ONE-TO-ONE WORKING

I offer one-to-one tuition that can be tailored to suit individual requirements and interests, and work with artists and designers advising and facilitating their projects. Please get in touch if you would like to find out more.

FIVE-DAY COURSES

Create your own printed textiles with this specialist intensive 5-day course, covering everything from design development, preparing artwork and screen exposure, to dyeing and screen-printing with reactive dyes and discharge, fixing and finishing.

For dates of forthcoming courses, please also see the News page. Courses are run on an on-demand basis throughout the year, so if you are interested and a date has not yet been arranged, please e-mail me to receive full information and booking forms, and to discuss mutually-agreeable dates.

Courses takes place in Joanna’s studio, a large, warm(!) and well-equipped space within the ‘WASPS’ artists’ studio complex situated in Dennistoun, a five-minute bus journey from Glasgow City Centre. They usually run from a Monday through to a Friday, but can also be from a Wednesday to a Sunday, if participants prefer to incorporate a weekend.

New course structure in 2025

Responding to feedback, I have revised the course structure to enable greater productivity. You’ll receive tailored one-to-one support in advance of the course – either online or in-person if you are local – to guide and help you develop your artwork so that screens can be prepared ahead, making the week as productive as possible. All supporting documentation will still be provided. The increase in cost reflects this unique level of tuition.

This specialist course is designed to cover the key processes involved in producing your own design on natural fabrics through dyeing and screen-printing with reactive dyes and discharge; devoré and flocking can also be included if requested in advance.

They are suitable for both beginners and those who have some screen-printing knowledge, as well as for those with a wider experience. Participants are encouraged to think creatively and be experimental in their approach.This is perhaps the only course of its type in the country where screens are processed photographically, thereby ensuring a very high standard of work. The atmosphere is friendly and supportive, as well as busy and productive. Courses take a maximum of three people to ensure each participant receives individual attention and facilities do not become over-crowded; an assistant is also on hand to help with more repetitive tasks to maximise productivity.

Before and during the course you will learn about and explore the following:

• developing a design and translating onto ‘Kodatrace’ (a brand of drafting film) and/or acetate film through Photoshop
• transferring the design onto a screen photographically
• dyeing fabric
• mixing printing inks and ‘discharge’ paste (discharge enables colour to be removed to varying degrees in order to create new colours and textures as well as ‘negative’ areas)
• recording recipes and samples
• printing a range of samples using screens in conjunction with stencils and hand-painting and subsequently producing a final piece if desired
• fixing and washing-out prints
• there will also be time to discuss and appraise work as we go along

What participants say about the courses:

“Course administration and details on course content are excellent and very professional.  The assistance and support before, during and after the workshop is also excellent, could not be faulted. 
I felt the assistance of someone helping with washing screens, steaming and washing fabrics etc. was a real luxury as it gave much flow to the workshop.  Studio facilities are excellent. 
The teaching of skills and the information shared is very good indeed. The standard of dyeing and printing techniques are very professional and of a very high standard compared with the evening class I just completed at my local Art School. Overall an excellent course and would highly recommend to others. 
I came away having met my objectives and confident to use newly learned skills in my own work.”
–Mary Malcolm, Aberdeen

“I thought your course was very well thought-out in terms of pace, organization & structure and that you were very generous in the amount of ‘out of hours’ work you put into exposing screens, washing fabrics etc. to ensure we all managed to produce a gratifyingly high standard of work by the end of a week. I learnt a great deal from you & thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process! Thank you for all your hard work and encouragement.”
–Susan Robinson, MCSD, MA(RCA), Belfast

“I just want to thank you so much for a lovely and interesting week in August. It was so nice to meet you Joanna! I certainly learned a lot!”
–Birgitta Wendel, Lund, Sweden

“I just wanted to say another very BIG thank you for a wonderful few days working with you. I enjoyed it so much, and got so much out of it.  Thank you for your generosity of spirit as well as time!”
–Lindsey Tyson, Textile Artist, Scarborough

“Thank you for a wonderfully creative weekend and for taking such good care of us with wonderful lunches and cake”
–Alison Cutforth, Edinburgh

“Thank you so much for all of your hard work and support during last week. It was exhausting, but so stimulating. It has certainly left me hungry for more and I do now intend to see how I can continue, either in my own studio or elsewhere”.
–Janet Dickson, Morpeth, Northumberland

EDUCATION

Joanna is available for talks and lecturing.  She has been a visiting lecturer at a number of colleges at degree level; she also gives talks about her practice to a wide variety of clients including guilds, community groups, arts organisations, colleges and universities.  She is happy to travel outside Scotland. Please get in touch to discuss your requirements.