Omega Art School Residency — Jack House Gallery

121 High Street

Portsmouth, PO1 2HW

info@jackhousegallery.co.uk

Fine Art Gallery

The Omega Art School is thrilled to present EXPLORE an exhibition of paintings, collage, printmaking and mixed media created by the Art school Students. A chance to see what the students have learned from the Artist Tutors and what wonderful creative opportunities the school offers.

Perhaps like many of us you started the New Year with a resolution to ‘improve’ yourself, learn a new skill or just spend a bit more quality time with yourself? Perhaps you used to make art and allowed life to take over and now want to brush up rusty skills and regain some lost confidence? Perhaps you know a budding artist who needs a nudge to get making? Omega Art School was set up by artist/illustrator KEVIN DEAN to bring fledgling and experienced art lovers together to offer an outlet for creativity and learn new techniques and skills from practising artists including JACQUI MAIR, CHRIS WOOD, DEBORAH DODSWORTH and RACHEL JOHNSTON in an art community hub open to all!

During the Omega Art School residency at the Gallery there will be an exhibition of work made by both the students and teachers as well as FREE TASTER SESSIONS to give you an idea of what the school has to offer. A list of the Omega Art School Academy exhibitors can be see by clicking here.

On Saturday 25th March here at the Gallery there’s an opportunity to meet the tutors in an informal get together to find out more. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BOOK THE FREE TASTER WORKSHOPS CALL Deb Dodsworth on 07920 114831

Artist illustrator & Omega Art School founder Kevin Dean

Kevin Dean talks about the background to The Omega Art School and reigniting creativity.

‘So many people have told me how their interest in art and creativity was discouraged when they were young, often by their parents, or even teachers. However that sense of wanting to create doesn’t disappear, and it can be reignited at any time in our lives, perhaps in mid-career, on retiring, or once our children are older. There are of course many advantages in taking up art as adults, for instance, our attention span is better than when we were young, we probably have less distractions and can be more focused. It was with is in mind that I began the Omega Art School for adults, after years of teaching part-time or as a visiting lecturer in various art colleges in the Uk and aboard.

I wanted to give our students an art school experience, with a good variety of different media and techniques, so I teamed up with some great artists who also have teaching experience, we each have our particular speciality, Debs Dodsworth for example is a brilliant printmaker, Chris Wood paints beautiful acrylics, Jacqui Mair is very well known for her collage work, my son Mataio Austin Dean a graduate from the Slade, also teaches acrylics and etching. Rachel Johnstone has also begun teaching textiles, while I teach drawing and watercolour.

The students meet once a week for half a day, or in the evening over a 10 week term. Most classes begin with a presentation and often a demonstration. The classes are small, so people get lots of help from the tutor - plus we have one to one tutorials at the end of each term. We like to encourage people to work in their own time, so there is also homework available, if people want to do it.

The exhibition at The jack House Gallery is a culmination of a lot of hard work by our students and tutors. Virtually all of the students have at least one piece of work on show, while most of the framed pieces are by people who joined the school when we first began, about 2 years ago. I hope the show will encourage all those people who have an interest in art and possibly a long held ambition to reignite their creativity to join us.’

We are offering a couple of free taster sessions at the gallery, I’ll be taking a drawing class on Sunday 26th March 1-4pm, while Jacqui Mair will be introducing people to the art of collage on Saturday 1st April 1-4pm. Or you can come and meet the tutors on Saturday 25th March 12 - 2pm.

Booking is essential for taster sessions because spaces are limited.

To book or for more information e-mail: omegaartschool@gmail.com

Meet the Tutors, find out what we offer Saturday 25th March 12-2pm

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BOOK THE FREE TASTER WORKSHOPS CALL Deb Dodsworth on 07920 114831

Kevin Dean

MEET THE ARTIST TUTORS

Jacqui Mair

Kevin Dean Teaches primarily drawing, watercolour and print- making. On graduating from The Royal College of Art, Kevin worked as an illustrator and textile designer. Later working in the Middle East on decoration for architecture, including the large marble courtyard and other areas at the Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi. He has exhibited widely from NY, Paris, Dubai and London. He has also taught part time at The Royal College of Art, Bournemouth & Poole College of Art and Southampton Solent University. Kevin has a studio at ArtSpace Portsmouth.

Jacqueline Mair is well known for her collage work, she also specialises in water based painting, printmaking and drawing. Jacqui has worked as an international artist and illustrator for over thirty years. She has an MA in printmaking from the Royal College of Art London and has taught at the University of Portsmouth and Savannah College of Art and Design, USA and Lacoste, France. As a painter she has exhibited in the USA, Mexico, France and India. Her clients as an illustrator include The Royal Mail, The Financial Times, Microsoft, Roger la Borde, Orange, The New Yorker.

Chris Wood

Chris Wood works in a wide variety of mediums, including acrylics, oils and printmaking. Chris also runs the Experimental life drawing class at The Omega Centre. Chris trained at The Ipswich Art School, followed by Wimbledon College of Art (London UK), after which he worked as a graphic designer and illustrator in Central London. He is a highly skilled fine artist, illustrator, painter and printmaker. Chris has been an academic leader in Further and Higher Education and currently teaches drawing and visual communication part time at the University of Portsmouth. In addition, for the last 20 years he has run a very successful life drawing workshop in Portsmouth. Chris exhibits on the South Coast and in London and has work in private collections around the world. He has a painting studio at ArtSpace Portsmouth.

Rachel Johnson

Rachel Johnston is an artist working with textile-based media and photography. She trained in Fine Art at Norwich School of Art and the Royal College of Art and has worked in public art, community engagement and HE Fine Art teaching since then. She is a member of ArtSpace Portsmouth and exhibits regularly. Her artwork focusses on themes relating to place and narrative and is grounded in material process, using weaving and stitch to make objects that reflect the landscape. Website: racheljohnstonart.com

Deb Dodsworth

Deborah Dodsworth specialises in alternative photographic techniques, drawing and printmaking. Deb attended Goldsmiths for her postgraduate degree in Art and Design Education and has over 20 years of experience teaching Art and Photography. She completed her BA (Hons) Fine Art Multimedia at Kingston University, where she won a scholarship to NCAD Ireland, for a year to concentrate on aspects of photography and printmaking. Deb is also known for her work as an outreach artist for the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) and was invited to meet, HRH Princess Anne to show and discuss heritage and lottery funded community art projects created (in conjunction with NMRN) with children from deprived areas of Portsmouth.

Mataio Austin Dean is an artist, poet, musician, and activist from Portsmouth, Hampshire. Born in 1996 to a Guyanese mother and an English father, Austin Dean’s practice is often centred around an interrogation of Marxism as a tool for emancipatory praxis. His work is concerned with the relationship between printmaking and orality, with works often consisting of etchings and other printed matter, along with singing, writing, reciting, and speaking. Austin Dean is interested in these forms as having actant potentialities for liberation which can be embodied and actualised.