The Wild School

Listen & Learn #1: Brass, Accordion and Hurdy Gurdy: Friday 26th July, 7-9pm

Can you tell a flügelhorn from a cornet? Or what makes a hurdy gurdy roll? If you’ve never even heard of these instruments or always wanted to hold one in your hands, parp and squeeze out some pleasing sounds and learn about where they come from and how they work - this is your chance!  In this lesson, the first in a series of learning about music and instruments, musicians Al Strachan and Graeme Walker take you through the basics of brass, hurdy, accordion and more, leaving you with an incredible sense of having achieved a beautiful sound on something you previously thought was impossible.

This class is limited to 5 places, so if you’re itching to give it go, don’t delay contacting Graeme at [email protected] to sign up.

This post will be updated when the limit has been reached. If lots of people want to do it, we’ll do it again. If it doesn’t say that we’ve reached our limit, it means that you can (and should) come to this class.

Business Cards Worth Having: Friday 2nd August, 5-6pm

How to edit bad copy: Tuesday 30th July, noon-1pm

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Class requirements: bring something that’s badly written and we’ll use these rules to make it better.

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If you’ve not been to The Wild School before, you can come and try this class for free

A tiny lesson about branding: Tuesday 30th July, 9-10am

Publish an Album in an Evening: Monday 29th July, 6-10pm

Using basic resources, free online tools and editing software, Wild School director, musician and idea-fiend Graeme Walker will show you just how little it takes to get something out there.

This evening class runs from 6pm until 10pm and covers hyper-economised composition, recording, mastering, artwork and publishing. At the end of the day you can have an album published online and a lovely warm feeling from having achieved something you previously thought was nearly impossible. All for no money.

The class requirements:

1. Bring a musical instrument (this can be taken very broadly. It doesn’t matter if you “can’t play it"). Plus one item of “found percussion" (think broadly on this - no drums are permitted).
2. Bring a small amount of drawing materials - pencils, coloured pens, scissors, coloured paper, glue etc. We are going to be making collage.
3. Bring some food and drink to share with their classmates.
4. Be ready to absorb a considerable amount of information and come prepared for this. Graeme will not be teaching web/computer basics, so pupils are required to have a solid understanding of basic, current computer practice.
5. Optional - pupils may bring a memory stick with at least 1.5gb of free memory to take the original quality tracks home.

The outcomes:

We will be working on a single album of music together with Graeme as the conductor. The album we produce will be everyone’s. The skills you learn in this class will be transferrable to your personal music projects.

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If you’ve not been to The Wild School before, you can come and try this class for free

How to write a very clear brief: Monday 29th July, 9am

How to write a very clear brief

Public Art School: Sunday 28th July, meet 11am

Art isn’t about making art works, it’s about philosophy. In this first in a series of art classes for people who don’t make art, playwrite and The Wild School director Graeme Walker, will work with students on creating a public art work that challenges everyone’s (including his) preconceptions about what public art is and more importantly, what it’s for.

Class requirements: Students can be artists or non-artists. Students should bring some home-made packed lunch to share.

Ask Me Anything Desk: Friday 26th July, 3-4pm

Wild School Director and trainee oracle Graeme Walker will answer all your questions from 3pm.

“I believe that one of the functions of a school is to provide a multitude of ways to learn and think. This is not only through lessons, but by providing many learning services and solutions, like me helping you with your creative problems. The "ask me anything” model for classes is a way to break the distinction between teacher and student. It becomes more of an exchange on equal terms, often resulting in incredible things being said and made to happen in a very short space of time.“

This service includes loose leaf tea.

Professional Fundamentals 01 - Increase your productivity by loafing in style: Sunday 4th August, 3-6pm

Horticulturalist Maggie Tran and WS Director Graeme Walker demonstrate the essential arts of:

1. doing nothing.
2. avoiding doing the thing that is most important.
3. loafing properly.

This will be discussed over a small buffet, followed by a film and will effectively show students how the “no time for lunch” work attitude should be replaced with “The object of work is rest.” This is a participatory class.

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If you’ve not been to The Wild School before, you can come and try this class for free

Monoprinting - The Drawing Technique: Thursday 25th July, 2-3pm

The first in a triptych of classes les by Tina Allonby.

“I demonstrate the technique. That takes about ten minutes. But the workshop is about practising a technique and trying to get a good result.

It’s hands-on, not a lecture. Once you get the technique you can just get on with it." 

Suitable for all ages and abilities. Please bring £2 for materials (ink, paper, etc). Prints to take home with you at the end.

Have a look at Tina’s work and other workshops here.

Turn a Disused Garage Into a Brilliant Arts Venue: Thursday 25th July, 9am

This is the first photo of Coachwerks taken in August 2008. In this class you can ask Wild School Director and Coachwerks Studio Manager Graeme Walker about his experiences building and running an arts venue for five years. Whether you’ve run a space in the past, would like to run one, have burning questions that need answers or are just interested, come and find out what it takes to turn a building shell into a thriving arts community.

www.coachwerks.org.uk

HOMEWORK: Tuesday 23rd July, All Day

School is closed. Go to the beach. Find a pebble. Find another pebble. Discard your least favourite. Choose another pebble. Discard your least favourite. Do this ten times. Then have an icecream.

The pebble you have selected is one of the finest on the beach. Take a photo of it and send it to [email protected] so we can make an exhibition of our students work.

Introducing: A Whole Shedload of Classes

So, three weeks ago, Prem, Graeme and I decided to start a school. 
Two weeks ago, we started it. 
One week ago, we had the first students sign up for the summer term.

The response has been incredible.
The lessons have been beautiful.
And we’re completely exhausted. 

Since 8th July, I’ve learned to monoprint (I think the last time I made art with my hands I was 15). I learned an ancient Malay poetic form (pantoum). And I learned a new selling technique (and used it, and earned more in the last week than I have in the past three months). And I got a chance to teach what I’ve learned over the last few years about improvisation, singing and being creative with money. 

It’s been kind of brilliant. And I feel like my professional creative mojo has been completely recharged by the collective creativity of teachers, colleagues, friends and neighbours.

It’s felt totally new and exciting having one place where art and business and dinner and dancing and four-year-olds making Lego are treated with equal importance. 

But that’s not the point of The WIld School. The point of The Wild School is to open up a space where things can happen. 

The idea for the format came from Matt Weston. Fifty quid a head. Shedloads of classes. Come to one or come to them all. If there are half-a-dozen that sound interesting or useful, then it’s worth coming just for the prospect of making summer (even) more interesting. 

But the point of that is to get a space (an incredible space), some teachers (we have some great ones already signed up, some half-confirmed. and we want more), some students (we have some great ones already signed up… etc), and have enough on offer that it’s worth coming, but then say: What now?

What if you set up a school that was built to learn?

So the curriculum isn’t fixed? 

So that it’s led by what’s needed. 

So it can adapt to what works and get better every day.

That’s the point of The Wild School.

To become whatever we all need it to be.

So, take a look at the timetable.
Sign up.
If you’d like to teach something, tell us (Facebook group / email).

If you have an idea to make it better, it’s welcome. 

And have a think about what want (or need) from the Wild School?

The Secret Salad Society Wild Dinner: Friday, 19th July, 7pm

Snap! The Wild School Photowalk: Friday, 19th July 5-6pm

So, what’ll happen in this workshop?

Sara: “A wander about Brighton with your camera – could be an SLR or an iPhone. The emphasis will be on perception, looking, seeing and feeling. I’ll run through some of the basics of photography (exposure, ISO, aperture, shutter speed) for those that are interested. We can look at composition, and depth of field too. It’ll be a hands-on practical session and I’ll try and answer questions as they come up. It’ll be a light-hearted, clear and easy approach to the technical side of photography.”

Meet at The Wild School, 45 Gloucester Street (map) at 4.45pm.

Sara Haq is an artist and professional photographer. She has travelled the world with her camera and loves sharing creative processes with people. She published The Overland Project book in 2009 to accompany a solo show at the Alexia Goethe Gallery in London. She’s currently working on Space Time Travel Holidays – an experiential artwork, and offers photographic portraits at Studio Voltaire in London. She’s just getting into Tai Chi and is looking forward to a week of cat-sitting and Wild School in Brighton.