Melanie enjoys well-earned 'me-time' on York School of Art evening class

That was the motivation behind former primary school teacher Melanie Wilson returning to education as a pupil for the first time in 30 years this January to complete a 10-week Intermediate Drawing & Painting class.

The experience has reignited an artistic spark in Melanie that she now intends to keep burning with her home life having become a little less hectic.

She said: “I took a Graphic Design course when I was 16. I didn’t end up going into graphic design - I went into primary school teaching - but I was always interested in doing something art and crafty.

“As well as graphics, the course involved a lot of drawing and, in recent years, I’ve found myself wanting to get back into it, but I wanted to be motivated. I’ve got some of the stuff at home, like paints and pencils, but doing it by yourself is hard when you have the washing machine and kids in the background and now seemed the right time.

“I’ve got a child who’s at university, so my life has shrunk a little and I wanted to do something for me. That was the motivation for me coming to College - to get some motivation, so that I can also go back home and do something that I enjoy.

“Now, I just want to take a bit of time to go over the skills I’ve learned at College, do some bits and pieces and just see where that takes me. At the moment, I’m just enjoying it.”

The learning of new skills and being pushed out of a comfort zone she probably would never have left had she simply started art up back as a hobby at home are the biggest benefits Melanie believes she has taken away from the York School of Art course – including being asked to paint with grass!

“I loved the variety of what was on offer during the course,” she enthused. “For example, we went outside and were doing landscapes, but not with brushes.

“We were using whatever we could find on the floor, which I’d never have done. I had to have some words with myself, because I didn’t want to pick up a piece of grass – I just wanted a brush!

“But, actually, somebody saying, ‘No, we’re not using brushes today - we’re just going to pick up a piece of grass and get some paint on it’ made me really enjoy it. It’s about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

“I wouldn’t have done that at home – I’d have just used my brushes but, when I looked at the end product, I was quite impressed with myself. It was very expressive and we only used one colour, which you wouldn’t normally do with a landscape, but we just did different tones and hues.

“Pushing myself beyond what I’m comfortable with has been a big thing, as has using different mediums in different ways. I’m quite au fait with using pencils, but we also did an expressive, abstract project where we just used anything, like gluing things down or using things to take paint off.”

Melanie also loved that freedom of expression that she could not always sanction as the responsible adult in a room full of young pupils!

“As a primary school teacher, children would always come up to me and ask if they could use something and, then, you’d have to see if it was OK or not and, sometimes, it really wouldn’t be,” she laughed. “Here, we’re just encouraged to just go for it, if we see something we think we can use.

“At home, you might have a bit of paint or newspaper to work with, but there’s everything here that you could possibly want to use and that’s helped me be less restrictive. I’ve learned to use things that I would not normally use for art work.”

Melanie also found an encouraging mentor in College tutor Jamie Barbor, which represented a complete contrast to the dispiriting experience she still remembers from her school days.

“The tuition at College is brilliant and Jamie is lovely,” she declared. “I remember, at 16-years-old, I was made to do a drawing three times and, by the end of it, I’d just had enough!

“I talked to Jamie about that and he understood how, being criticised like that, must have put me off. We did structural critical analysis at College and I understand the need for that but, for a 16-year-old, that experience was intimidating.

“Having come back into education, I wish Jamie had been my tutor back then, because he’s encouraging and talks about being individual. It’s not about copying anything, it’s about putting your own self into the work you’re doing, so there’s never a wrongness.

“It’s all about being creative and letting things flow. The two-and-a-half hour sessions do go quite quickly but we learned a lot in that time.”

The transition back from teacher to pupil, meanwhile, has been one that Melanie has fully embraced and she admits that she could be returning to Sim Balk Lane soon.

“The last time I was in a classroom environment as a pupil was at university, so it’s been a long time, but I’ve enjoyed it,” she explained. “It’s been really good and I’d absolutely consider doing more adult classes here.”

To learn more about our Intermediate Drawing & Painting evening class, please click here

Details on all our adult learning courses, meanwhile, can be found here

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