Term: Term Two 2021 Online
Start Date: 23 April 2021
End Date: 28 May 2021
Day: Friday
Time: 10:00am – 2:30pm AEST
Number of classes: 6

Lecturer: Tonee Messiah
Level: Intermediate, Advanced
Full Fee: $405.00 AUD
Early Fee: $385.00 AUD
Concession Fee: $355.00 AUD
Location: Online delivery on Zoom

Terms and Conditions of Enrolment

Course Overview

Are you painting in your home studio and wishing to connect with other artists to sustain your practice? This course is designed for intermediate and advanced painting students and provides the opportunity to work closely with a professional artist in a mentorship capacity, to enhance your painting practice. Tonee Messiah guides you in techniques for sustaining your creative inspiration and energy in isolated studio settings, with a special focus on developing your individual interests and learning how to translate your ideas into dynamic visual language.

In this course you will find ways to increase your confidence and clarity for self-directed studio time through planning and developing a series of paintings in consultation with Tonee. She offers many new avenues for directed research and a range of techniques for visual analysis, which help build up an understanding of the vast possibilities for each of your paintings. These include identifying your interests, subject matter, themes and materials, and exploring the creative languages to suit them, as well as executing a suite of artworks.

Tonee leads group discussions about how to read and analyse paintings, introducing new ways to expand your visual knowledge, to propel your thinking and making as a painter. She encourages you to continue your painting projects between the six sessions of the course, to maximise the benefit of contact time with her during class time. At the conclusion of the course you will have a workable model to apply in your future creative pursuits. Weekly exercises will introduce you to the exciting potential of different painting styles and offer methods to achieve vibrant playful colour applications with experimental results.

Week by week overview

1. Locating your interests: Prior to the commencement of the first class, students will be required to fill in a document that asks them to identify current artistic interests and influences as well as a theme or idea they wish to explore in a series of paintings. They will send the written information to the lecturer before the beginning of Week 1. Tonee begins with a group introduction for students and a discussion of the course, followed by individual meetings to discuss their ideas and possible avenues to develop them. Such topics as subject, themes, scale, materials and the number of paintings in the series will be addressed.
2. Composition and dividing ideas: An introduction to the formal planning stages of painting will be presented including how to divide your ideas into parts and working on compositions to articulate your intention. Consideration is also given to how to build your colour palette and painting style with an emphasis on their interactions and communicative strength.
3. Reading and interpreting: In Week 3 students will select and present a favourite painting or artist that relates to the work they are undertaking, and they will discuss their choice with the group. Tonee introduces methods of incorporating and developing these ideas as elements in students’ work and including techniques for understanding how to visually analyse paintings.
4. Objective looking: Through individual consultation with the teacher students will be offered feedback about the progress of their work and a discussion on the possible additions or changes that might propel the work forward.
5. Making and exchanging: Students will make their work in the first part of the class then share their ideas and outcomes with the group in the second part. They will participate in open discussions, learning how to give considered feedback and respectful responses to their peers artworks.
6. The final stages: Students’ collections of new paintings will hopefully be completed and students will have the opportunity to ask specific questions about resolution, documentation and presentation. A final class critique by the lecturer will conclude the course and an online guided presentation of each students’ work will be available.

COURSE DELIVERY

Tonee’s online studio course is taught with Zoom and takes advantage of the full range of tools that this program offers. She is present in the online studio for the whole session and she responds directly to student questions in live critiques and discussions. We are also using Padlet in this course, Padlet is a web application that allows users to post information and images on a digital wall.

If you are unfamiliar with the Zoom program, some tutorial assistance is available prior to the commencement of the first session to ensure you can join in with ease and get to know the online learning environment. You will be guided in Padlet usage by your Lecturer and you can get additional tutorial help from NAS.

Class sizes are limited to a maximum of twelve students and the sessions are not recorded.

Student home-studio requirements

A computer, laptop or ipad with a good internet connection
A phone or digital camera to photograph practical exercises for feedback

Lecturer Profile

Tonee Messiah’s painting practice has evolved over 15 years from representational to abstract. She is motivated by the subtleties of the human condition, finding imagery that speaks of the tensions present in modern life and the undulations of human relationships. Having started her professional practice using acrylics, she now paints predominantly in oils, and her works on paper use a vast combination of water-based media.

She holds a sessional lecturing position at UNSW Art & Design where she completed her MFA degree in 2017 along with extensive experience teaching at NAS in both Public Programs and the Drawing department. Tonee has been a finalist in the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Prize, the Paddington Art Prize and the ABN Amro Art Award. She exhibits throughout Australia and internationally, and her work is held in the collections of Artbank and the Monash University Museum of Art, as well as numerous corporate and private collections. She is represented by Gallery 9, Sydney, and Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne.

Art materials

This is a list of basic materials and more options will be discussed in the first week of the course.
An easel to stand at or a desk with a rigid board to attach paper to
Paints of your choosing – a full range of cool and warm colours
Painting mediums for your chosen material
Small range synthetic or bristle brushes from fine to large, in flat and round
A sketch book for noting ideas and developing sketches and compositions
Painting supports, either artists’ canvas, wood painting panels, good quality paper. Sizes will be discussed in class
Palette in either wood, plastic or glass. A flat palette with no wells or ridges is preferable.
A palette knife for mixing and applying paint.

Parkers Fine Art Supplies

Parkers Fine Art Supplies have a location of the NAS campus and offer a discount for NAS short courses students. To discuss and order art materials please contact Parkers on +61 2 9247 9979 or email parkersartsupplies@aapt.net.au
Website https://www.parkersartsupplies.com/

Covered footwear and protective clothes are recommended.