How a Creative Intensive Course can Change Your Life

A creative intensive course can change your life dramatically, it has the power to enhance your personal and artistic path in multiple ways. Time away from our daily responsibilities and full time job can help us reconnect with our passions, interests and ultimately, achieve self-discovery. The more time we spend doing the things we enjoy, the better our overall health and mental wellbeing. Intensive courses are exactly that – intensive, hence why they become pivotal moments in our lives and a time that we look back upon with fond memories and the motivation to keep pursuing our goals.

The 137° Ceramic Art Studio is hosting an intensive 6-week summer programme starting this July! The course includes 2-hour classes every week, 5 mentor meetings per week, gallery visits and much more.

How an Intensive course can change your life:

Productivity:
Intensive courses, on average last between 6-12 weeks or more and during this time, one becomes totally immersed in their chosen interest. What can be achieved in 6 weeks time, would take the average person a whole year to complete. Most people only have around 4-5 hours a week to dedicate to hobbies and personal interests and an average full time working week is 40 hours, with any excess free time spent on household chores, caring for children and/or elderly parents. When our full time job becomes replaced with a hobby, just imagine what can be achieved on a weekly basis! Don’t forget, during an intensive course, you are continuously learning and growing your skills.

New culture, new inspiration:
Intensive courses that take place away from home allow you to engage with a different culture, and history that can provide you with infinite inspiration. It’s a great experience to take time out of the studio to venture into museums, art galleries, and visit local events, as inspiration can come from anywhere! If you have a camera and sketchbook with you at all times, you can start recording and documenting your trips which will provide you with notes and material to revisit in the future. You could even set up a free blog with WordPress to present your experience to the world.

Receive support and guidance from professionals:
It’s nearly impossible to put a price on the value of continued support and guidance from industry professionals. Having mentors and tutors allows you to receive personalised advice and critiques that are specific to your practice. All artists are different in terms of what they want to achieve, and someone who has decades of experience has a wealth of knowledge to be shared, helping you to find solutions and answers much quicker. It’s perfectly normal when you’re a beginner to make mistakes, but that’s also true of experts. Having extra support and guidance takes an intensive course to a higher level of learning and success, all you need to do is ask the questions and you’ll receive the answers.

Build a solid routine:
Many art processes demand continuous attention and it’s beneficial to work at a quicker pace. Ceramics, for example, is crucial in its timings. Projects that are left for too long with little or no attention run the risk of drying out, which eventually demands more of your time to resolve these issues. By revisiting your creative practice on a daily basis, this helps encourage a positive flow and builds greater momentum in your work. There are many benefits to working in this way. By following a fixed, intensive routine, you’re more likely to stay motivated and continue to work hard. This is how wonderful results are achieved! Generally speaking, artists respond well to a routine and there is no right or wrong one. This article on Artsy outlines some of the routines of famous artists such as Joan Miró and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Meeting new people:
A creative intensive course can change your life by introducing you to new people. Being surrounded by like-minded people, sharing common interests is a very powerful community to be involved in. Intensive programmes draw people from all over the world, and these new relationships can make a huge impact on your future, for example, leading to project collaborations, advice and mentorship, or simply a long-lasting valuable friendship. It can be scary traveling abroad, where you don’t know anyone, but instead of feeling isolated, you have the opportunity and perfect environment to connect with those around you. The social aspect of an intensive course helps to enrich the entire experience and create beautiful memories.

Written by Freya Saleh