A Week in the Life of Art School

2 hour workshops

Offered once or twice daily. Participants may join a single workshop or multiple workshops throughout the week. A lunch break is scheduled at 12:00 – 13:00 for those attending both morning and afternoon workshops.

AM workshop

• Registration: 09:50 - 10:00
• Workshop: 10:00 - 12:00
• Departure: 12:00 - 12:15

PM workshop

• Registration: 13:00 - 13:15
• Workshop: 13:15 - 15:15
• Departure: 15:15 - 15:30

2 Hour Workshops

2 Hour Workshops

4 Hour Workshops

2 Hour Workshops

4 Hour Workshops

2 Hour Workshops

4 Hour Workshops

Freestyle Fabric Screen Printing

Monday 3 August, 10:00 - 12:00 or 13:15 - 15:15

Explore polychromatic printing; a screen-printing technique usedin the textile industry to create hand-drawn effects with dyes.Freestyle paint directly onto screens, then transfer your design tofabric using print paste. Experiment with brushes, sponges, andspray bottles to create different marks and textures. Once curingis complete, you’ll get to take home your hand-painted A3 fabricat the end of the week.

Experimental Life Drawing: A Figurative Focus

Monday 3 August, 10:00 - 12:00 or 13:15 - 15:15

Join this playful life drawing workshop featuring a live (clothed)model. Throughout the session, you’ll observe the human figurein a variety of poses and be encouraged to respond creatively;sketching with different mediums and experimenting with line,form, colour, and tone to express movement. Acrylic paint willalso be part of the artistic exploration.

Playful Forms: An Exploration in Jewellery Design

Monday 3 August, 10:00 - 15:15

Explore playful design in this hands-on workshop inspired by jewellery designer Aubin Stewart’s creative practice. Begin in one of our studio spaces, using bold paper cut-outs to experiment with shape, colour, and composition. Develop your ideas into prototypes, then bring them to life as wearable accessories in our Jewellery Workshop using Perspex and aluminium. Along the way, you’ll learn essential techniques—cutting, drilling, and hammering—while transforming reimagined offcuts into vibrant, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Poster to Pin: Communication Design Workshop

Tuesday 4 August, 10:00 - 12:00

Co-create the visual identity for your own Mini Revel exhibition, which will take place at the end of the week, working collaboratively to shape its overall look and feel. Design and produce a range of promotional materials, including posters, title cards, and pin badges, using playful, experimental approaches that combine found imagery, typography, and collage.

Stretch Your Own Canvas

Tuesday 4 August, 10:00 - 12:00 or 13:15 - 15:15

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to stretch your own canvas from start to finish, developing practical skills in both woodworking and canvas preparation. Working collaboratively, you’ll cut and assemble wooden stretcher bars to build a frame, then measure, stretch, and staple the canvas by hand. Each participant will create a canvas approximately 300mm × 450mm, ready to use as the foundation for a future painting or mixed media artwork.

Designing Spaces: Introduction to Interior Design

Tuesday 4 August, 10:00 - 15:15

Step into the world of Interior Design and take on the role of a designer for the day as you respond to a client brief. In this design studio workshop, you’ll explore how designers combine creativity, functionality, spatial planning, and safety to shape effective spaces. You will create a mood board and a 3D concept model to showcase the new skills you have learned.

Thinking Through Making: Ceramics Design Workshop

Tuesday 4 August, 10:00 - 15:15

In this workshop, you’ll explore thinking through making by responding to a client brief focused on homeware design. Through hands-on studio practice, you’ll engage with product design and ceramics using slab building techniques, alongside prototyping with cardboard. The work produced can contribute to your portfolio for applying to an undergraduate degree at Gray’s School of Art.

Press Moulding with Paper Clay

Wednesday 5 August, 10:00 - 12:00

In this workshop, you will work with paper clay and plaster, learning press moulding techniques and exploring mould-making using plaster cast moulds. Working collaboratively, you will contribute to a live community art project involving fish forms while developing skills in observation, sculptural thinking, and material processes within a supportive, hands-on studio environment.

Please note, some parts of the workshop will take place outdoors.

Design and Build a Lighting Product: Paper Light Workshop

Wednesday 5 August, 10:00 - 15:15

Take on a creative design challenge and create a lighting piece to take home. Working from a client brief, you’ll explore emerging design trends for 2027, develop ideas through sketching, and learn through making as you design and build your own piece using paper, card, and wood. This fast-paced, hands-on workshop offers insight into how designers think, experiment, create, and make.

The Art of Media: Writing, Filming & Editing

Wednesday 5 August, 10:00 - 15:15

In this workshop, explore script writing, visual storytelling, and on-camera presentation. Get hands-on with teleprompters, video software, and green screens while building communication skills. Check out our TV studio, respond to a news brief, and together, learn about editing and production techniques. Ideal for aspiring media and journalism creators, or any creative - learn to tell compelling stories and promote yourself and your work across platforms.

The Big Build: Collaborative Sculpture Workshop

Wednesday 5 August, 10:00 - 12:00 or 13:15 - 15:15

You’ll work collaboratively to design and build a large-scale sculpture as part of a group project. Starting with your own sketches, you’ll explore how to translate two-dimensional ideas into three-dimensional form using a cardboard construction kit called Makedo. The final sculpture will be shown as part of the Mini Revel Exhibition at Gray’s later in the week.

Creating a Digital Portfolio: Photography Techniques

Thursday 6 August, 10:00 - 12:00 or 13:15 - 15:15

If you're considering applying to Gray's School of Art, join this workshop to learn how to photograph your work as part of your portfolio preparation. Bring a selection of your own artwork or portfolio, and together as a group, we'll explore various techniques to capture and showcase some of your work in a digital format. You're encouraged to bring your own mobile phone or camera to capture your pieces.

The Business of Fashion

Thursday 6 August, 10:00 - 15:15

Step into the role of a fashion buyer for the day and discover how global fashion trends evolve into collections within the ever-changing fashion industry. In this workshop, you’ll explore how fashion buyers understand customers, predict trends, and balance creativity with commercial thinking.

Exhibition Installation

Friday 7 August, 10:00 - 13:00

Following your participation in workshops throughout the week, you are invited to be part of the installation team, who together will install artwork in preparation for an exhibition called the ‘Mini Revel’.

All artworks must be ready to install at Gray’s School of Art for 10:00 Friday 7 August 2026.

Mini Revel Exhibition

Friday 7 August, 14:00 - 15:00

As a workshop participant you are invited to exhibit artwork from the programme as part of a ‘Mini Revel’. This exhibition is a celebration of your week in the life of art school and is a chance to meet different participants. You are encouraged to invite friends and family to celebrate your exhibition at Gray’s School of Art.