Seasons Art Class Eastbourne shows off its skills

The exhibition will showcase the best works of 30 students throughout the foundation art course. It takes place at the Cavendish Hotel, 38 Grand Parade, Eastbourne, BN21 4DH on Saturday, August 27 from 12-2pm.

Karina Deyanova, the course coordinator, said: “We are an international (UK, Canada, New Zealand, etc) art class franchise, running 14 week art courses for adults in Eastbourne.

“About ten-plus years ago The Seasons Art Class first opened its classes in Eastbourne where it ran for a while. Then, seeing the success and the demand for art education elsewhere, the founders went international. Today the Seasons has numerous branches open across the UK and as far out as New Zealand. Earlier this year, I joined the Seasons as a course coordinator and franchise owner of the area to reopen the Eastbourne branch. The venue we now hold our classes (St Saviour's church hall) was the original venue they chose when opening the very first branch. I had no idea when picking the venue myself this year. The class is designed for adults and consists of four mediums – drawing, pastels, watercolours and acrylics.

“Each course runs for 14 weeks and on the last week we hold the exhibition to showcase up to five pieces per each student. At the moment we have 31 students so this makes around 150 works to be exhibited.

“The maximum number of students can grow up to 44 in the future, hence more works to be seen at the next exhibition. There are three courses per calendar year, therefore three exhibitions each year. The next one is scheduled for December. This is our first one since restarting earlier this year. The venue for showcasing the paintings had to be grander so the Cavendish hotel on the seafront kindly agreed to host us.

“The students come from all walks of life. Some are already pretty good artists, others prefer the social aspect (we provide tea, coffee and biscuits in class) whilst others discover their hidden talent. Most refer to the class as their favourite day of the week. We have one lady, an amazing painter, who drew everyone out of goodwill a portrait the first week in class. She met Picasso once when she was little as apparently he was visiting her father in Andalucia.

“The Seasons Eastbourne tutor is an outstanding artist based in Battle, Tracey Konyu. Tracey is currently holding the position of head of art at Vinehall School in Robertsbridge. She often showcases her work at local fairs and commissions works for museums and private buyers. Under her guidance, care and tuition backed up by the Seasons Art Class curriculum, the students exhale. Everyone in the class is pretty excited for their chance to show their family and friends what they learned and created in just 14 weeks since joining the Seasons. I myself am a musician and I appreciate the importance of performing in front of an audience, even if it is background music. The whole event lasts for two hours. There are free tickets in circulation as a token (students receive them in class and hand them out to friends).”