THE lockdown may have closed The Lightbox Gallery to visitors, but the Woking venue has moved online for adult talks and workshops, as well as some children’s activities.
Storytelling for Under Fives, featuring stories and rhymes, is currently weekly on Tuesdays via Zoom from 11am to 11.15am.
The theme of next week’s 15-minute session is teddy bears, so they’d like to see your teddy bears on screen. It’s free, with a suggested donation of £3, and you’ll need to book the session online at thelightbox.org.uk, after which you’ll receive a Zoom link by email.
Also currently weekly from the Lightbox, on Saturdays, is an adult papercutting workshop for beginners, where you will learn to cut beautiful pieces of art from a single sheet of paper.
The tutor, Zoe, will take you through everything you need to know to get you started in the world of papercutting, discussing tools and materials, as well as giving you lots of tips and tricks to have you cutting like a pro in no time.
You’ll need to provide an A5 or larger cutting mat, a scalpel or similarly sharp knife – see the web site for recommendations – and two sheets of at least 160gsm card in your choice of colour.
Prior to the workshop, you will be emailed some practice sheets for you to print out and use in the session.
This coming Wednesday,The Lightbox is hosting a special in-conversation talk about its exhibition Raphael: Prince Albert's Passion with head of exhibitions Peter Hall and associate curator Michael Regan.
You can expect behind-the-scenes insights into curating the exhibition, how Prince Albert and Queen Victoria created The Raphael Collection, and discussion of key works on loan from The Royal Collection.
This talk is £8, but free for the Lightbox Exhibition Circle, supporters, Anniversary Angels, and members. Book on The Lightbox website, then a link to the film will be emailed to ticket holders at 10am on 24 February and will be available to view for 48 hours.
Looking further ahead, The Lightbox is running a Watercolour for All workshop for adults on Saturday 13 March from 10.30am to 1pm, also via Zoom. Suitable for all abilities, the workshop allows you to explore different watercolour painting techniques with artist Ruth Dupre.
You will have some some time to work on your own artwork, with guidance, before looking at the final pieces. Some still life and landscape reference material will be provided but if you prefer to paint people or animals you can attend with photographs or sketches to work from.
You will need to provide a pencil, eraser, A4 size watercolour paper or thick cartridge paper of at least 200gsm, watercolour paints, water and paintbrushes – one large, one small, ideally size 4 and size 8.
The workshop is £25, and £22 for Lightbox members. Book on The Lightbox website – www.thelightbox.org.uk.