Summer Skills

SUMMER SKILLS

TLC’s Creativity Workshop Week

21 – 24 January 2020

Tutors: Dennis Berdinner – Knife Making. Sally Laing – Jewellery / Enamelling. Tim Mills - Leatherwork

The Learning Connexion is proud to present Summer Skills! This four-day event in January will take your creativity to new levels in knife making, enamelling and leatherwork. Through a series of specialised boutique classes run by experts in their fields and utilising our unique natural environment and resources, you’ll have a chance to supercharge your skills – and create your own new personalised works.

Summer Skills is about hands-on creativity, tapping into the history of the craft and creating your own unique piece of art. Whether it’s through jewellery enamelling, leatherwork or knife making, this is a rare chance to learn some wonderful old-school techniques with a contemporary twist of creativity. Enjoy a safe, hands-on, four days of fun guided by experienced tutors. Make a treasure you’ll value for a lifetime and create a summer memory you’ll want to share with friends and family.

Meet our Summer Skills Tutors

Sally Laing – Jewellery / Enamelling

Taranaki designer jeweller and enameller Sally Laing originally hails from the United Kingdom, where her creative side was influenced by her grandmothers, who were both "makers". Even though she began her working life as a nurse, her innate desire to create caught up with her and she left nursing to study art and design. "I did my foundation course to try and get it out of my system but in a very short time I figured that was what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life."

Laing went on to study three-dimensional design in metals and train in Germany and England. Since then she has specialised in the art of vitreous enamelling, a complex process that entails fusing powdered coloured glass on to precious metals.

Her enamel and sterling silver contemporary heirloom jewellery has featured in exhibitions in New Zealand and across the globe.

When Laing moved to Taranaki she created her own haven, of sorts, in the seaside town of Oakura and has drawn inspiration from the colours, textures, patterns, and forms of the region's natural environment and wildlife to create her distinctive pieces.

People who attend her sessions can expect a chilled vibe where they can unleash their creative talents and produce their own piece of unique jewellery in silver and or enamel.

Dennis Berdinner – Knife Making

Dennis is a member of the Sculpture Symposium Trust and tutors students in the techniques of sculpture. Sculpture is a life-long passion. He has been sculpting for as long as he can remember and works with soft and hard stone, wood, metal, snow and ice. His art draws on two sources: the external coastal environment where he lives and the inner world of his own imagination. Dennis likens creating sculpture to a mirror of his awareness and a process of self-revelation: “Through my work I explore my relationship with time, place and people”.

The scale of his commissioned work ranges from hand-held netsuke-like pieces (miniature sculptures invented in 17th-century Japan), through to desk sculpture and larger work for outdoor spaces. Pieces that function as family heirlooms, gifts, adornment and indoor/outdoor installations.

Tim Mills - Leatherwork

Tim has been working with leather since 1974, when he made his first leather belt.

Initially teaching himself, he gradually moved on to more complex projects including, bags, wall hangings, decorative projects, motor cycle accessories, chessboards, and furniture.

He currently works from his studio at Nautilus Creative Space in Owhiro Bay, Wellington. Tim’s work has appeared in many art exhibitions within New Zealand, and he is a member of the Association of New Zealand Leather Artisans. His work has been established with the domestic and export markets.

As an experienced tutor, having tutored at Southland and Nelson Bays Polytechnics, he is keen to share his knowledge with aspirants of leathercraft, both young and old. He combines a friendly approach with an in-depth knowledge of, and passion for leather.

Please note, this will be a ticketed event, with limited spaces. More details to come.

For expressions of interest contact us at ps@tlc.ac.nz or on 0800 278 769.