Vicky Cosstick

 
What is contemporary Art about? Perhaps there is no useful single answer. Artists at present explore such diverse intentions that most of us are baffled by their output. However when we turn the question about and ask “what can art do for us?” its fantastic potential immediately opens up:

*Communication: the sharing of other people’s view of themselves, of us, and our common world. Artists often employ highly innovative means in order to get their point across using humour and surprise.
 
*Engagement: harnessing the imagination of the viewer leads us from observation into a dynamic conversation. How have the materials been worked? What was the process of production? And why was it made?
 
*Vision: because the visual arts are primarily a non-verbal experience they frequently throw us off balance, creating unexpected associations and responses. The use of dreams and unconscious imagery can be disconcerting, edgy and exciting.

Art has become a multifaceted tool for investigating who we are and how we live. It is a diverse practice with something of everyone in its variety. From the formal arrangements of abstract colour shapes to polemical political satire, diversity is the only credo.

In a teambuilding workshop on contemporary art we will look at art and make art -- exploring aspects of various original artworks in order to discover the layers of meaning within as well as the perhaps untapped raw ability within each person. There will a mixing of group and individual hands-on making activities based around the historical story of the artworks we examine.

Mark Cazalet is an artist who has gradually expanded from being a figurative painter to one who now works in media as varied as: textile, mosaic, glass, printmaking, and illustrated books. He is best known for his large architectural works, commissioned for Cathedrals and churches. He is a senior tutor at West Dean College in Sussex and at Arts in Provence in the south of France. His teaching style is relaxed but dynamic, with his enthusiastic approach underpinned by an absolute belief in the capacity of every person to make an exceptional artwork.