Our Summer School features one-week specialist courses across a range of disciplines
Bookings for our Summer School 2026 courses are now open!
Dates: from 29 June to 17 July 2026
What do our summer short courses offer?
Our short courses in heritage crafts and fine art provide a unique opportunity to step inside our renowned Art School or embark on a journey of discovery, to explore and develop your skills and interests with our expert tutors. Discover new talents, foster existing skills and develop your creative interests in a fun and supportive setting.
Student Experience
Class sizes are small, and our tutors make sure our courses for adults (18+ years) are enjoyable and fun, as well as inspiring and informative. As a student on one of our introductory courses, you’ll receive the same warm welcome that we extend to all our friends and students.
Discount Offers
We are thrilled to share special offers for our upcoming Summer School 2026 at City & Guilds of London Art School.
- 10% discount for City & Guilds of London Art School students, alumni, and staff (email us at eveningcourses@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk for the code)
To access the offer, the first booker should email summerschool@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk to request a referral link, which can then be shared with the second participant to complete their booking with the discount applied.
Support Services
Any queries? Take a look at our FAQs page and for further help, please contact us at summerschool@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk
Summer School 2026 – Programme:
Click on a link below for short course information and a link to Eventbrite for detailed course information and to book your place today!
Week 1: 29 June – 3 July
Dates: This course will be taught twice during Summer School 2026, each time for a one-week period:
Week 1: 29 June – 3 July
Week 2: 6 July – 10 July
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £635
Create your own stunning reflective artwork, by learning to apply and then etch in gold leaf on glass. After that we move on to oil gilding a small plaster cast, a technique you can go on to use on all sorts of surfaces, including plaster, wood and stone, indoors and out. Verre églomisé (gilding on glass) and oil gilding techniques have barely changed over the centuries and are amongst the most satisfying to learn.
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Laura Clarke
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £656
This week long course offers the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Etching – hard ground, soft ground, aquatint and steel plate colour printing, and to gain an in depth knowledge into a process that has been used by artists for hundreds of years. But most importantly, get your hands inky and have fun!
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Anne Petters
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
‘Stones That Flow’—an ancient glass fusing technique reimagined
Explore the pâte-de-verre process and make your own small unique objects using this ancient glass making technique. Using a variety of mold-making materials, this unique process will allow us to transfer drawings, writing and texture onto glass. We shall treat this as a printing process and create flat and hollow plaster/molochite molds onto which we fuse glass frits and powders.
Level: Beginners, 18+
Tutor: David MacDiarmid
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £635
This 5 day course will offer you the opportunity to learn an introduction to traditional hand woodworking skills and approaches to joinery. We will cover basic theory and practices in working with wood, and learn about different hand tools through a project-based activity. This course is suitable for those who are new to woodworking practices, and is a great opportunity to learn about this historic craft skill, and learn techniques which can be transferrable to a range of future projects.
Week 2: 6 – 10 July
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Saena Ku
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £656
Be inspired by this rare opportunity to learn historic woodcarving skills in one of the few art schools still teaching traditional craftsmanship. Out of raw timber and with guidance, you’ll create an original architectural ornament: an acanthus leaf or oak leaf, for example, or a section of classical moulding. In the process, you’ll learn how to work with the wood grain, and use and sharpen chisels safely and with confidence.
Level: Beginners / Some experience
Tutor: Thomas Merrett
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
Discover the intensely investigative process of observational drawing, which underpins all aspects of practical work at the Art School, and develop techniques and strategies to help you explore this practice in relation to the human figure. We use a variety of media to explore the structure, volume, movement and anatomy of the human figure.
Level: Intermediate
Tutor: Serena Rowe
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £656
Join artist Serena Rowe for a 5-day intensive oil painting course.
Working from a different still life set up each day, you will expand your painterly language and deepen your technical understanding of oil paint. It is Serena’s hope that you will cease to merely describe things in paint but begin to express them.
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Ghislain Puget
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
Take copies of medieval ornamental and figure reliefs from our unique collection of historic plaster casts from the V&A as inspiration to learn the traditional skills and techniques of historic low relief stone carving. We will introduce you to the fundamentals: which tools you need and how to use them, techniques for cutting stone and applying texture, and historical background on decorative styles.
BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE – (Course now full)
Level: Beginners / Some experience
Tutor: Tom Young
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
Come prepared for an intensive letter carving experience. Learning to draw Roman letters is an important part of the process, so you spend the mornings drawing sans serif and serifed letter forms. The afternoons will be spent building your carving skills. You will also learn how to transfer your work to the stone and how to sharpen your chisels.
BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE – (course now full)
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Rian Kanduth
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £635
Create your own stunning reflective artwork, by learning to apply and then etch in gold leaf on glass. After that we move on to oil gilding a small plaster cast, a technique you can go on to use on all sorts of surfaces, including plaster, wood and stone, indoors and out. Verre églomisé (gilding on glass) and oil gilding techniques have barely changed over the centuries and are amongst the most satisfying to learn.
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Amanda Lancaster
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
Explore the art and craft of Japanese bookmaking through suminagashi marbling, traditional fukuro-toji (pouch-bound) structures and the construction of a chitsu wraparound case. Working with Japanese papers and time-honoured techniques, you will create a full suite of handmade books and an elegant protective enclosure, gaining the skills and confidence to continue the practice beyond the course.
Week 3: 13 – 17 July
evel: Beginners/some experience
Tutor: Sarah Davis
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
Using a combination of modern and traditional materials, we will peel back layers of history to unveil the tools, techniques and methods of Medieval painting and illumination. You will create your own painted and gilded pieces and learn the skills to continue practising the craft at home.
BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE – (Course now full)
Level: Beginners/Some experience
Tutor: Kim Amis
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
This distinctive course offers you a rare opportunity to produce a life-size portrait using clay. Working from a life model each day, you’ll use traditional measuring methods and tools to make an accurate sculpture and learn artistic techniques to capture a sense of character – the only requirement is enthusiasm!
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Ghislain Puget
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
Take copies of medieval ornamental and figure reliefs from our unique collection of historic plaster casts from the V&A as inspiration to learn the traditional skills and techniques of historic low relief stone carving. We will introduce you to the fundamentals: which tools you need and how to use them, techniques for cutting stone and applying texture, and historical background on decorative styles.
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Saena Ku
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £656
Be inspired by this rare opportunity to learn historic woodcarving skills in one of the few art schools still teaching traditional craftsmanship. Out of raw timber and with guidance, you’ll create an original architectural ornament: an acanthus leaf or oak leaf, for example, or a section of classical moulding. In the process, you’ll learn how to work with the wood grain, and use and sharpen chisels safely and with confidence.
Level: Beginners
Tutor: Pippa Beveridge
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £614
This course covers a variety of techniques ranging from basic glass-cutting skills to kiln forming, simple mould making and options for cold working. The course will seek to foster an imaginative approach to glass as an artist’s medium, touching on a wide variety of techniques and giving the student a basis from which further, more specialised investigation into the medium can be carried out.
BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE – (Course now full)
Level: Beginners / some experience, 18+
Tutor: Mark Frith
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £635
Welcome to this rare opportunity to experience the art of letter carving in wood. You will learn to carve incised lettering and look in detail at choosing the right chisel for each cut and how wood grain direction affects carving. Learning to draw Roman letters is an essential part in the design process. The mornings will be spent drawing both sans serifed and serifed letters, whilst we develop carving skills in the afternoons.
Level: for complete beginners as well as participants with previous mosaic experience.
Tutor: Giulia Vogrig
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £656
This distinctive course offers a rare opportunity to create an A4-size mosaic portrait using smalti tesserae. Working from your own design or photograph, you will use traditional tools to produce an accurate mosaic and learn techniques to convey expression and character through mosaic. Your subject can be a person, a pet, or any animal you wish to portray.