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Art Courses & art supplies

At Turpentyne we offer Term-Time Fine Art Drawing and Painting Courses as well as School Break Workshops for children and teens.

We have two beautiful dedicated art studios, located in Gosforth and Whitley Bay, as well as a boutique Art Supply Shop in Gosforth featuring a thoughtful selection of quality art and craft supplies.

Turpentyne’s courses are structured around the revolutionary concept that children are amazingly capable.  They can learn to use art materials properly.  They can see form and shadow.  They can achieve much more artistically than many adults imagine!

Our courses are skills based fine art curriculum that teach children of all ages and skill levels to draw and paint realistically.  Mediums taught include a variety of drawing and painting materials and subjects include animals, cartooning, landscape, portraiture, still life, master studies and more.

Turpentyne courses are high quality fine art instruction.  Not your average messy makers arts & crafts.  Students are taught how to "see" as an artist, fostering the understanding of how to draw and paint.

In addition to the building of confidence that results from the ability to render realistically, students also benefit from art instruction academically.

A Stanford University study found that "children in the arts use linguistic and cognitive thinking skills -- such as long-term planning, critiquing and focused attention -- that can reap positive social and academic benefits". Learning to draw and paint opens a child’s eyes to the world in a way that they may have never seen it before. They learn to see detail, measure visually and problem solve; stretching their imaginations while drawing upon prior knowledge, engaging their brains in new ways.

Turpentyne is an accredited Arts Award Centre, offering Advising for the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. Learn more about Arts Award at Turpentyne.

Turpentyne also provides bespoke Art Workshops for Schools in the Northeast by our highly qualified staff. Sculpture, Painting, Portraiture, Mosaics, Bookmaking, Printmaking and more! Learn more at Turpentyne in Schools.

BBC Profile

Listen to BBC Newcastle Talk with Head Teacher, Jennifer Diaz, and our wonderful students about the life-long benefits of Art Education at Turpentyne:

Audio Link (.mp3)