It's been busy in Barga. We had a few workshops in the early summer, one in the middle of the summer and now our series of late summer workshops is drawing to a close. In addition we have had two artists in residence and a community art project. So we have had lots of fun. And now we have the programme ready for next year. Read on to find out more.......
2025 Art Workshop Schedule....art retreat art workshop
We are delighted to offer nine exciting workshops / retreats next year in a variety of disciplines. First up is a new printmaking workshop.....LinoCut+. This includes a number of different types of lino print with some interesting printmaking add-ons which makes it suitable for those with some experience as well as the novice. Our printmaking courses are always such fun and the results fantastic and Jane Richardson is such a great educator.
Then we have the welcome return of Jo Horswill with her 'witches brew' of botanical printmaking. This is a fantastic course where chemistry, botany, creativity and process all combine to create truly unique and stunning images. Jo will run this workshop twice while she is visiting from Australia.
And we are super excited to welcome one of our artists in residence back to run a wonderful silk painting and printing workshop Colour into Cloth. The well known Carole Waller will teach the lucky students (places already being snapped up) how to paint and screen print onto a high quality 180cm silk scarf.....your very own personal design to take home, wear and show off. We're currently getting all the equipment ready for this exciting workshop. Carole will run this workshop twice while she is visitng from the UK.
Then to round off our early summer retreats and workshops, we have the return of Samson Art. Ally and Mike Samson have been visiting us every year since we started and they (and their students) always have such good fun. While art is the cornerstone of their visit, they just love being in beautiful Barga.
After a break we return in late August with something new and really exciting Bookbinding. Bookbinding is very popular and we are delighted to bring Victoria Bucca to Barga. Victoria runs a variety of bookbinding courses in Florence. When we were planning the course it was such a delight to see all the different types of bindings both practical and novelty that Victoria produces. Victoria's first course will cover several types of binding and you can make each of them yourself. The following course is a collaboration with Jane Richardson who will lead you through the process of designing and printing your own paper which you will then make into a book of your own design .....a very special project.
And then we have another printmaking retreat with Lucy Gell and a painting course....details to follow soon.
If you fancy any of the courses and workshops, please get in touch.
Artists in Residence
As well as providing exciting fun workshops in beautiful Tuscany we aim to give something back to the world of art by offering free accommodation and facilities to a number of artists each year to help them develop their carreer in some way. This year we have been lucky to host both Carole Waller and Susie Hunt. Carole is a silk painter well known for her painting on silk fabrics and clothes. Susie is an expressive water colour artist, creating high impact colourful images. They have both spent about a month with us and been captivated by the creative inspiration in Barga ...the bells, food, architecture, culture, cathedral and weather.
They both plan to return to Quattro Archi next year.....benvenutti. Links to their websites below. We also welcomed a previous artist in residence, Margaret Preston back for a short period of printing studio time -lovely work.
Sky Gazing
This week we have been infatuated with the weather. After a couple of weeks of continuous sunshine and cloudless skies, we were treated to some delightful cloud formations and colours. Our terrace is probably the best viewpoint in town and so we were easily able to snap a few of the best views to share.
Comments