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MEET YOUR TUTORS
How do you do?
The Omega Art School is the perfect place to begin or continue your creative practice. We pride ourselves on assisting artists to reach their full potential. Our team of experienced artist tutors provide a wealth of knowledge to help cultivate creativity in a friendly and supportive environment for all abilities, from complete beginners to more advanced students. We offer expert tuition to nurture and guide you every step of the way. Learn more about our team who are very much looking forward to meeting you.
KEVIN DEAN
ARTIST TUTOR AND FOUNDER
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A highly versatile artist Kevin Dean has illustrated books, designed textiles and ceramics as well as printmaking and painting for galleries. Trained at the Royal College of Art London, Kevin has also worked as a visiting and part-time tutor at various colleges and universities in the UK and abroad. He has given lectures at the V&A museum and Greenwich Art Gallery.
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The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque commission which Kevin was involved in from 2001 - 2009 was of significant importance to his career and led to other work in the region.
JACQUELINEÂ MAIR
ARTIST TUTOR
Jacqueline Mair is well known for her collage work, she also specialises in water based painting, printmaking and drawing. Jacqui has worked as an international artist and illustrator for over thirty years. She has an MA in printmaking from the Royal College of Art London and has taught at the University of Portsmouth and Savannah College of Art and Design, USA and Lacoste, France. As a painter she has exhibited in the USA, Mexico, France and India. Her clients as an illustrator include The Royal Mail, The Financial Times, Microsoft, Roger la Borde, Orange, The New Yorker.
CHRIS WOOD
ARTIST TUTOR
Chris Wood works in a wide variety of mediums, including acrylics, oils and printmaking. Chris also runs the Experimental life drawing class at The Omega Centre. Chris trained at The Ipswich Art School, followed by Wimbledon College of Art (London UK), after which he worked as a graphic designer and illustrator in Central London. He is a highly skilled fine artist, illustrator, painter and printmaker. Chris has been an academic leader in Further and Higher Education and currently teaches drawing and visual communication part time at the University of Portsmouth. In addition, for the last 20 years he has run a very successful life drawing workshop in Portsmouth. Chris exhibits on the South Coast and in London and has work in private collections around the world. He has a painting studio at ArtSpace Portsmouth.
RACHEL JOHNSTON
ARTISTÂ TUTOR
Rachel Johnston is an artist working with textile-based media and photography. She trained in Fine Art at Norwich School of Art and the Royal College of Art and has worked in public art, community engagement and HE Fine Art teaching since then. She is a member of ArtSpace Portsmouth and exhibits regularly. Her artwork focusses on themes relating to place and narrative and is grounded in material process, using weaving and stitch to make objects that reflect the landscape. Website: racheljohnstonart.com
MATAIO AUSTIN DEAN
ARTIST TUTOR
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Matiao Austin Dean is an artist, poet, musician and activist from Portsmouth, Hampshire, who graduated with First Class Honours from a BA in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2020. Born in 1996 to a Guyanese mother and an English father, Austin Dean’s practice is often centred around an interrogation of Marxism as a tool for emancipatory praxis. His work is concerned with the relationship between printmaking and orality, with works often consisting of etchings and other printed matter, along with singing, writing, reciting and speaking. Austin Dean is interested in these forms as having actant potentialities for liberation which can be embodied and actualised.
DEB DODSWORTH
ARTIST TUTOR
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Deb Dodsworth specialises in alternative photographic techniques, drawing and printmaking. Interested in semiotics and devices that affect/interrupt the reading of an object and how this changes the relationship of the object with its audience. Deb attended Goldsmiths for her postgraduate degree in Art and Design Education and has over 20 years of experience teaching Art and Photography. She completed her BA (Hons) Fine Art Multimedia at Kingston University, where she won a scholarship to NCAD Ireland, for a year to concentrate on aspects of photography and printmaking. Deb is also known for her work as an outreach artist for the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) and was invited to meet, HRH Princess Anne to show and discuss heritage and lottery funded community art projects created (in conjunction with NMRN) with children from deprived areas of Portsmouth.
ELLA KILGOUR
ARTIST TUTOR
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Ella Kilgour is a painter and portrait artist. Born in 1980 she studied Industrial Design at the Royal College of Art, London. She worked as a designer, illustrator and a gallery curator before turning her attention to painting.
Self taught, Ella uses a lively mix of classical and contemporary techniques which result in an instantly recognisable style which is uniquely her own.
"I am interested in the place where Old and New worlds collide. And the ‘fuzzy edge' between the Real and the Imagined. I am always pushing and pulling between the two. There is also a tension between the discipline of accurate representation, and the looseness of energy and feeling. At times my painting breaks through into the dreamy world of expressive marks and vivid colour, only to pull back in other moments into a more structured and controlled observation."
Ella exhibits regularly in the UK and also in Australia, where she lived for many years. She is represented by Grainger Gallery in Canberra.