Four fine arts courses announced for Dublin

The Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV) has announced its fine arts and decorative arts courses in Dublin for 2015-2016, with four courses starting in October.

The popular fine and decorative arts diploma course, formerly three days per week, has been redesigned to run two days per week over three terms, coinciding with the academic year. Subjects include the history of furniture, domestic architecture and interior decoration, painting, silver, costume and design, ceramics, miniature painting, oriental rugs, and Irish public sculpture.

The course will include some outings to houses, gardens, museums and galleries of interest. Participants also write a dissertation on a subject allied to the course. The lecturers are described as “Ireland’s foremost fine art specialists and established experts in their chosen fields”.

The course will take place on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 10am-3pm, starting on October 5th. The fee is €2,750 (trips cost extra).

Structured

IPAV's director of fine art courses Roxane Moorhead said the diploma course was "designed to provide an opportunity for those who wish to pursue the fine and decorative arts in a supervised and structured manner" and that many of its graduates had "found rewarding careers in leading art galleries, auction houses and other fields in the fine art profession, while others have furthered their studies at university level". However, the course is not formally recognised as an academic qualification and may be more suited to people who have retired or those who may be seeking a change of direction.

A Certificate in Fine and Decorative Arts course will take place one evening a week, again lasting for the three terms of the academic year. The topics covered are broadly similar to the diploma course. “New to the course this year will be a number of lectures on interior design – including the role antiques play in the decoration of the house,” according to IPAV. The course will take place on Tuesday evenings, from 6.30-9.30pm, starting on October 6th. The fee is €1,450.

New courses

One of two new courses for 2015/2016, England – A New Perspective will “focus in depth on aspects of English art from 1600 to the present day”. The course is “aimed to give a broad and detailed insight into English art and collecting” and will be followed by an optional study trip to the north of England, in April 2016, to visit houses including Chatsworth, Hardwicke Hall and Castle Howard.

This 16-week lecture series will be held on Monday evenings from 6.30-9.30pm, starting on October 19th. The fee is €695, but the trip to England will be extra.

The second new course is "Irish Art from the Celtic Revival to the 1970s" covering topics such as art and 1916; early 20th-century sculpture; 'Irish woman artists in France; the Rosc exhibitions; collectors and collecting; Cubism and the academic tradition; and lectures on major figures in Irish art, including Sir Hugh Lane, Sir William Orpen and Jack B Yeats.

This 16-week lecture series will be held on Thursdays, from 10.30am-12.30pm and 1.30-3.30pm, starting on October 22nd. The course fee is €975.

The venue for all courses is IPAV, 129 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2.

See ipav.ie for further details.