Courses
“Mary does not ‘teach’ as such; she introduces a painting (or an artist, or an idea) and then enters a process of mutual discovery as a co-explorer, always stimulating an attitude of ‘gazing’ and encouraging a heart response. She fosters the development of individuals having an openness of vision to perceive what is going on in themselves as well as what the basic intention of the artist might be. Mary’s classes are inspirational. They have a spiritual dimension in the broadest sense, and encourage the participator to find their ‘inner eye’ to perceive not so much facts and figures about artists and art history, but how art can change us. At the same time, Mary is very kind and attentive to all her students, and respects everyone’s contribution. Her classes are wholly accessible both to folk who have in-depth experience of ‘art appreciation’ and those who have little.”
Veronica Bennetts
Monet – his life and works at Giverny
A two week course
Fridays 15th & 22nd September 2023
10am – 12pm UK time via Zoom
Following on from a visit to Monet’s house and gardens at Giverny in France, this two week course take a visual tour through art works and through photographs of his time at his beloved home.
In the last part of his life, Monet had experienced a series of disappointments and was grieving the loss of his wife. Coupled with cataracts and finding it difficult to see to paint, he put down his paint brushes and decided he would never paint again. It was only through the encouragement of his close friend, the President Georges Clémenceau, that he was inspired to paint again. The result of this was the monumental paintings of the water lilies, some of which can be seen today in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.
This course will explore Monet’s extraordinarily beautiful works of art, the fascinating journey through his life at Giverny, an overview of his young life as an artist, the neglect of the house and garden after his death and the eventual revival of them, bringing the gardens, which Monet called his greatest masterpiece, back to life.
This course will be recorded.
£40
Awakening Beauty
A two week course on Beauty in Art
Monday 19th June & Monday 26th June
10am – 12pm UK time via Zoom
£40
“Beauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It can affect us in an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference: beauty demands to be noticed; it speaks to us directly like the voice of an intimate friend. If there are people who are indifferent to beauty, then it is surely because they do not perceive it.”
Sir Roger Scruton
This two week course will explore beauty in Art across a broad time frame to modern day. We will firstly consider how beauty is defined and whether it is only in the eye of the beholder or perhaps, it is in fact something which embodies universal truths. We will question how interconnected is beauty with the divine? How has beauty shown her / his face? The goddess Venus or Aphrodite, the divine feminine and masculine, goodness, kindness?
When our attention to beauty diminishes and when we cease co-creating with it, we need to be concerned. In our modern day, we seem to have neglected beauty in Art and in Architecture and in doing so we have neglected a crucial part of ourselves. We need beauty as much as we need food. But our views of beauty today have become distorted. As the depth psychologist James Hillman said, beauty is not ‘prettiness’.
Guided by the works of Art themselves, we will look at when beauty first awakened and was brought into the tangible images we now call Art as we explore some extraordinary works from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Romanticism and the Impressionist period. As we move forward in time we will see how works of art changed in a period which I term ‘when beauty slept’ – the period of industrialisation and interestingly, a time when the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales had only recently been written, including the Sleeping Beauty. We will look at how some artists took the story of Sleeping Beauty as subject matter for their painting and what this might mean symbolically. We will venture into the world of Modernism in Art and ask whether beauty is still present, revealing and then concealing her / his face. This course will be visually rich and historical facts will be linked to ‘bigger picture’ thinking with philosophers such as Sir Roger Scruton, James Hillman, the artists themselves and from ideas about beauty from the periods we will cover, ultimately asking can we awaken beauty in our world today?
This course will be recorded if you happen to live in a different time zone or cannot make the scheduled time.
Past Courses
Recordings available for purchase
Stories and Myths in Art
Stories and Myths in Art Five Week Course, Mondays 21st Feb, 28th Feb, 7th March, 14th March, 21st March 2022 Over the course of five weeks we will explore the world of art and the stories they convey that have inspired people for thousands of years to the...
Annunciation in Art – call and response – March/April 2023
Annunciation in Art - the call and response Two week course Monday 27th March & Monday 3rd April 2023 "There is some kiss we want with our whole lives, the touch of spirit on the body." Rumi In celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation on 25th March, this...
Seeing the World Anew: The Emergence of Landscape in Art – 3 week course – August 2022
Seeing the World Anew: The Emergence of Landscape in Art Gainsborough, Constable, Turner Three week Summer course Mondays 8th, 15th & 22nd August 2022 Psychiatrist and literary scholar, Dr Iain McGilchrist, writes that the arts in general, and the ways in...
Lives of the Great Artists – 6 week course
Lives of the Great Artists 6 week course Over the course of six weeks we will explore the lives and works of some of the Western tradition’s greatest artists spanning the late Medieval period to the current day. At a time when our cultural depth is seriously deprived...
The Classical Tradition in Art
The Classical Tradition in Art Why has the classical tradition been such a constant source for architects, artists and sculptors? How did this ‘style’ or way of showing its visual forms evolve and develop? For ancient cultures, the classical proportions, harmony and...
The Creativity, Life & Works of Leonardo da Vinci: Seeing into the Heart of Things
The Creativity, Life & Works of Leonardo da Vinci: Seeing into the Heart of Things £45: Three week course ‘We live in an age of celebrity, of flashes in the pan. But when it comes to Leonardo’s works, which supersede time and place, we have to realise that there...
Stories and Myths in Art
Stories and Myths in Art Five Week Course. Over five weeks of this course we will explore the world of art and the stories they convey that have inspired people for thousands of years to the present day. This is a world rich in the imagination, in word and in...
Why We Need Art
Why We Need Art Exploring ways of seeing Art: Neuroscientific, Psychological, Philosophical and the Mystical £15 This session will include both theory and participation as we take a journey through the ways in which art can be perceived; from the neuroscientific,...
Seeing Masterpieces with Fresh Eyes
Seeing Masterpieces with Fresh Eyes This day workshop is my first time teaching in person since lockdown so I am very much looking forward to it. This session will invite you to look at some well-known works of art with a different perception, or ask if that is even...
The Post- Impressionists
The Post-Impressionists 5 Week Course Be inspired and intrigued each week as we look in-depth at the world of the Post-Impressionists as well as some of the works they created. At a time when we are becoming less engaged with each other, and in a world where the...