Art, Kentridge says, is its own form of knowledge. It does not simply supplement the real world, and it cannot be purely understood in the rational terms of traditional academic disciplines. The studio is the crucial location for the creation of meaning: the place where linear thinking is abandoned and the material processes of the eye, the hand, the charcoal and paper become themselves the guides of creativity. Drawing has the potential to educate us about the most complex issues of our time. This is the real meaning of "drawing lessons." (courtesy of the Harvard University Press website).

Kentridge's "drawing lessons" cover such things as Plato's cave, the history of Africa, landscapes, music, cinema, entropy, the day-to-day studio practice and how drawing is a vehicle to understand the world.

Drawing Lesson is a visually beautiful and philosophically profound video excerpt from the lecture series. There are also two videos of the lectures as given at Harvard University:Lesson One In Praise of Shadows and Lesson Five In Praise of Mistranslation. (note: the videos of these two lectures work best on Google Chrome as your browser)

Around the same time as Kentridge was giving these lectures, he also participated in a radio program called Lines on BBC Radio. Kentridge has a way of making you feel that drawing is the most vital activity a human being can do; that it is something so intrinsic to our souls that it can define how we make our way in the world. Even if you don't draw, or think you can't draw, everybody can learn something from Kentridge's thoughtful words. These lectures are inspiring, hopeful and life affirming.

Painting: Nature as Source

The focus of this course is using nature as a source for paintings.Stu dents build upon their painting skills and vocabulary, including composition, colour synthesis, surface and format. The subject matter provides a range of assignments that encourage individual approaches to imagery and process. Nature is the starting point and themes include: plant growth, fantastical landscape and ecology. Students will develop a mini-series towards the end of the course based on their own personal interests. Artists discussed will include Henri Matisse, Terry Winters, Neil Jenney, Robert Wiens, Nancy Graves, Lyndal Osboure, Damien Hirst, Donald Sultan, Jennifer Bartlett and Wanda Koop. Students can work in acrylics or oils. Prerequisite: Painting: Introduction I and II or previous painting experience.

Instructor: Barrie Szekely
Thursdays, 10am-1pm, January 15-April 9
To register online

Painting: Ambiguous Abstraction

Ambiguous abstraction refers to works whose source relates to images or objects from the world. Through a process of deconstruction and transformation these forms will take on an abstract quality, hovering between the real and the imaginative. This kind of work is intriguing as it is opens to all kinds of possible meanings and interpretations. In opposition to 'pure abstraction' where the subject of the painting is its own form, ambiguous abstraction flirts with personal and political content, and can also embrace broad topics such as memory and presence, materiality and transcendence, pattern and decoration as well as the everyday. Artists include: Fabian Maracaccio, Terry Winters, Ingrid Calame, Ian McKeever, Beatriz Milhazes, Arturo Herrera, Mark Bradford, Franz Ackermann, Julie Mehretu and Etienne Zack.

Instructor: Wendy DeGros

Tuesdays 10am - 1pm, Jan 13 - Apr 7
To register on-line

This is an introductory writing course where students will be given the opportunity to develop and refine their skills as writers. Concentrating predominantly on the genre of Short Fiction, this class will focus on fundamental literary techniques and hands-on creative practice as a means to help students build foundational writing skills. Students in this course will participate in a variety of activities, including: in-class writing prompts, take-home writing, in class workshopping, technique-specific practices, reading and group discussion. In terms of resources, a diverse range of writers and media will be used. Readings will range from classic writers to counterculture and subculture writers. Material for this class will be drawn from a diverse range of media, including selections from traditional anthologies, links to online literary journals, online videos and selections from contemporary writers' blogs.

Instructor: Tanya Driechel

Tuesdays 6pm-9pm, Jan 13 - Apr 7
To register on-line

This course will provide an introduction to the use of collage in contemporary art using craft materials. Students will look at surface, shape and line as basic constructs for creating an image. Consideration of the meaning behind material choices and the story that can be created through the use of common household and fashion textiles is an integral part of the course. There will also be time to investigate the three-dimensional properties of cloth and how collage surfaces can be built upon to include sculpture and installation. No sewing experience required.

Instructor: Ann Steves

Tuesdays 6pm-9pm, Jan 13 - Apr 7

Realities Follies surveys the current work of five Victoria based painters; Jeremy Herndl, Todd Lambeth, Rick Leong, Neil McClelland, and Jeroen Witvliet. Curators Lynda Gammon (UVic Visual Arts Department) and Wendy Welch  (Vancouver Island School of Art) observe: "We live in an image-world. Selfies on Facebook, instant sharing on Instagram, and photo albums on Flickr, all demonstrate our intense desire to re-present our world. Through the practice of painting, the artists in this exhibition, each in their own way, are re-presenting and interrogating the meaning of representation, and in turn, questioning our ways of perceiving reality."

  For more info: call for submissions