In 2015, I was invited to take part as an expert in the first Art Department Masterclass held in Vilnius, Lithuania. This series of seminars was initially aimed at art department crew working in the Baltic and Scandinavia to provide the opportunity to meet practitioners from around the world and share their experience.
Having been involved in several Masterclasses, I helped to set up a practical session – Art Department Workshop – to provide hands-on training in essential art department skills such as script breakdown, technical drawing, white card model-making and location surveys.
As a Visiting Lecturer at LFS, I regularly contribute to the MA Film Studies course as a production design consultant and take part in term crits. I also run practical workshops for the short course unit, including the popular ‘Art Department: Absolute Beginners’ and a new workshop this autumn: ‘Introduction to Technical Hand Drafting’. The on-line series ‘Advancing Your Career in the Art Department’ (supported by ScreenSkills) was developed to give people already in the art department an opportunity to take the next step in their career, you can read one participant’s experience here.
During 2020, we collaborated on a series of on-line sessions exploring the work of the art department through interviews with a variety of technicians.
These are currently available to watch on the LFS Live Vimeo site.
I have also been involved with the Creative Media Skills Institute at Pinewood Studios delivering an Art Department Essentials course alongside their academic industry training.
In June 2022, I was invited to run a series of seminars introducing Production Design and art department skills to a group of Kenyan film makers taking part in the Some Fine Day project. The format involved three full days of on-line presentations, practical exercises and group discussions. The participants had no previous experience of art department work but they really embraced the subject and we had fun!
