workshops know that my approach to tutoring is radically different to the norm. In essence it is a passionate and demanding creative interchange. To this end I welcome expressions of interest from students willing to accept the challenge of releasing their own creative potential.
You can find out more about my work at: sculpturestudiodominica.blogspot.com
For further information email: [email protected]
