Bronze Arts Award Summer School at Winterbourne House and Garden

3-7 August

This summer for the Bronze Arts Awards, we had the privilege of working with a fantastic group of students at the Winterbourne House and Gardens. The theme was Botanical Drawings, and we spent the week trying out different methods of drawing, photography, letterpress printing, and more. The students took these new techniques and created seed packets which are currently on display in the Winterbourne House.

We began with a lovely tour of the gardens and house led by the Winterbourne staff. They introduced us to some carnivorous plants, a redwood tree from North-western United States, and a very popular Monkey Puzzle tree from Chile. The students filled their day enjoying the gardens, learning about the Nettlefold family, and doing various observational drawings from the gardens, learning several different techniques.

The rest of the week was equally as packed. We toured the exhibitions at Ikon Gallery, jumped aboard Black Country Voyages for a day (which was very exciting for everyone!), and had the opportunity to work with two incredible artists at Winterbourne. Becky Howson taught us about letterpress printing, and gave us a chance to do some printing for seed packets, and Anne Parouty introduced us to the Cyanotype process. Everyone was able to create a print of their own and learn the developing process as well!

We ended our week with a drop in workshop where the students were able to pass on their newly learned skill to the public. This proved to be widely popular and kept everyone busy for much of the morning. By the end of the day, everyone walked away with some knew skills in art, as well as new friendships and long lasting memories. Despite the very long week, I think it’s safe to say we were all a bit disappointed to see it end, yet excited to see how just much everyone had accomplished.

Pia Laipert

Ikon Learning Intern