Notice: January & February Events At Watts Gallery Artists’ Village

Published on: 17 Dec, 2019
Updated on: 16 Dec, 2019

A selection of events, activities and exhibitions are coming up over this winter season at Watts Gallery Artists’ Village.

A new exhibition “William Orpen: Method & Mastery” will run from Thursday, December 19 until Sunday, February 23, 2020.

Celebrated for his career as an official war artist, the Irish-born painter is best known for his rapid and expressive painting style. President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters from 1924 – 1930, Orpen became one of the leading portraitists of his age.

Featuring a selection of portraits, alongside pencil studies and anatomical drawings, this exhibition provides new insights into Orpen’s evolving and innovative artistic process, underpinned by new research and technical analysis of his techniques and materials.

The Studio (c. 1910). Sir William Orpen.

Watts Gallery will also be running a selection of workshops and courses in the new year, plus plenty of family activities for February half-term.

A metalpoint workshop will feature the medieval art of silverpoint – the technique of using a metal stylus to draw on a mildly abrasive ground. Inspired by Old Masters and 19th-century revivalists, this workshop will introduce you to the materials and methods of the medium, teaching you to draw with silver and gold.

In a 3D Paper Portraiture workshop, you will work with Watts Gallery’s Artist in Residence to create an intricate papier-mâché sculpture of someone you love, admire or want to commemorate. This two-day workshop will encourage you to tell their story layer upon layer, using recycled materials, as well as copies of family photographs, birth and death certificates and pages from books.

Events for the family during February half-term include a “Making Faces” workshop, experimenting with drawing using mirrors and perspex.

For details of all the events, activities and exhibitions at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, visit https://www.wattsgallery.org.uk/.