World Art School
World Art School is an itinerant artist-run education project which honours and critically engages with a non-Eurocentric curriculum for art.
All teaching is led by practitioners who are focussed on experimentation and artistic freedom as understood and framed by the various local histories of art. There are no grades, assessments and diplomas. Instead, the focus is on a thorough engagement with cultures of art and art making, led by tutors who prize rigorous debate, an inclusive approach that recognises the full spectrum of human variety while also being open to challenge.
All teaching is led by practitioners who are focussed on experimentation and artistic freedom as understood and framed by the various local histories of art. There are no grades, assessments and diplomas. Instead, the focus is on a thorough engagement with cultures of art and art making, led by tutors who prize rigorous debate, an inclusive approach that recognises the full spectrum of human variety while also being open to challenge.
Aims
- To connect, create and share the wide variety of artistic traditions from every part of the world.
- To honour the wide diversity of artistic expression that are found across the globe while also seeking the highest standards of excellence and what this means locally.
- To honour and critically engage with a non-Eurocentric curriculum for art.
Developing World Art School with Idle Women
In 2024, its first year, World Art School are working with Idle Women to deliver the following workshops in Lancashire across a number of sessions:
- 'Sibaaq' is a Somali word for colour generally, but also for a specific kind of red, extracted from earth, plants and trees. This series of workshops will explore botanical dyes, their medicinal properties, cultural elements and how to grow them.
- 'Ammar Amma' (My Mother, My Daughter) is a filmmaking workshop series that pays homage to the tutor's mother by working with other women to celebrate the important women in our lives. This documentary film-making project offers students the opportunity to learn how to make short films using mobile phones; sharing unheard and overlooked stories.
- 'History is Here', delves into the history and practices of fine art and traditional visual cultures from wherever its students come from.
Tutors
Kinsi Abdulleh, textile artist and natural dyes expert
Kinsi is a practising artist with 30 years experience of making art in public art commissions and for gallery exhibitions. She has worked with fashion designers and textile artists, as well as with traditional artists and makers from Somalia, Kenya, and Gambia. Kinsi began Numbi Arts 20 years ago in order to nurture East African artists across different generations and different cultures.
Kazi Ruksana Begum, filmmaker
Ruksana is a community/cultural activist, filmmaker and the creative producer of 'A Season of Bangla Drama', the largest performance festival of the Bengali Diaspora in Europe which takes place annually in Tower Hamlets, London. She has worked on large-scale outdoor festivals including Boishakhi Mela, Tiger Out East, and the Bangladesh Festival. Her works is focused on participation and engagement. She has a Master’s degree in Arts Management. Ruksana was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Queen Mary University of London. She is currently an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at QMUL (2022–2025) as an arts and culture advocate.
Alana Jelinek, visual artist and art historian
Alana Jelinek is a practising artist with 30 years experience of exhibitions and participatory artworks that are usually site specific. She has curated exhibitions of other artists' work in addition to making her own artworks. She did her doctorate in both fine art practice and history of art, researching art as a democratic act and she now teaches at the Royal College of Art on the Painting MA degree.
Kinsi is a practising artist with 30 years experience of making art in public art commissions and for gallery exhibitions. She has worked with fashion designers and textile artists, as well as with traditional artists and makers from Somalia, Kenya, and Gambia. Kinsi began Numbi Arts 20 years ago in order to nurture East African artists across different generations and different cultures.
Kazi Ruksana Begum, filmmaker
Ruksana is a community/cultural activist, filmmaker and the creative producer of 'A Season of Bangla Drama', the largest performance festival of the Bengali Diaspora in Europe which takes place annually in Tower Hamlets, London. She has worked on large-scale outdoor festivals including Boishakhi Mela, Tiger Out East, and the Bangladesh Festival. Her works is focused on participation and engagement. She has a Master’s degree in Arts Management. Ruksana was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Queen Mary University of London. She is currently an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at QMUL (2022–2025) as an arts and culture advocate.
Alana Jelinek, visual artist and art historian
Alana Jelinek is a practising artist with 30 years experience of exhibitions and participatory artworks that are usually site specific. She has curated exhibitions of other artists' work in addition to making her own artworks. She did her doctorate in both fine art practice and history of art, researching art as a democratic act and she now teaches at the Royal College of Art on the Painting MA degree.