Leicester: City of Machines and People - three terms over 10 months

Charles’ course is rooted in his practice and in the landscapes and post Industrial remains that are as much a part of Leicester’s Industrial heritage and its workers, which you will interrogate through multiple printmaking techniques, site visits, oral and photographic archives and guest speakers during this three term course. LPW is invested in rethinking what art education can be and do and this is a pilot of an alternative postgraduate model, which is rooted locally in our local context of a culturally diverse, post-industrial East Midlands city and understood within a global framework. This is an opportunity to develop your artistic practice, guided by Charles’ extensive knowledges, travels and skills, and access LPW’s industrial processes and print machinery.

Each term will include a visiting guest lecturer from relevant local interest groups and a guided visit to local industrial sites, all of which will be explored back in the studio through multiple printmaking processes. The course will evolve through the development of your own practice and Charles will provide technical and artistic expertise to guide you through. The course will respond to your needs as your artistic path develops, and will follow Charles’ approach of finding the simplest solution in printmaking to achieve your goals. You will be taught a variety of processes including direct mono-print and stencil methods, card printing, and block printing in lino and wood, and you will be free to explore other printmaking methods which LPW can facilitate.

For participants on this course, we are including a year’s free membership and studio use, valued at up to £985 per annum, starting after you’ve had a studio induction, to encourage you to grow and develop your own artistic practice amongst the LPW creative community. There will be homework set between studio sessions, and we will facilitate a safe online space to store course material, worksheets, and artwork, and as a platform to discuss your work and progress amongst peers. Charles will take a one-one tutorial each term with each participant during studio time.

Images kindly provided by 2023 participants Justine Cothill, Nikki Granger and Carol Paraduie. Additional images Charles Shearer and LPW.

Justine (2023 course participant): "This year has been so valuable to me for the chance to experiment and try new approaches to printmaking. I was looking for ways to loosen up my work and not rely just on my drawing for the image. It's nearing the end of the course and I am only now developing a practice and techniques that I want to develop going forward within my work. I would willingly do another year."

Course Dates

TERM 1

Saturday 28th September + Sunday 29th September

Saturday 26th + Sunday 27th October

Saturday 23rd + Sunday 24th November

TERM 2

Saturday 25th + Sunday 26th January

Saturday 22nd + Sunday 23rd February

Saturday 29th + Sunday 30th March

TERM 3

Saturday 26th + Sunday 27th April

Saturday 24th + Sunday 25th May

Saturday 28th + Sunday 29th June

£665 per term includes materials and studio membership

Please call the studio if you wish to discuss payment options with Kezia.

Nikki Granger (2023 course participant): “Charles has a huge printmaking experience and enthusiasm for industrial heritage, enabling us to explore Leicester’s rich industrial landscape throughout the course.”

About the Tutor

Charles Shearer is an artist printmaker. His subject is primarily landscape and in particular the un-scenic, the neglected estate, abandoned factory, mine or quarry. Romantic ruins & follies also attract. He studied at Gray’s School of Art Aberdeen in 1975 and at the Royal College of Art, London, specialising there in Illustration.

Charles has taught printmaking at Colleges and workshops for many years. Teaching all ages at any stage in their development. In his own practice everything is informed through experience and drawing and it is in the studio that ideas are developed through various print processes. Charles lives in London but travels extensively to teach and seek subject matter.