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Picture this: It’s late 2022.
You have a portfolio bursting at the seams with sketches, studies, and finished work. You are ready to confidently approach galleries or plan a solo exhibition or host your own open studio tour. You fill out applications for the kind of exhibitions you could only have dreamed of applying for before. You may even be considering an art residency.
You have a unique, rich, cohesive body of work. It doesn’t look like the work of your teachers or guides or favourite artists.
It looks like YOUR work.
Every piece bears your signature and tells your unique story.
Do you wish to create a series of work that is absolutely unique to you?
Art tutorials, ecourses and art classes that focus on technique have inspired you to create and make art. But as you’ve grown as an artist, they may have left you feeling frustrated, replicating the work of others. Is it time for you to go further and create art that can only come from you – a unique, individual human being?
It takes more than paint and Pinterest to create artwork that is a meaningful embodiment of your own unique experience.
We can create art that is unique to our own personal history, inspirations, curiosities, loves, challenges and dreams. Building a whole body of related work allows you to go deeper into what inspires you and cements your place in the world as an artist who has something unique to say.
How do we even begin to imagine what we can add to the art world? What can we create that has not already been made?
Each one of us has something unique inside of us –
our own voice.
Whilst this journey is one of great discovery and exploration, it can also lead us down pathways of indecision, doubt and uncertainty. We may even at times think about turning back – unsure about which direction to go and how to continue.
In my own journey to becoming a professional artist, I often longed to have someone to guide me, to help me navigate my own unique odyssey – a mentor. Someone who has been there before and made it through the various highs and lows of creating unique and meaningful work that could only have come from their own experience.
Registration is Closed for 2022
Together we can make 2022 your most creative year yet!
For more information, please click the button to view an Information Packet PDF.
I want to receive regular updates!
Not ready to commit yet? Sign up for a special interest list to receive information specific to the 2023 Building a Body of Work programme.
Building a Body of Work –
Your Art, Your Way
- Guides you to discover the inspiration that is already within you
- Helps you find ways of building a strong body of work that is cohesive, rich and focussed
- Supports you as you go through the joys and inevitable challenges of creating the work
Could this in-depth and intensive online programme be the support you need to explore your own creativity and deepen your art practice?
Join me in 2022!
Registration for the 2022 programme opens Monday 4th October, 2021.
I want to receive regular updates!
Not ready to commit yet? Sign up for a special interest list to receive information specific to the 2023 Building a Body of Work programme.
Please Join Me as We
- Ask questions that will help you get to the heart of your creativity and what makes you a unique individual and artist
- Unearth several possibilities for creating a series of work (and choose one of them!)
- Identify a strong focus for your art practice for the duration of the programme
- Learn about the unique ways in which our celebrated artists have crafted a rich identity and body of work
- Navigate the highs and lows of building a sustained art practice with a strong framework of support and guidance
- Draw on the shared experience of a small group of like-minded artists on their own unique journey
- And most importantly, create a rich and cohesive body of work
January 2022 – October 2022
NINE MONTHS of structured learning,
assignments and support
Group AND individual mentoring
If you are willing and open to commit to a sustained period of intense creativity and growth in your art practice, you will be amazed at how consistent progression can take your work to the next level.
What Students are Saying
“Gillian’s Building a Body of Work course has been a huge step in helping me find direction in my art. I’ve spent several years doing a bit of this and a bit of that (because it’s always fun to try out new materials and techniques!) but had no direction in my art practice. BABW has been the perfect answer for me. Gillian’s thought provoking questions have helped me discover my “why”. Her course is full of engaging lessons that are helping me see art, both mine and others, in a deeper, more meaningful way. It seems that Gillian looks inside me, sees what makes me tick, and then gives me the eyes to see it also. It has been well worth the time and effort!”
Debbie
“Building a body of work is the most thoroughly complete course I have taken. It will not change you as an artist but it will expand you as an artist. It will deepen your practice and help you become the artist you want to be. The written content is broad and varied and ever so helpful. I think it is the mentoring sessions that brought it all together for me. Gilllian is a very wise artist and mentor who has gone through everything you will in creating a body of work. Her insight and examples are invaluable. If you are hesitant and signing up for such a long program, I suggest you take the leap, invest in yourself as an artist. It will be the most amazing year.”
Kate
“It is hard to even begin to express the degree to which Gillian’s mentorship course, Building a Body of Work-Your Art-Your Way, has helped me move forward in my art. The effort and time she has put into this course are obvious in the quality of the course materials. The feedback from Gillian on the Facebook group page, in the small group meetings and the personal 1 on 1 sessions have been invaluable. I finally understand how to focus on, research and develop a body of work that holds together…I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in creating their own body of work. It has been an amazing journey.”
Judy
“This class has by far been the most enriching and challenging class I’ve ever taken and I think it came along exactly when it was meant to. I was ready to go this deep and deeper. I felt I had reached a cross roads in my art and my creative process and I wasn’t sure how to move forward. I wasn’t sure I was going to cope with non instructional videos being a visual person but actually it has been the greatest gift about this class. I now see how important this step was for me because it forced me to do the work and find things out for myself, what’s inside of me and doing my art, my way. I will continue to do the work with these tools as I continue to learn, grow and go deeper. Researching, free writing and intensive mentoring has deeply changed the way I approach my creative process. I realized that this approach has been something I had been longing to learn for a very long time. Thank you, Gillian, for your gentle but firm mentoring and your deeply thought provoking material that has deeply changed my creative life.”
Jeanne-Marie
“Building a Body of Work is providing the foundations, framework, scaffolding, impetus and momentum to get from my starting point to where I want and need to be – in terms of practical AND mental support and nourishment, throughout what is a pretty all-consuming journey. It is comprehensive, rigorous but also sensitively (and almost miraculously) nuanced – in Gillian’s inimitable way – to your own individual needs, strengths, psyche, aesthetic and direction.“
Gilly
An Online Programme of Weekly Study
Prompts and Assignments
Ongoing Support and Encouraging Critiques
Regular Group Mentoring Calls
Personal Mentoring Calls
You will also receive five personal mentoring calls with me to talk about your progress, your breakthroughs and any challenges you may be facing.
Commit to the Process
This programme will take a dedicated amount of time and focus to work through. Be prepared to create space in your week for the work involved. You will be asked to set your intentions for the week and plan your schedule. I estimate that the lessons will take around 4 – 5 hours a week (although many will be available as an audio file that you can listen to whilst creating if you wish). This will allow you even more time for creating the work!
Create the Work
You will be encouraged to have a regular sketchbook practice and create studies to support your body of work. The aim is to have at least six fully resolved pieces of artwork by the end of the programme.
Registration is Closed for 2022
Are You Excited?
Ready to start creating your best work yet?Registration for the 2022 programme opens Monday 4th October, 2021
Want More Details?
Ready for more detailed information about what is covered in this unique programme offered by popular professional artist, mentor and instructor, Gillian Lee Smith?
Click on the button below to download an informational PDF packet that includes additional programme details.
Not Ready this Year? Missed out on Registering?
Does this sound like just the programme you’ve been looking for but you’re all booked up for 2022? Need time to save up for this one-of-a-kind investment in yourself and your work? We get it! Simply click on the button below and fill out the form on the following page to be added to a special interest list for Building a Body of Work if it is offered again in 2023.
What Comes After?
Your Investment
Are you ready to commit to Build a Body of Work – Your Art, Your Way?
Go beyond inspiration and replication!
Unearth your ideas and create a theme for a strong body of work!
Focus on growth and cultivate your own art practice!
Create your best work yet!
Feel supported and encouraged as you explore and create!
Registration is Closed for 2022
I want to receive regular updates!
Not ready to commit yet? Sign up for a special interest list to receive information specific to the 2023 Building a Body of Work programme.
- I have loved learning from art tutorials and the work of other artists but now it is time to go my own way – forge my own path. Embrace my unique talents.*
- I know how to make art and I have everything I need in terms of skills and tools. I now need ideas and a focus to go further on my journey!
- I have the time, commitment, focus and energy.
- I am ready to show up. No excuses.
- I know it isn’t about finding the time – it is about making the time. I am ready.
Want More Details?
Are you looking for more detailed information about what is covered in this unique programme offered by popular professional artist, mentor and instructor, Gillian Lee Smith?
Simply click on the button below to download a detailed informational PDF packet.
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