Events
Upcoming events are listed below
Harwich benefits from great attractions and a range of events taking place throughout the year. Discover what’s happening and what captures your interest and then get involved. We hope you enjoy everything the town has to offer.
Each summer we organise a beer festival in the Harwich Redoubt – a superb circular fort dating from the Napoleonic era just up the road from the brewery. At the festival we like to showcase our own beers as well as those from other microbreweries accompanied by great music and food.
Julie King, watercolour artist and author of How to paint Flowers in watercolour and Take three colours Watercolour Flowers, will introduce you to the secrets of flower and garden painting with tips on simplifying composition, colour mixing and interpreting textures with brushstroke techniques, as seen in her recent Leisure Painter article.
Julie will provide garden imagery, but feel free to also bring along a garden photo, which means something to you.
Fresh flowers will also be provided to add variety to the weekend.
Suitable for all levels, although a little experience in watercolour is helpful.
Includes homemade lunch, refreshments and cream tea both days
Julie King, watercolour artist and author of How to paint Flowers in watercolour and Take three colours Watercolour Flowers, will introduce you to the secrets of flower and garden painting with tips on simplifying composition, colour mixing and interpreting textures with brushstroke techniques, as seen in her recent Leisure Painter article.
Julie will provide garden imagery, but feel free to also bring along a garden photo, which means something to you.
Fresh flowers will also be provided to add variety to the weekend.
Suitable for all levels, although a little experience in watercolour is helpful.
Includes homemade lunch, refreshments and cream tea both days
The Sea Festival is an exciting local charity event, bringing 5000+ visitors to the area, helping the many local charities and organisations that call upon our help during the course of the year.
Explore endless machine embroidery techniques and unusual materials on this enjoyable 2 day Summer School. You will work on your two projects – a decorative summer wreath and a beautiful textile fairy – at the same time, learning about machine embroidery and water soluble and heated fabrics as you go.
Includes all materials and a light lunch
Tuffett Kit worth £117 Included
A fantastic weekend which sees you completing a charming footstool in your own choice of fabric.
Some quilting and sewing machine experience necessary
This workshop will begin with a discussion on pastel painting materials, surfaces, developing your painting style and working methods unique to pastels. There will be a strong emphasis on working from your own reference; in particular your own sketches. Throughout the day Tony will do a number of quick demos emphasising composition, colour and technique. He will share some of his working methods; using direct strokes on a textured surface to emphasise ‘brushwork’. You will learn how to simplify your approach to achieve exciting impressionistic paintings.
There will be plenty of individual help at the easel and the day will end with a final group critic.
This workshop is for those willing to go through the door marked ‘leaving your comfort zone’ and enter a world of exciting and expressive pastel application!
Explore water soluble fabrics and their uses in machine embroidery whilst completing four very different projects.
Each morning will be spent exploring the medium and creating your own unique fabrics; the afternoons are all about the machine embroidery and turning your ideas into a finished project.
What you will need to bring
Each day will have a £5.00 materials cost; payable on the day.
Your sewing machine and darning foot
Packed lunch
You will begin this workshop by painting simplified figure shapes and postures, using your brush as a drawing tool. Finding strong lights on people (heads, shoulders etc.) will be explored with a monochrome image. Perspective will be touched on when adding figures to a street scene. Later all these elements will be incorporated into a townscape where strong light, counter change and shadows play an important part.
Includes homemade lunch, refreshments and cream tea
All Materials Included
Make a beautiful Artwork with real Hydrangeas, including a 3D element. Encapsulate real flowers in Bondaweb on felt and use a soldering iron to cut out the petals. They are then machine embroidered in place and embellished with other complimentary fabrics. Your completed piece will be mounted and wrapped for a professional finish.
Includes homemade lunch and refreshments
What you will need to bring
Bring the sewing machine you are used to or you can use one of ours by prior arrangement
Hydrangea heads, but only if you have some
With Jake to guide you, learn how to put the life into your wildlife studies through the imaginative use of colour and dynamic brushwork. He will show you how to capture the light and movement in animal subjects; an invaluable skill to be used in all your watercolour work. You will complete two paintings during the day, exploring different styles of working.
Includes homemade lunch, refreshments and cream tea
This is a great opportunity to work with one of East Anglia’s best willow workers. On this full day course, which will take place within our walled garden (weather permitting, otherwise in our spacious studio) Jo will introduce to willow sculpture and the use of freeweave. You will learn how to create a framework, how to cover and shape the frame with freeweave, and how to build the head, legs and ears to finish your piece. You will complete a life size (or larger) hare sculpture which make a beautiful addition to your own garden.
Discover how to upcycle a multitude of often discarded, papers, previously rejected paintings and other materials into works of art.
To begin, the class will decorate and prepare the papers brought to the workshop. While these are left to dry, Ailsa will give a brief demonstration of the processes she uses when creating a collage. She will explain her basic method , with plenty of hints on composition, balancing colours and simplifying the subject. The rest of the day will be about creating your own piece with lots of guidance and one to one tuition from Ailsa.
All Materials Included
This class is for you if you have always wanted to produce a beautiful, unique work of art worthy of hanging on your wall, but have no painting experience or drawing skills (also wonderful for those that do!).
With a range of garden flowers as inspiration, students will experiment with painting on silk in an impressionistic style to create a base for machine stitching. Drawing with straight stitch and zigzag stitch, machine embroidery techniques will be explored for the flowers. Combining the two elements we will produce images with colour, depth and definition.
Beginners can produce several small pieces which will make wonderful embroidered pictures or cards. Alternatively a more experienced student can work on a larger more complex close up of a flower of their choice.
Stitch techniques demonstrated will include delphiniums, foxgloves, roses, astilbes and many more.
Includes homemade lunch, refreshments and cream tea
With a range of garden flowers as inspiration, students will experiment with painting on silk in an impressionistic style to create a base for machine stitching. Drawing with straight stitch and zigzag stitch, machine embroidery techniques will be explored for the flowers. Combining the two elements we will produce images with colour, depth and definition.
Beginners can produce several small pieces which will make wonderful embroidered pictures or cards. Alternatively a more experienced student can work on a larger more complex close up of a flower of their choice.
Stitch techniques demonstrated will include delphiniums, foxgloves, roses, astilbes and many more.
Includes homemade lunch, refreshments and cream tea
Explore water soluble fabrics and their uses in machine embroidery whilst completing four very different projects.
Each morning will be spent exploring the medium and creating your own unique fabrics; the afternoons are all about the machine embroidery and turning your ideas into a finished project.
What you will need to bring
Each day will have a £5.00 materials cost; payable on the day.
Your sewing machine and darning foot
Packed lunch
This two day course is open to anyone wanting to discover printmaking in this most accessible form. Beginners will learn the basics of lino cut and design and complete at least one series of prints. Those with a little more experience will be able to produce a more intricate work, with the possibility of using more than one colour. With two days you will be able to develop at your own pace with plenty of interaction with your tutor Helen.
Includes homemade lunch, refreshments and cream tea both days
About the Artist
Helen studied ‘Art – practice and theory’ at Lancaster University (2001), where she made her first etchings and monoprints. After moving to Suffolk, she studied with Jude Lockie and made her first linocuts, which have become her main method of producing art ever since.
Helen now creates limited edition linocuts from her home studio in Suffolk. She enjoys Black and white designs for their bold, graphic quality and the mark-making potential of the medium. Coloured designs are created using the ‘reduction method’ where each colour is printed one at a time and further lino is carved away in between printing.
What you will need to bring
All materials and equipment are included, so all you need to bring is reference photos, magazine pictures, etc. Just bare in mind you will be aiming to complete a finished print in two days and you will need to simplify your images into a linocut design.
This two day course is open to anyone wanting to discover printmaking in this most accessible form. Beginners will learn the basics of lino cut and design and complete at least one series of prints. Those with a little more experience will be able to produce a more intricate work, with the possibility of using more than one colour.
This two day course is open to anyone wanting to discover printmaking in this most accessible form. Beginners will learn the basics of lino cut and design and complete at least one series of prints.
This two day course is open to anyone wanting to discover printmaking in this most accessible form. Beginners will learn the basics of lino cut and design and complete at least one series of prints. Those with a little more experience will be able to produce a more intricate work, with the possibility of using more than one colour. With two days you will be able to develop at your own pace with plenty of interaction with your tutor Helen.
Includes homemade lunch, refreshments and cream tea both days
About the Artist
Helen studied ‘Art – practice and theory’ at Lancaster University (2001), where she made her first etchings and monoprints. After moving to Suffolk, she studied with Jude Lockie and made her first linocuts, which have become her main method of producing art ever since.
Helen now creates limited edition linocuts from her home studio in Suffolk. She enjoys Black and white designs for their bold, graphic quality and the mark-making potential of the medium. Coloured designs are created using the ‘reduction method’ where each colour is printed one at a time and further lino is carved away in between printing.
What you will need to bring
All materials and equipment are included, so all you need to bring is reference photos, magazine pictures, etc. Just bare in mind you will be aiming to complete a finished print in two days and you will need to simplify your images into a linocut design.
This two day course is open to anyone wanting to discover printmaking in this most accessible form. Beginners will learn the basics of lino cut and design and complete at least one series of prints. Those with a little more experience will be able to produce a more intricate work, with the possibility of using more than one colour.
This two day course is open to anyone wanting to discover printmaking in this most accessible form. Beginners will learn the basics of lino cut and design and complete at least one series of prints.
Create your own panel using ceramic and glass tesserae along with a variety of recycled materials. Learn all the techniques needed to complete your own project under the guidance of experienced Mosaic Artist Anne Schwegmann-Fielding.
Create your own panel using ceramic and glass tesserae along with a variety of recycled materials. Learn all the techniques needed to complete your own project under the guidance of experienced Mosaic Artist Anne Schwegmann-Fielding.
Andrew will introduce you an amazing, loose style where less is more in your painting. Wet on wet, put simply, is the process of applying pigment to wet paper, the results vary from soft undefined shapes to slightly blurred marks, depending on how wet the paper is. You will also learn about colour mixing and how to make varied and expressive brush marks.
This day is not just an introduction to oil painting, but will also be a lesson in design and colour. Starting by looking at movement; footage of flying seagulls, slow motion and stills, you will move on to tracing shapes of flying gulls, cutting out and arranging a composition. Your design will then be drawn onto canvas and you can begin to consider colours for a background. You can expect to complete a painting by the end of the day.
If you’ve got the basics of working with clay silver and want to learn more – this is the course for you!
In this one day class we’ll discover new forms of clay silver and learn three exciting new techniques for making real silver jewellery. Expect to make three finished pieces that will be ready to wear home – or be hallmarked – by the end of the day.
Explore water soluble fabrics and their uses in machine embroidery whilst completing four very different projects.
Each morning will be spent exploring the medium and creating your own unique fabrics; the afternoons are all about the machine embroidery and turning your ideas into a finished project.
What you will need to bring
Each day will have a £5.00 materials cost; payable on the day.
Your sewing machine and darning foot
Packed lunch
The aim of this workshop is to give anyone new to portraiture a good foundation in the principles of creating a likeness, through an understanding of head construction, positioning of features and effective use of colour.
Join Rosie and learn how to sculpt your favourite pooch or any other animal from Marino wool
Using the needle felting method you will be able to produce a beautiful, soft animal figure, under the patient guidance of Rosie. She will teach you how to make a flexible frame and then gradually build up layers of wool to sculpt your figure before attaching the arms and legs.
Come hither to the historic seaport of Harwich and witness the medieval* spectacle of sausage throwing, as grown men and women try to hurl seasoned pork projectiles as far as they can. Following on from this fabulous frivolity, three fantastic local inns throw open their doors for the gathered masses to test the wares of the finest butchers of the Tendring Hundred and determine the public’s favourite sausage, all washed down with the choicest real ale and cider.
This Beginners’ Linocut workshop will introduce you to the materials and safe use of tools, before moving on to design and produce your own one colour print.
This Beginners’ Linocut workshop will introduce you to the materials and safe use of tools, before moving on to design and produce your own one colour print.
The theme of the day will be winter/Christmas scenes or images, with the idea of turning your print into Christmas cards, however the choice is yours.
Learn how to make fabulous felted flowers and progress onto a beautiful hat on this felt making workshop. Starting with unspun merino wool –in a huge range of colours – you will learn basic wet felting techniques and using little more than hot soapy water and enthusiasm, you will go home with a unique hat ready for winter!
FUSING FABRIC 1
Getting to grips with using the fine tipped soldering iron to cut, fuse and make marks on fabric. Armed with a fine tipped soldering iron, discover how to cut, fuse, seal, seam, score and make marks on single or multiple layers of synthetic fabric, creating finished pieces that are beautiful in their own right, or make unique surfaces for further stitching whether by hand or machine. The techniques are easy to learn, straightforward and fun.
FUSING FABRIC 2
This dayschool is a continuation of the techniques covered in Part 1. Techniques will include applique, reverse applique, layering, and cutwork. A small amount of machine stitching is involved.
FUSING FABRIC 3
We shall be experimenting with a variety of fabrics, distorting surfaces and manipulating simple shapes to form three-dimensional surfaces. There will be a certain amount of trial and error involved as some of the techniques you will find easier than others.
FUSING FABRIC 1
Getting to grips with using the fine tipped soldering iron to cut, fuse and make marks on fabric. Armed with a fine tipped soldering iron, discover how to cut, fuse, seal, seam, score and make marks on single or multiple layers of synthetic fabric, creating finished pieces that are beautiful in their own right, or make unique surfaces for further stitching whether by hand or machine. The techniques are easy to learn, straightforward and fun.
FUSING FABRIC 2
This dayschool is a continuation of the techniques covered in Part 1. Techniques will include applique, reverse applique, layering, and cutwork. A small amount of machine stitching is involved.
FUSING FABRIC 3
We shall be experimenting with a variety of fabrics, distorting surfaces and manipulating simple shapes to form three-dimensional surfaces. There will be a certain amount of trial and error involved as some of the techniques you will find easier than others.
FUSING FABRIC 1
Getting to grips with using the fine tipped soldering iron to cut, fuse and make marks on fabric. Armed with a fine tipped soldering iron, discover how to cut, fuse, seal, seam, score and make marks on single or multiple layers of synthetic fabric, creating finished pieces that are beautiful in their own right, or make unique surfaces for further stitching whether by hand or machine. The techniques are easy to learn, straightforward and fun.
FUSING FABRIC 2
This dayschool is a continuation of the techniques covered in Part 1. Techniques will include applique, reverse applique, layering, and cutwork. A small amount of machine stitching is involved.
FUSING FABRIC 3
We shall be experimenting with a variety of fabrics, distorting surfaces and manipulating simple shapes to form three-dimensional surfaces. There will be a certain amount of trial and error involved as some of the techniques you will find easier than others.
Our little beer festival started in 2002 with a bang – we were literally drunk dry on the Friday night and we even ran out of glasses. The festival continued in the same venue in Dovercourt Town Centre for a further twelve years and we like to think that in that time we built up a reputation as a small but perfectly formed Winter Ale Festival – with a really interesting selection of beers and a nice atmosphere in which to enjoy them.
The streets of Harwich will be lit up once again on 23 November as Illuminate 2018 festival takes place, aimed at promoting the town’s strong links with the Mayflower ship.
Explore water soluble fabrics and their uses in machine embroidery whilst completing four very different projects.
Each morning will be spent exploring the medium and creating your own unique fabrics; the afternoons are all about the machine embroidery and turning your ideas into a finished project.
What you will need to bring
Each day will have a £5.00 materials cost; payable on the day.
Your sewing machine and darning foot
Packed lunch
Welcome to the magical world of paper-cutting. We begin with a richly illustrated world tour of paper-cutting traditions, to set our workshop in context. Using a Swann-Morton scalpel, Lois Cordelia will then demonstrate the basic techniques of knife paper-cutting before introducing a range of templates on which to base a design, with an optional festive Christmas theme.
Welcome to the magical world of paper-cutting. We begin with a richly illustrated world tour of paper-cutting traditions, to set our workshop in context. Using a Swann-Morton scalpel, Lois Cordelia will then demonstrate the basic techniques of knife paper-cutting before introducing a range of templates on which to base a design, with an optional festive Christmas theme.
With the highly talented Brin Edwards explore ways of depicting birds and other wildlife in a vibrant lively manner, building up your picture with areas of bold flat colour, giving the impression of the subject without fussing over fine detail. Using Acrylics will enable you to overlap colours and work quickly, also ‘mistakes’ can be easily rectified, which will help to build your confidence!
With Jo’s expert guidance, join us for an introduction to willow working. In the morning create a Christmas wreath from English willow, decorated with a mixture of natural materials such as rose hips, cinnamon sticks, dried oranges, fresh evergreen foliage and natural cones.
With Jo’s expert guidance, join us for an introduction to willow working. In the morning create a Christmas wreath from English willow, decorated with a mixture of natural materials such as rose hips, cinnamon sticks, dried oranges, fresh evergreen foliage and natural cones.
This two day workshop is most suitable for those with oil painting experience. The day will begin in the studio, but you will be working mostly outside and will only move back into the studio in the event of persistent or heavy rain – Haidee-Jo is not averse to working in the wind or cold!
This two day workshop is most suitable for those with oil painting experience. The day will begin in the studio, but you will be working mostly outside and will only move back into the studio in the event of persistent or heavy rain – Haidee-Jo is not averse to working in the wind or cold!