Victoria Heath Art
A little bit about me...
I have been drawing and painting since I could walk.
My simple working class childhood was filled with a passion for drawing and painting the animals and people around me.
At the age of thirteen I won a scholarship to study with a privately funded Art School between the UK, Dieppe, Rouen, and Paris. I consider this fabulous experience to be the foundation of my formal art education.
On leaving school, although I had secured a place studying Fine Art at Foley, I was also offered an Apprenticeship in Commercial Art, which I accepted, so going ahead to forge my career.
During this time of corporate pressure and deadlines, the Fine Art bug never left me and I spent my spare time painting, refurbishing antiques, designing interiors and textiles, teaching art at my son’s school, and being generally ‘arty’.
Eventually I decided to leave the world of tidy desks for the sake of my sanity. I needed to follow my dream wholeheartedly and return fully to my roots, regardless of the costs - and there would be plenty.
Over the past 20 years life has exploded! Mentoring groups, talks, demonstrations, community projects, murals, private commissions, large scale oils and exhibitions, all have served to create my dynamic portfolio.
But what stands out from most significantly are my equine studies and spiritual / religious portraiture, for both of which I am now revered.
Mentoring others is a passion which has now evolved into an exclusive
portfolio of workshops, most notably in oils. Not only do I offer the basics of working with this medium, but also I find our location at Old Hall conducive to accessing the flourishing creative mind.
I believe that in a somewhat dark world it is so very important to be creative. It is the fundamental basis of mental, physical and spiritual well-being and I have seen so many people evolve from anxiety, stress and sadness through getting in touch with creativity, through being in a group and being able to relax and express themselves freely.
Creativity as a tool for well-being is vastly underrated in my opinion and this is something we focus upon every single day here at Old Hall.
Creativity is the cornerstone of our ethos and one we share with our students.