The Artists Mentoring course provides the support necessary to develop an independent creative practice with the close supervision of an experienced personal mentor and the encouragement of fellow students. The programme is ideally suited for artists who already have experience in their chosen area of creative interest and are wishing to further develop work to an advanced level.
Aims:
The course aims to provide the supportive environment necessary to build an independent creative practice with guidance and expertise of an experienced mentor. The course encourages the development of critical awareness and an appreciation of how individual engagement sits in relation to wider contemporary art contexts. The programme aims to be flexible and responsive to individual creative needs and our team of professional mentors provide feedback and guidance to help define and develop creative goals.
Content:
Artists on the course are provided with sustained one to one support plus opportunities to exchange ideas and experiences with fellow students. The course is structured through a series of scheduled one to one mentoring sessions which facilitate critical awareness and an appreciation of how individual practice sits in relation to wider contemporary art contexts.
In the first term students work with their mentor to identify and establish a personal research project which aims to build their creative and professional practice. This project is developed over the year culminating in a professional body of work which reflects the specific interests of the individual whilst also engaging with ideas in contemporary practice.
Outcomes:
On completion of the course students will have developed a major body of new work carried out with the support of a personal mentor. Artists on the programme will have a deepened understanding of their creative interests and how this ties in to discourses in the broader field of creative practice. In addition students will have developed the skills necessary for independent life as a visual practitioner, or towards further higher academic study.
Summary
Students will receive a dedicated programme of study as follows:
- Nine individual mentoring tutorials providing bespoke support towards creative and professional development. Sessions, typically up to 60 minutes, will be arranged by appointment at specific points in the year with your Mentor.
- Four peer group sessions exploring themes and ideas in practice and fostering shared developmental experience and critical feedback. These three hour sessions will take place on Saturdays at our North Junction Street Campus at key points throughout the year.
Mentors
Val McLean
Specialism: Painting, Drawing, Intermedia
Passionate about teaching Val has taught extensively across a diverse range of art courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is Course Leader for the One Day painting course and also currently teaches both art practice and theory at Edinburgh College of Art. She has exhibited widely and her writing has been published in academic books and catalogues. Her current painting practice is rooted in nature and she takes inspiration from the wood and scrubland next to her home in the outskirts of Edinburgh. She has received several awards for her painting and was awarded The Katherine Michaelson Prize for art writing. She is a professional member of Visual Arts Scotland.
Andrew Baker
Specialism: Illustration, Graphic Design
Andrew Baker brings an extensive knowledge of illustration, graphic design and the creative industries. He is a passionate advocate for art and design education, having previously taught on undergraduate courses at Middlesex University and UCA. Andrew studied at Liverpool Polytechnic and The Royal College of Art, going on to establish a successful career in London as an illustrator. He has won several awards including Gold for Editorial Illustration from The Association Of Illustrators. His recent projects include a 225 page illustrated book, BODY: A Graphic Guide To Us, and numerous illustrations for the Radio Times.
Jane Couroussopoulos
Specialism: Drawing
Jane Couroussopoulos studied painting, etching and engraving at City and Guilds of London Art School. She moved to Edinburgh 34 years ago where she has a studio in Coburg House, Leith.
An experienced tutor, Jane has taught painting and drawing for many years at Leith School of Art and for the last seven years has been leading the two day Drawing course. Until recently she worked as a community education tutor for Edinburgh City Council.
Objects and places that have a particular significance, are the subjects of Jane's work. In it, she explores the tension between the objects and the abstraction of the space around them, between organic and man-made structures, and in her landscapes and cityscapes, the representation of urban and rural spaces emptied of people.
She exhibits widely, and in March and April 2022 a series of twelve works was exhibited in St Giles Cathedral. Her paintings are used as the cover images for a long-standing series of academic law books, published by Bloomsbury.
Ginny Elston
Specialisms: Painting, drawing, sculpture
Ginny Elston is an artist, tutor and PhD researcher at Glasgow School of Art. Her background is in art history, fine art and philosophy, graduating from DJCAD with her MFA in Fine Arts & the Humanities in 2016. With extensive teaching experience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Ginny is known for her abstract landscape and object-based work, which spans across two and three dimensions. Ginny’s work is held in national and international collections, and has won the Jackson’s Painting Prize 2023 Student Award, and the Young Artist award at the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2023.
Rachel McBrinn
Specialisms: Film and video; multidisciplinary, collaborative, or research-led work; artist publications; professional practice
Rachel McBrinn is an artist and filmmaker. Her work is often collaborative and rooted in long term site-responsive or archival research. With a critical lens on conservation, maintenance, and archiving practices, recent work has formed around themes of land management, town planning, and urban and rural ecologies. Her work has been shown recently at Cove Park, CCA Glasgow and Fruitmarket Gallery. Rachel is the Contemporary Art Practice Course Leader at Leith School of Art.
Eric Cruikshank
Specialisms: Painting and drawing.
Eric Cruikshank is a Scottish abstract artist best known for his subtle colour field work tied to the Scottish landscape that address notions of memory and the emotive qualities of place. His work spans an array of media bracketed according to support - with the collective factor being the addition and subtraction of medium - all completed with a meticulous finish.
Cruikshank studied Painting and Drawing at Edinburgh College of Art, graduating in 1997, and lives and works in Edinburgh.
His artworks have been included in exhibitions throughout the UK, America, Europe, and Japan, he has been the recipient of several awards and residencies, and he currently works with a series of national and international galleries.