Applications 2023/24 are now open
“Imagine you are in a very, very remote place and post takes a couple of months to arrive. Or you are above the arctic circle! You send images to an esteemed colleague and await a response. The response comes months later. You are unable to ask questions of what you just read because it’s a letter, no Internet, no phones. What then happens is that you slow right down, you listen to and digest every last drop of sense in that letter. You sniff it, you sleep with it under your pillow and you constantly re-read it until you suck every last ounce of anything useful from it. You then make work and any accompanying comments that are posted off with your next work upload will be very deeply thought about. That’s it, period! Babbling, garbling impatient ‘I must know now’ hysteria has ruined people’s ability to absorb and reflect. In doing this course you have enabled a slightly different process to take place. You learn from what you already know. The mentor is a guide. You do the work. It works! Read, reflect, then make!” —Marcus Harvey, Director & Co-Founder of Turps/MASS.
Turps/MASS Correspondence Course is an innovative programme of online mentoring for artists facilitated through critical written reviews delivered by dedicated mentors. Turps Correspondence Course is aimed at painters and MASS Correspondence Course is aimed at sculptors who want to develop or reinvigorate their work, whether recently graduated from art school, mid-career or those without any formal arts education.
The course is designed and structured to be delivered entirely online so that artists, based anywhere in the world and at any stage in their career, can participate and receive informed, critical feedback from a mentor who is a practising artist selected by the Turps/MASS team. There are five review points throughout the year when you will be required to upload images of your work and a letter to your mentor. Your mentor will then review what has been uploaded and write their response. It is a very different type of feedback from the more conventional face-to-face tutorials but we believe this is what makes the Correspondence Course such an appealing and sought after professional development course.
Since 2012, it has offered over 600 artists a fresh perspective on their work within the context of current painting and sculpture discourse. Once enrolled, many artists continue on the programme for two or more years, developing close connections with both the mentoring team and their peer network through participant-led initiatives and social media connections.
Correspondence Course participants have gone on to feature in New Contemporaries, John Moores Painting Prize and the Marmite Prize for Painting, and it has also enabled painters to successfully apply for and be accepted onto MA and MFA programmes across the world.
Applicants must have a personal email address, access to the Internet, a desktop/laptop and reasonable facilities to document work digitally. For more information, see our FAQ.
Participants will be expected to upload works, drawings, works in progress, sketchbook pages etc. for the duration of the course. It is important this is an ongoing process that best describes their output as this will allow the mentors to track developments and compile their observations at dedicated feedback points. More information about the course can be found here.
Correspondence Course fee: 1,850 GBP
Correspondence Course application deadline: Friday June 30, 2023 midnight
FAQ: visit here.
How to apply
To apply please complete the application form via the Turps website before the deadline. Visit here to apply.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Turps Art School does not award accredited educational qualifications but offers an opportunity for artists to further their understanding and exploration of painting and sculpture, re-energizing their work through dedicated critical response from practising artists.
To sign up for the Correspondence Course Zoom Q&A on May 4 please email sukey [at] turpseducation.com.
Correspondence Course mentors 2023/24:
Adam Hennessey, Adia Wahid, Alice Browne, Alice Wilson, Andrea Medjesi, Andrea V Wright, Andrew Grassie, Anna Liber Lewis, Anne Sassoon, Annie Cattrell, Barbara Nicholls, Benjamin Deakin, Bernice Donszelmann, Brian Griffiths, Catherine Parsonage, Cathy Lomax, Cherry Pickles, Colin Smith, Covadonga Valdes, Dan Hays, Dan Howard Birt, David Leeson, David Sweet, Emma Biggs, Freya Guest, Gareth Cadwallader, Geraldine Swayne, Gig Depio, Gill Ord, Graham Crowley, Hannah Murgatroyd, Henry Ward, Howard Rogers, Ian Dawson, Ivan Seal, Jake Clark, Jane Hayes Greenwood, Jason Gubbiotti, Jinyong Park, Joanna Kirk, Joe Packer, John Bunker, Juan Bolivar, Karolina Albricht, Katie Pratt, Katrina Blannin, Kirsten Glass, Kyung Hwa Shon, Laurence Noga, Liz Ainslie, Luci Eyers, Luke Dowd, Mark Jackson, Matt Lippiatt, Michael Szpakowski, Michael Stubbs, Neal Tait, Nicholas Hatfull, Phil King, Raksha Patel, Roisin Fogarty, Rebecca Harper, Sam Windett, Sarah Pickstone, Scott McCracken, Shahin Afrassiabi, Simon Bill, Sofia Silva, Sophie Newell, Steven Claydon, Stuart Elliot, The Baron Gilvan, Tim Ellis, Tim Ralston, Tim Renshaw, Tom Farthing, Tom McGlynn, Tom Palin, Virginia Verran.
