James Ort
James is the tutor of the weekend course and runs the Phoenix Studio. You can read more about his background here.
Suitable for?
Anyone regardless of experience – we generally limit the age to 14 years old+ though.
What is included in the price?
- Two full days teaching (10am-4pm-ish)
- A printed course handout outlining the technique’s main principles
- All the tools & materials needed to make a great sculpture*
- Tea, coffee, biscuits/cakes
- Use of a beautiful, purpose built art studio with all the equipment & materials you will need
- Beautiful countryside setting
*a small surcharge may be added for more expensive materials. These are kept as minimal as possible
REST OF THE WEEKEND
Your time create!
PART OF SATURDAY MORNING
Brief talk & demonstration.
Come and get wired one weekend! Learn how to use wire and other materials to make the sculpture of your choice – the only limit is your imagination. This course is perfect for releasing the creativity that we all have inside ourselves, regardless of your ability or experience. And the best part is that wire is so accessible you can carry on doing it at home with minimal expense.
Join James Ort for this inspiring and practical course that will teach you free-form wire sculpture techniques to bring your own ideas to life. James will give a brief talk about the various techniques and approaches on the Saturday morning, leaving you with the rest of the weekend to lose yourself in creativity. James will be on hand to guide and advise. You can make whatever you like – an animal or human figure, an abstract form or decorative piece, basically anything goes! You can incorporate a range of other materials into your design. We supply various materials but you can also bring your own, anything such a feathers, fabric, string, beads, jewellery, etc.
The wire used can be surprisingly pliable and easy to manipulated. At the same time however, it can assembled in ways that bring great strength and rigidity. This makes making very dynamic forms a reality, something that is not always easily with most sculptural mediums. It’s basically like drawing in air!
This fun weekend course includes:
- Informal, relaxed & attentive guidance for every student, provided by James Ort
- A morning demonstration showing…
- How to use a range of wire types (for example fencing wire, chicken wire and sheet metal)
- How to assemble your sculpture in order to make it both stable and lifelike
- How to handle the wire to bring symmetry, flow and visual movement to your creation
- How to incorporate mixed media elements into your sculpture
- Ideas on how to display your work at home and how to carry on creating beyond the course
COURSE OUTLINE
This course is for you if:
- You want to explore your creativity but lack the confidence to do so on your own
- You want to get away from it all and immerse yourself in a fun, creative environment
- You want to experiment in a medium that is accessible and cheap to pursue at your own leisure – this could be your new passion in life!
Pre course prep
If you have signed up for the course or are considering doing so then you just need to do a little preparation beforehand. In a nutshell you need to collect reference material from which your sculpture will be based (i.e. pictures of your subject matter from various angles). Please read the following document – Choosing Reference Material Selecting Guide
I love the wire & mixed media weekends for many reasons, but for me one of the main is the accessibility of course. Anyone can try it regardless of their background, it’s easy to take up and so open to interpretation – as such, you see raw creativity in it’s purest form. I love it!
I simply arm the weekend’s artists with the basic techniques and ideas, it’s then it’s up to them to interpret what they have been told in their way (that’s not to say that I am not there to offer help when needed!). Often the artists who sign up for the weekend course will learn as much from their fellow students as they do from me. It’s about sharing ideas, inspiration and experimenting.
James Ort – Course Tutor
ABOUT THE TUTOR
We get wonderful feedback from the artists who attend this course. Here are a couple of testimonials:
It’s really put the fire back in my belly and given me the push I need to start being creative again. It was the perfect place to meet like minded people and become inspired, all in such idyllic surroundings. I really enjoyed the freeness of the weekend with access to all the random bits of junk, with the only structure being have fun, meet people and make something you may never have had the opportunity to do before. With James’ guidance, advice and collaboration it was great to get that Eureka moment…!
I highly recommend this course and was amazed at what I went home with from the two weekends spent at Phoenix studios. James is an excellent teacher, who encourages and helps students to carry out their own ideas. The well equipped light studio looking onto the garden is a splendid place to work. I will definitely go again.
Angela from London
If you are travelling from further afield and would like to stay in the area over the weekend, just get in touch and we can recommend local hotels and B&Bs many of whom offer our students discounted rates.
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