Katie Beth
Appearances
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Yeah. This sofa we're sitting on actually is part of its history because when I first set up in our old studio... I spotted it on eBay and it was very, very cheap. It is a Chesterfield but ancient. So I was so excited to make this purchase and it arrived but it was absolutely filthy and torn.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
So I spent a long time lovingly repairing it and it's followed us to our new space which that's where we are at the moment. So it was about seven years ago when I was working in secondary schools in sixth form and I was doing art tutoring as well.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
And as I noticed how many students were part of the mainstream schooling system and how little attention each were receiving by being part of such big classes, sometimes it was over a class of 30. I wanted to set up something separately, so that's when I set up Inner Art, and that was a one-to-one tuition, and then we built around that with art clubs, art classes for adults.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
and holiday workshops too. When we were really blessed by so many supportive parents and their students and adults that's when we started to grow a little bit and I had tutor friends, art teachers who I'd been on various art departments with and we got together and collaborated from there.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Yeah, I think you almost answered it there.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
So we use watercolours, acrylics, oil paints, and we also do some printing techniques. And a lot of the work we do stems from observational drawing and looking at the things around us, sometimes in nature.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Oh yeah, I just love these shelves. They're made from scaffolding planks but inside each little shelf are all our collections of still life objects that sort of change daily almost as we bring things in.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
We get inspiration from the outdoors or current events and the students themselves bring lots of inspiration with all their weird and wonderful ideas and the things that they actually want to take from their dreams and imaginations into something that's real.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
We try to cover a broad spectrum so that we do work from real life, we do learn skills, we learn techniques, we learn traditional art skills but also we enhance that with our own personal journey or the things that we are inspired by and the things that we love.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
I am an oil painter and I love drawing people. I like landscapes. I've got my own little art studio set up and that's a different location. It's just where my world is, really.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Yeah, I mean, that store cup's packed with art materials in there. But yeah, above it, it's... Oh, what road is that called? It's the one with the colourful houses that everybody knows in Reigate.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Yeah, and so I made this painting as a commission for Gabby, who runs the Porchette. Used to live in one of those little houses along there.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
We call it ceramics, but again, you can interchange those words, no problem. There's all kinds of creations here. We've got pinch pots. We've got some German ale mugs here that were created today by Alex. Sort of little mini Stonehenge replica. This one I call a pair of fennel because they're just two pieces of fennel sitting next to each other. I love the seahorse.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
That's got some gorgeous coral colours on there. Again, reds and pinks, my favourite colour combo. Some rabbits. I could go on. So our children's art clubs start from age six. Adult classes as well. Retirees come.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Yeah, I mean, clay is hands-on.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
It did. I think it's really nice to hear Emerald describe that because, yeah, she's definitely got a great way with words and that comes across in her annotation in her sketchbook as well. She's brilliant at explaining her ideas.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
So we've actually got a new location in mind and I love nature, I love the outdoors and this new location is set in some woodland and it's got amazing oak trees and it's got a wild field next to it and it's set in a garden and I just can't wait to be closer to nature. It's a stable conversion. So we've just had some skylights put in, so the light's beautiful.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
And yeah, that's sort of work in progress at the moment, getting started on a new project, which I'm looking forward to sharing more as it all unfolds.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Yeah, this is really exciting and hopefully that will be a new sort of point of inspiration for people coming to us.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Because I've drawn and created ever since I could hold a pencil, it's sort of been a bit of a lifeline for me. And personally, whenever I've had ups and downs and all kinds, you know, life is broad and varied and you have different experiences.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
It's always been something that I've come back to as a constant and that's sort of why I've always had this idea to share it with other people through art tuition because I want everybody to be able to have that, something that they can come to in times of need or in times when you're very happy and you're just sort of excelling and want a different way to express yourself.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
We're all set up at the moment. We've got a busy week this week because our homeschool students are finishing their preparation ready for their art exams.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
hanging from the ceiling and so on looks fantastic it really does feel like home actually we've been here three years now and it's just sort of become a little space where we can be creative and learn and get together as a community
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Yeah, I mean, this is a really interesting project. It's about space, and Ava May's been working on it.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
44: Reigate's Inner Art and our summer holiday clubs' listing… and more
Yeah, so they've had this period of preparation where they develop their project, and then next week the art exam is ten hours long, it's over two days, and that will be where they create their final piece.