Home Workshops, Courses and Talks

Thursdays 6.30 - 8.30pm
Autumn Term: 13 September - 18 October & 1 November - 6 December | £330

The Thursday evening pottery programme brings new and experienced potters together with a professional potter.

The classes were established by Mary Watts in the 19th century. Come along to the studio to create your own ideas or with the help of our potter, try hand-building and working from moulds. Make work to sell at our Christmas Weekend.

Thursdays 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Autumn Term: 13 September - 18 October & 1 November - 6 December | £330
Pre-booking required
Led by Jane Allison

Classes take place in the historic galleries and studios, and are suitable for beginners and improvers. Materials and equipment are included.

The collections and exhibitions are used to inspire and to learn technical drawing skills. There are opportunities to work from a life model across the term.

Wednesday 21 November | 7 – 8 pm | £12.50 | Friends £11.25

Watts Gallery | Pre-booking required

Hear about Etta Lemon, the forgotten and remarkable woman who led the anti-plumage campaign supported by G F Watts for half a century, leading it to eventual victory. She campaigned so doggedly, and for so long, against ‘murderous millinery’ that she became known as ‘Mother of the Birds’. Her struggle to get the world to care about birds met with as much contempt and indifference as Emmeline Pankhurst’s fight for the vote. Right up until WWI, the idea of bird protection was as laughable as the concept of female emancipation. Yet she has proved to be as deeply influential to the modern psyche as the elaborately plumed leader of the suffragettes, Mrs Pankhurst.

Tessa Boase is a journalist and author of the successful A Housekeeper’s Tale. Previously a commissioning editor for The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and Weekend magazine, she continues to contribute to a wide range of national newspapers and magazines.

Thursdays 6.30 - 8.30pm
Winter Term: 17 January – 14 February & 28 February – 28 March
£300 | Friends £270
Led by Jane Allison | Pre-booking required

Join us for a term for our Drawing courses. Classes take place in the historic galleries and studios, and are suitable for beginners and improvers.

The collections and exhibitions are used to inspire and to learn technical drawing skills. There are opportunities to work from a life model across the term.

Materials and tea/coffee included. Spaces are limited and must be pre-booked.

Thursdays 6.30 - 8.30pm
Winter Term: Thursdays, 17 January – 14 February & 28 February – 28 March | £300 | Friends £270
Pre-booking required

The Thursday evening pottery programme brings new and experienced potters together with a professional potter.

The classes were established by Mary Watts in the 19th century. Come along to the studio to create your own ideas or with the help of our potter, try hand-building and working from moulds.

Materials and tea/coffee included. Spaces are limited and must be pre-booked.

Mondays, 7 January – 4 February | 11am - 1pm
Watts Gallery
£170 | Friends £153

Our winter course will be titled Pre-Raphaelite Sister: Christina Rossetti & Art.

More information coming soon.

Saturday 26 January
£12.50 | Friends £11.25
Watts Gallery | Pre-booking required

Emma Mason presents an absorbing new study of Christina Rossetti, focussing on her spiritual life and her connection with the natural world. A committed supporter of animal welfare, and a keen observer of the diversity of creation, Rossetti considered it her Christian duty to maintain it in a state of equilibrium and equality. Drawing on poetry, diaries, letters and devotional commentaries, the author offers a fresh narrative of the life and work of Rossetti in which her theology and ecology are deemed inseparable if not equivalent.

Thursdays 6.30 - 8.30pm
Spring Term: 11th April – 9th May
£300 | Friends £270
Led by Jane Allison | Pre-booking required

Join us for a term for our Drawing courses. Classes take place in the historic galleries and studios, and are suitable for beginners and improvers.

The collections and exhibitions are used to inspire and to learn technical drawing skills. There are opportunities to work from a life model across the term.

Materials and tea/coffee included. Spaces are limited and must be pre-booked.

Friday 7 December | 7- 8pm 

£30 | Friends £27

Wednesday 16 January | 7- 8pm 

£15 | Friends £13.50

This event will include a book signing. 

Friday 1 Febuary | 7- 8pm

£15 | Friends £13.50

The event will include a book signing

Tuesday 12 March | 7- 8pm 

£15 | Friends £13.50

Friday 8 Febuary | 11am- 4pm

£10 

Thursdays 6.30 - 8.30pm
Spring Term: 11th April – 9th May
£300 | Friends £270
Led by Jane Allison | Pre-booking required

Join us for a term for our Pottery courses. Classes take place in the Foyle Studio, and are suitable for beginners and improvers.

Experiment with hand building, wheel throwing and surface decoration techniques in our specialist Foyle Pottery Studio. Build your confidence in working with clay and learn more about ceramic history with our expert tutor.

Materials and tea/coffee included. Spaces are limited and must be pre-booked.

Saturday 15 December | 11am- 4pm

£75 | Friends £67.50

Master the craft of bookbinding and paint your own paste papers, drawing on the textures and patterns of Christina Rossetti's world. Led by Marysa de Veer.

Saturday 19 January | 11am- 4pm

£75 | Friends £67.50

Led by Tamar Yoseloff in association with The Poetry Society

Bring along a poem in progress to this workshop with expert poet and tutor Tamar Yoseloff, before spending the afteroon drafting new poems inspired by the works of Christina Rossetti and reading them in the exhibition.

Includes free entry to Christina Rossetti: Vision and Verse.

Saturday 2 February | 1- 3pm

£75 | Friends £67.50

Led by Emma Kay, Museum of Kitchenalia

Delve into the history of the Victorian kitchen and explore its tools and techniques. Delight in making authentic sweet treats and delicate fancies. The workshop will be followed by a High Tea prepared by our Tea Shop. 

Saturday 9 March | 1pm- 4pm

£75 | Friends £67.50

Led by Leanda Xavian

Calligraphy means 'the art of beautiful writing'. Learn how to use a dip pen and nibs to create an elegant, modern writing style before inscribing your own name in ink.