Tuition takes artists to next level
The artist’s journey never ends. There are always skills to refine, new styles to try and different subject matter to explore.
At Art Metro, the endless possibilities seem to have congealed for students into a desire to simply have started sooner.
Diane Gallop has been attending classes at the Papanui art school for about five years. Like many, she only began to truly pursue her passion after retiring.
Every Tuesday, Diane meets up with a like-minded group for a morning class before doubling down with an afternoon session after a coffee and a bite to eat. It makes the cross-town commute easier and there’s a cafe onsite, although Diane says the hours fly by in any case.
‘‘Everyone is friendly and the tuition is excellent. I’ve never thought of stopping,’’ she says.
‘‘I spent hours drawing as a child, I just loved it, but then life got in the way. Many people say they know they could have done more in the art field but never really had the time.
‘‘I just think about all those years I didn’t paint. I think if only I’d started when my children were babies how amazing it could have been.’’
Diane is one of Art Metro’s most promising students and has been encouraged by her tutor, Christina Silaghi, to start painting for commissions. It is something Diane has done before with a portrait of a Maori chief, tattoos and all.
She says she enjoys the detail in such pieces, using oils to capture the subtle shifts of colour and texture.
Diane’s current focus is a large canvas of a blooming peony. She is also reproducing a dozen illustrations from a book published in the 1880s – ‘‘flowers, rose hips, hazelnuts, that sort of thing’’ – to preserve the images and give her granddaughters something nice to hang on the wall.
But it’s the artistic process that Diane says she enjoys most. ‘‘Going to a place like Art Metro, where you’ve got expert tuition, reassures you and gives you the confidence to do more. I’m achieving now what I never thought I would.’’
Art Metro has more than 400 students ranging in age from five years to more than 80. Classes are held weekdays in the mornings, afternoons and evenings with a focus on individual learning in a group environment.
Classes are capped at 11 students to ensure plenty of time with tutors, and each person is free to work on images of their own choosing.
For newcomers, Art Metro has a specially developed series of paintings to duplicate. These allow people to produce relatively impressive-looking works without getting bogged down by trickier aspects such as advanced colour mixing.
The studio welcomes new students throughout the year and currently has vacancies for the next term of classes starting in mid-January.