Arty Farty Half Term: Create your own Monster with Pete Williamson

A safe place to express yourselfArty Farty Retreat is a creative space in Southborough, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.You can learn something new in our workshops; Take a day for yourself at one of our retreats:  Show off your own art work in our exhibition space;  Give yourself some much needed therapy in our expression therapy sessions;  See what else we offer under 1to1s, such as music and singing lessons, Arts Award qualifications;  Join us in our online Community or just come to meet like-minded people and be part of an arty farty tribe.  Check out our Arty Farty: School for those who are home educated or/and in need of SEN support.  If you’re after an adult or children’s party check out our Arty Farty: Parties!The best place to find art classes, art teachers, therapy, creatives, studio space, gallery space, artwork, artists, misfits and weirdos in Tunbridge Wells.Our MissionTogether, we provide an inspirational space, where anyone can create, regardless of ability, age or background.  Through expression of self we aim to fill our community with opportunities to explore the arts.Refund PolicyAll workshop bookings are to be completed on Eventbrite (Don’t worry we’ve taken the fees away!).Your place is not secured until the eventbrite booking is completed.We will only process a refund if we have to cancel or postpone a workshop.You will not be able to transfer your booking to another date.You can transfer your place to a friend or family member who wishes to attend instead.  Please email us and let us know if this is the case.

Arty Farty Retreat

Pete invites children in creating a Stitch Head style ‘bits and pieces’ monster, and then advises them as they create their own.

Arty Farty Half TermMonday 26th October11am to 1pmAges 8 upwards£25 per personIn his illustration workshop, Pete, chats in a down-to-earth manner about the day-to-day life of being creative for a living, talks about how he createshis characters, invites children to collaborate with him in creating a Stitch Head style ‘bits and pieces’ monster, and then advises them as they create their own.Pete Williamson is a self-taught artist and award-winning children’s book illustrator. He is best known for the acclaimed ‘Stitch Head’ series,written by Guy Bass, and the award-winning ‘The Raven Mysteries’,written by Marcus Sedgwick. He has illustrated over 65 books written bysuch acclaimed authors as Francesca Simon, Steve Cole, Matt Haig andCharles Dickens. His work ranges from fun and wacky to strange andbeautiful and all points in between, and his books have been translatedinto many languages. Before his success in children’s books he workedas a designer in an animation company. Before that he sat around inrooms high above London and Manchester daydreaming about being achildren’s book illustrator. Now he lives happily in Southborough with hisfamily.In 2010 Pete won a Blue Peter Book Award for his illustrations for GuyBass’s ‘Dinkin Dings and the Frightening Things’, and in 2011 he won another Blue Peter Book Award for his illustrations for MarcusSedgwick’s ‘Lunatics and Luck’. ’Skeleton Keys’, his new book with GuyBass is out on September 5th and he will be showing exclusive artworkfrom it and discussing how its characters were created.Pete is very passionate about encouraging creativity at an early age andinstilling a confidence in a child’s personal voice that they can developand draw on throughout their lives, whether in an artistic way or not. Hebelieves that, in a world in which automation will play a far greater part,positive, open-minded, creatively confident individuals are irreplaceableand ‘future-proof’.