Image: Wet/London, 2026 at Mimosa House. Photo Credit: Christa Holka. Courtesy of Mimosa House.
Day: Thursdays
Dates: Thursday 21 January – Thursday 18 March 2027 (with no class on Thursday, 18 February, due to half term).
Time: 18:00 – 20:00
Level: Beginners (18+)
Tutor: Oriana Fox
Location: 124 Kennington Park Road, London, SE11 4DJ
Cost: £310/ Earlybird: 10% discount if booked by 18 December.
BOOK HERE
COURSE OVERVIEW
What can painting do for feminism, and what can feminism do for painting? This practical and discursive 8-week course pairs short talks on feminist painters, from the late 1960s to the present, with guided studio practice. Through brief lectures, group discussion of artists’ writings and hands-on painting briefs, students will put varied methods of personal, political and painterly expression to work. No prior experience in painting or art history is necessary.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course introduces participants to the wide-ranging oeuvres of feminist painters, asking how they used the “master’s tools” for feminist aims and what those tools can still do. Each session pairs a theme-based talk with a practical brief, giving students both a contextual grounding in the history of feminist painting and a basis from which to develop their own work.
Themes include:
• gestural and action painting
• handwriting and the painted word
• symbolism, allegory and myth
• feminist formalism
• motherhood and domesticity
• the personal and autobiographical
• portraiture and the politics of looking
Academic discussions will redress the ambivalence and outright neglect that some feminist theorists have shown towards painting, favouring instead performance and new media. We will read painters’ own writing alongside supporting scholarship, and explore the boundary-pushing work that blurs painting with performance.
Throughout, students are encouraged to bring emerging ideas and works in progress to discuss with the group. The course aims to create a supportive environment for experimentation and critical thinking, and no one is ever required to share personal material. By the end of the 8 weeks, participants will have the working knowledge to make paintings of a more individual nature.
What is included: All teaching, paints, brushes and surfaces.
What isn’t included: Aprons or protective clothing, so please wear clothes that can get paint on them..