Carrie Stanley has been working as a creative mentor and art tutor for 18 years. She founded and ran her own art school in Woodstock, Oxfordshire before relocating to Hove in 2022. She has taught in art communities and in higher education institutions nationwide, bringing her excitement for art and learning to pupils of all ages. She continues to lead drawing workshops regularly, focusing on experimental and expressive mark-making and engaging with whole-body movement as a tool for emotional release. 

As a teacher and mentor, she works with creatives at every stage of their practice, offering a bespoke, personal and holistic approach to helping people engage and nurture their creativity. 

As an artist, she has developed her practice as a space for grief healing, connecting with the environment as a way to cultivate presence and as a vehicle for transformation. Through engaging somatically with the world, her work is led by the senses and by bodily reactive responses to nature and memory. Works from the past couple of years have naturally formed immersive environments; creating narrative and physical journeys around and inside the artworks themselves. Carrie’s work engages painting, drawing, installation and performance-based pieces and is led by the colour ultramarine blue. 

Carrie’s focus, at Somatic Arts, is to offer a vibrant and exciting hub for creativity. A place where adults can learn to engage with drawing through mark-making, through experimenting in a safe space with many types of materials and substrates. By listening to our bodies and the way we engage sensually with the world beyond the visual, we can activate self-care and healing. 

Experimental embodied drawing weekly workshops (Tuesdays). 

These are tailored towards small groups of 4 -6 participants. I’m offering a welcoming, tactile, and process led approach to drawing. Each week we will explore different dry and water-based materials and be making work in response to observation using all our senses. The focus is on connection with the making without expectation of finished outcomes. This approach to work can be very healing and therapeutic.

Materials are included, as are hot and cold refreshments. Bring a folder or portfolio to take your work home in. Book individually or a block of four sessions. 

Throughout December, I will be offering taster sessions at a reduced rate (click link)

One-to-one tuition (Thursdays weekly) 

Personal 1:1 tuition for people wanting to develop their practice in drawing with wet and dry materials. These sessions can also be used for mentoring, offering a space for critique, discussion and feedback on current work. 

Regular sketchbook groups and supper clubs 

Somatic Sketchbook Sundays -Supper clubs will be collaborations with local chefs offering seasonal and fresh produce. Attendees will gather around a large table to eat and draw together. We can draw each other and the food, The focus is on sharing, wellbeing and having fun alongside delicious food supporting local businesses. Sketchbooks and all materials will be provided. 

Somatic Sketchbook Sundays -will be focused on bringing people together around a table for drawing and conversation, nourishment and friendship. They are for people who enjoy making art with others and who want to feel less intimidated to be creative. They are a return to enjoying collective conversation in 

 

real time, sharing and supporting each other. Carrie will introduce some drawing prompts at the start of each session. 

Somatic Grief Sundays – Memento Mori 

Facilitated meetups that make room for reflection, sharing and connection. Participants can choose whether to share grief experiences or to remain silent and hold a listening space for others. Whilst not therapy sessions, these gatherings will allow for reflection and emotional release. A drawing exercise will be offered at the start of the session but is not obligatory. There will be homemade refreshments on offer. 

 

​