Yes, I know it’s cold and there’s been a bit of unseasonal snow, but brace yourselves because an avalanche is coming. We’re all going to be swept off our feet in a disorienting swirl of educational meltdown resulting in a maelstrom of challenges for higher education. So, grab your intellectual thermals and a hot toddy and read all about it here, in the Institute for Public Policy Research’s latest publication: An Avalanche is Coming: Higher Education and the Revolution Ahead.
We all love Manchester, right? It’s funky, groovy, edgy and full of great people, music, food and culture. Well, now’s your chance to show the world how fabulous this super city is. Get out your Lomo/Canon/Nikon/pinhole camera and shoot up, down and around. Then enter this top hole photography competition and you could win £200 and publication in a book alongside the photos of Kevin Cummins. Click here for more details.
Join WEA Warrington literature class members for three free literature study seminars:
10.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m., Thursdays, Bold Street Methodist Mission, Palmyra Square North, Warrington WA1 1JQ
Gillian Clarke is the National Poet of Wales and one of the most highly regarded contemporary poets. Seminar 1 will focus on her landmark poem “Letter from a Far Country” while Seminar 2 will discuss a range of her other poetry and an extract from her prose work At the Source.
21 March 2013 – Topic: Gillian Clarke – “Letter from a Far Country” (poem)*
18 April 2013 – Topic: Gillian Clarke – Selected other poetry and extract from At the Source (prose)*
(*Copies of texts to be discussed can be requested in advance of each seminar from Andy Jurgis, ajurgis@wea.org.uk, 01606 784 458 but you can just turn up without any prior reading.)
Chekhov is one of the world’s most revered writers and this seminar will introduce some of the possible reasons why and look ahead to the literature course programme in Warrington in 2013/14. No prior reading necessary.
16 May 2013 – Introducing Anton Chekhov
PLANNED WEA CHEKHOV COURSES IN WARRINGTON, 2013/14 (subject to minimum enrolment, cost t.b.c.)
Tutor: Andy Jurgis, WEA Learning Manager – Cheshire and Warrington
10.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m., Thursdays, Bold Street Methodist Mission, Palmyra Square North, Warrington WA1 1JQ
10 weeks from 3 October 2013 – Anton Chekhov 1: The Short Stories and Uncle Vanya
10 weeks from 7 January 2014 – Anton Chekhov 2: Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard
Recommended Texts:
Anton Chekhov, About Love and Other Stories, Oxford World’s Classics (ISBN 978-0199536689)
Anton Chekhov, Plays, Penguin Classics (ISBN 978-0140447330)
Further information on these seminar and course programmes from Andy Jurgis, ajurgis@wea.org.uk and 01606 784 458.
on literature class members for three free literature study seminars:
Here’s a short video about Man Ray’s muse and lover, Lee Miller (above). The video is presented by Miller’s son, Antony Penrose, who talks passionately about his mother’s relationship with Man Ray. Lee Miller was a Surrealist artist in her own right.
“Man Ray was an American modernist artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal.” Wikipedia
“The first museum exhibition to focus on Man Ray’s photographic portraits brings together some of his most famous images with the first UK outings for images of Barbette, Catherine Deneuve, Ava Gardner, Lee Miller and Kiki de Montparnasse.” Art Fund
Details of the Man Ray exhibition below:
National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place London WC2H 0HE
020 7306 0055
Entry Details:
£6.35 with National Art Pass (standard entry £12.70)
Sat – Wed, 10am – 6pm
Thur – Fri, 10am – 9pm
Saw this very interesting article on the Ted website about the artist Julie Freeman, who uses data as a source for biologically inspired artworks and installations.
As part of the VIEW Project we are running a photography & filmmaking course at Whitworth Art Gallery starting on Thursday 7 February.
Participants can choose to use photography or digital filmmaking to make a short documentary film about a subject of their choice. This could be a poem recital, a walk around a park or the city or a museum, a ‘day in the life of’, an interview with someone special, a ‘how to’ for knitting or mending a plug or a visit to the library. It can be serious, humorous or a bit of both. It’s up to you!
To get inspiration on how photography can be used to good effect in documentary making, visit the Duck Rabbit site and see how they do it.
To find out more about the tutors on the course, Matt Kowalczuk and Mat Johns visit Zero Facility Films and watch some of their award-winning films.
The finished films will be displayed on the VIEW Project microsite
COURSE DETAILS
Venue: Whitworth Art Gallery
Dates: Thursdays from 7 February until 28 March
Time: 13:00 – 16:00
Cost: Free
Equipment: if you have your own digital camera and/or video and a tripod, please bring it along. Otherwise we will have digital cameras and video equipment for you to use (although you may need to share).
If you have your own laptop for the editing at the end of the course that would be helpful too. We will have a few laptops available, but you will have to work in groups.
To book your place on the course please send an email with DOCU in the subject heading to Elaine: ehutchings@wea.org.uk
Film maker Matt Kowalczuk kicks off our amazing new film-making course, as part of the ‘View’ project, with these two brilliant video presentations. Have a look. Top quality – thank you Matt!
WEA North West wants to get people together to ruminate on, and discuss, thought-provoking topics in community venues. Last night’s talk was hosted by City South Manchester Housing Trust in Hulme, and was well-attended by a range of people from education, housing and community organisations. Greg Coyne, WEA North West’s Education Director, gave an impassioned lecture-based discussion on the future of adult education, which prompted much debate and the sharing of ideas.
Greg based his talk on an essay he wrote last year:
Below are some photos of the participants:
The next talk at CSMHT is on March 6th 2013, at City South Manchester Housing Trust, Archway 5, Hulme, Manchester M15 5RL – What’s the Point of… Social Housing? This talk will be led by David Dennehy, who is a WEA member and volunteer. David is also a tenant director of a social housing trust.
To book your place visit: www.wtposocialhousingwea.eventbrite.com
We all make snap judgements based on first impressions, don’t we? Join this digital photography course at Whitworth Art Gallery and use Canon Ixus cameras and iPads to capture your identity and smash others’ perceptions of who you really are. Ed Watts, the tutor, will help you to convey your public, or private, self through photographs and image manipulation on iPads. The resulting photographs will be published in a tabloid-sized magazine and showcased on WEA Creative’s online issuu site.
VENUE: Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Road, M15 6ER
DATES: Fridays 02/11/12 – 07/12/12 (6 weeks)
TIME: 13:00 – 16:00
COST: Free to those on benefits, otherwise £27.90
digital cameras and iPads will be provided for participants’ use.
To reserve your place email Elaine: ehutchings@wea.org.uk or simply turn up on the day.
Join tutor Jamie Moloney, on this short three weeks history and politics course based at the People’s History Museum (PHM).
You will discuss the politics around the Temperance Movement with a tour of the current Demon Drink exhibition at PHM. You will also experience a ‘Living History’ demonstration, attend a lecture by a historian on the Temperance Movement and make political posters. A visit to the Imperial War Museum to study the Great War and the Second World War, complements the course.
VENUE: People’s History Museum
Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3ER
DATES: Fridays 09/11/12 – 23/11/12
TIME: 13:00 – 16:00
COST: Free to those on benefits, otherwise the course costs £13.95
To reserve your place email Elaine: ehutchings@wea.org.uk or simply turn up on the day.