OUR SCHOOL
This small, independent art school and studio was established in 1995 by Eleanor White and continues to offer a rich and varied programme of courses in the visual and creative arts. Bridge House Art has two studios; the garden studio and the garage studio, both are located above the fast flowing Ullapool river. These lovely light spaces offer excellent facilities and provide a creative environment for a maximum of 12 students. We are open to all, the beginner or experienced artist alike and aim to develop a greater visual language, increase creativity and encourage new directions of work in all students that attend the school. The ethos behind all of our courses is that we all can think and communicate visually and express, through a variety of media, a genuine response to the environment around.
Bridge House Art primarily offers three types of learning experiences: a unique, sixteen-week Portfolio course, week-long Summer School courses and a selection of pre-recorded On-line courses. All the courses are taught by highly qualified and experienced artist-tutors.
The summer school runs from mid-June until early September. Every year we offer a variety of week-long art courses in a range of disciplines; drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media landscape painting, artists books and sculpture. Each week has a different theme and focus.
In autumn the Portfolio Course begins. This is a full-time, intensive course consisting of sixteen weeks of study from October until March. The course is designed for those wishing to advance onto studying art at degree level and for students who wish to study art at a deeper level for their own professional development.
For those unable to travel to us, or anyone who wants a taster of our teaching style and ethos, we have put together a number of pre-recorded online courses which are designed to be completed at home in your own time and at your own pace. We invite you to view the selection of courses on offer and hope that you will enjoy our rich and varied programme for 2022.
OUR TEACHING ETHOS, OUR TEAM & VISITING TUTORS
If we believe that art is a language, like any language, it has a fundamental structure which must be learned in order to gain a greater fluency. Art provides a means of understanding the world in which we live and enriches our life as we gain a fresh awareness of ourselves in relationship to it. It is the belief at Bridge House Art, that all can learn to think and communicate visually and to express through a variety of media a genuine response to the surrounding environment.
Eleanor White
Principal / director
Eleanor is the founder, course director and principal tutor at Bridge House Art. She Is highly regarded as an inspiring and motivating educator.
Eleanor also works with Rufus Reade Tours as the invited tutor on painting holidays in Europe and the middle east. Her own practice is mixed media drawing and painting. www.eleanorkwhite.com
Kenneth Le Riche
oil painting, life drawing
Kenneth has taught at the Leith School of Art, Edinburgh College of Art, Amagansett Applied Arts, New York State and The East Harlem School, New York City. Kenneth's art depicts the experience of making a drawing or painting from observation, representing the relationship between motif, materials used and himself. www.kennethleriche.com
Susie Wilson
printmaking, artist's books
Susie trained as a printmaker and for the last twelve years the book form has been central to her work. The discipline of this form enables her to combine printmaking with 3-dimentional structures and to use layers that can interplay one with another.
Lorraine G Thomson
Creative writing
Lorraine lives in Ullapool. Her novels include noir thriller Boyle's Law and post-pandemic thriller Each New Morn. Her short stories have appeared in a variety of anthologies and literary magazines including Wyldblood, Epoch Press and Janus Literary. Her latest book, Modernist Dreams Brutalist Nightmares, is a narrative memoir about growing up in the most ambitious and experimental of Scotland’s new towns. It will be published by Outcast Press autumn 2022. Twitter @LGThomson1 www.thrillerswithattitude.co.uk
Jenny Pope
Sculpture, installations
Jenny is a sculptor based in Edinburgh, originally trained in ceramics, her practice now explores many different materials currently working with recycled and repurposed objects. She is fascinated by the process of change both in the external world and within ourselves. She makes installations, assemblages and kinetic pieces. She has taught many groups and classes and is also life coach and mentor. www.jennypope.co.uk
Christine Morrison
course co-ordinator, admin
Christine is a visual artist, printmaker and sailor. When she's not working for Bridge House Art, she can be either found working in her studio or garden on her home island of Lewis, or at sea in her beautiful 1961 built wooden sloop. She makes work in response to journeying over land and sea. Christine is an alumni of the portfolio course. www.christinemorrison.co.uk
Roseanna Dyke
on-line course tutor
Roseanna is our youngest member of the team and is also an alumni of the portfolio course. She is currently studying textile design at Glasgow School of Art. For the last few summers, she has infused infectious joy and enthusiasm into the summer school weeks she has assisted on.
Kittie Jones
printmaking, drawing, painting
Kittie is a practicing artist working mainly in ink, gouache and charcoal at her studio in Edinburgh and printmaking at Edinburgh Printmakers. She has recently been elected a full professional member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA). www.kittiejones.com
Jemma Derbyshire
painting, mixed media
Jemma Derbyshire is a painter, orginally from the Highlands, now living and working in Edinburgh. Light, sense of place, atmosphere and experience, are fundamental elements in Jemma's work. Her paintings come from her experience of, and relationship to the landscape. This may be through trying to capture the essence of a moment, weather, illumination, or perhaps colour. www.jemmakderbyshire.com
Debbie Loane
painting, mixed media
The landscape of the North, particularly the North York Moors, North Pennines and north east coast form the basis of Debbie’s work. She is interested in conveying a sense of movement and time, a narrative of journeys made and the story of place, together with the physical materiality of place all of which combine to make a lasting impression on the psyche. www.debbieloane.co.uk
Lucy-May Schofield
Mokuhanga, bookmaking
Lucy May has spent many years studying in Japan with master printmakers and book binders. Her large scale and immersive installations and small scale, intimate books, give an idea of the depths of this inspiring tutor. She lives and works in Northumberland, travelling widely to run workshops and courses. www.lucymayschofield.com
Jan Breckenridge
bookings and accounts
Jan is a woman of many facets - meticulous bookings administrator and an accounts wizz. Her creative talents include; bookmaking and printmaking and she's a qualified geologist and herbalist! Not sure how she finds time for Bridge House Art, but we're so thankful that she does or there would be absolute chaos when it comes to sorting the summer school bookings. Jan is an alumni of the portfolio course.
Karen Prentice
summer school tutor support
Karen is a practicing artist and is an alumni of the portfolio course. She is our summer school girl Friday. Not only does she support the teaching from the tutors, she also looks after the students, providing support and sustenance throughout the day. Karen endeavours to ensure that everyone is having a great time.
Nina Morris
summer school tutor support
Nina is our international member of the team. When possible, she takes a holiday from her home in Canada and volunteers with us for a few weeks to get her Bridge House Art fix! Nina is an alumni of the portfolio course. Since completing the course she returned to America to complete her masters at MIC.