27 September 2021 to 28 June 2023
Head of programme: Dan Coombs
with Dale Lewis, Vicky Wright, Kathryn Maple and Alison Harper
Click here for information on the ESOP Advanced Painting Course 2022-24
This new two (2) year course includes a full time studio from September 2021 through the summer of 2022 to June 2023.
Join a community of artists with a full time studio space and abundant tutor contact time – Monday to Wednesday in a student year group of max 16. Visiting artists talks and tutorials every two weeks. Includes an End of Year exhibition both physical and online.
£5,900 per annum -this course has the offer of a 50% scholarship to new applicants to our scholarship programme for more details click here.
To apply send 10 images and a short statement as to why you would like to do the course and a bio or cv to admin@theesop.com
At the Essential School of Painting we collectively develop ways, in a dynamic relationship between artist and teacher, in which painting can open out the poetic imagination, can give form to images that exist within the mind’s eye, evolve the artistic consciousness, embody individual subjectivity and help painters develop their own artistic voice. We are committed to creating a dynamic environment that will give rise to the artistic voices of tomorrow.
We call for sixteen painters, from as diverse a range of backgrounds as possible, and of any age, to apply for the new Advanced Painting Course at ESOP. The course will take place across a two-year cycle. Successful candidates will be provided with a studio space and materials within the ESOP studio located in Wood Green, London.
Teaching contact time will take place weekly on Mondays, Tuesdays and alternate Wednesdays. The course will be led by the internationally exhibited painter Dan Coombs overseeing a programme of visiting artist lectures, tutorials by visiting artists, Dan Coombs himself and regular ESOP tutors plus projects, lectures, seminars and group tutorials. The core tutor team is Dan Coombs with Dale Lewis, Alison Harper, Vicky Wright and Kathryn Maple, this year’s John Moores Painting price winner. The course will evolve through a dynamic ongoing conversation between the teachers and the participating artists. Advice and mentorship will be provided for every aspect of painting practice, including professional practice, developing a career as an artist, strategies for gaining visibility, recognition and patronage, the pragmatics of running a studio, as well as all the technical issues connected with the craft of painting.
How to apply and the selection process:
To apply please send ten images accompanied by a statement, a brief biography and any social media handles that support your application. We are selecting successful candidates out of the pool of applications based on artistic potential, energy, creativity, open mindedness, dynamic commitment as well as quality of work. We ask applicants to be prepared to participate fully in the pioneering collective creation of this innovative and unique painting course.
The ethos of ESOP is to encourage the widest range of viewpoints as possible and we welcome applications from candidates wishing to contribute to this diverse and polysemous microculture.
Please send your applications to admin@theesop.com
About Dan Coombs
Dan Coombs is a London based painter, a graduate of The Ruskin School, Oxford (1989-92) and the Royal College of Art (1992-94). He was Rome Scholar in painting British school in Rome (1994-5). He has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. Dan creates his compositions from studies in collage and paint, which unite his figures with entirely invented surroundings, landscape dream worlds and interior spaces. These are human encounters charged with a mysterious, symbolic power. They are explorations of guilt, beauty and fear of isolation; that draw on myth, religion and psychoanalysis in order to grasp the real within the imaginary.
Questions about The ESOP Advanced Painting Course 2021-23
¹Fee is inclusive of V.A.T. VAT receipt is available on request. 