The King's Foundation School of Traditional Arts

Join us for an incredible week of Persian miniature painting! Guided by a group of expert tutors, we will explore and engage with both practical and contextual aspects of the Persian miniature Individual sessions will offer focused investigations of the methods and techniques of the discipline, from fine brush work and paper preparation to the natural and architectural elements depicted on a page. Participants will develop technical skills for depicting nature and figures, textile rendering, and pigment making. They will also come away with a greater understanding of page composition and proportion. In addition to daily sessions on specific topics, the week includes evening sessions, contextual lectures, and behind-the-scenes access to a prominent collections of Persian manuscript at the Royal Asiatic Society. By the end of this inspiring week, participants will have an appreciation of the importance of poetry and storytelling in creating the pages and gain a multitude of skills. The week’s engagement will set up avenues of exploration which will equip students of miniature painting for months to come. We welcome both experienced painters as well as curious beginners who wish to dip their toes into this beautiful world. 🎟️ Comment "ATELIER" to get a booking link in your DMs. 📅 Monday - Friday, 13 - 17 July 2026 ⏰ 10:00 – 17:00, with optional evening sessions 👩‍🏫 Farkhondeh Ahmadzadeh, Hana Moazzeni, Vaishali Prazmari, Fatima Zahra Hassan, Sana Sanjrani, Halleh Mortazavi @vaishaliprazmari @s_an.a @farkhondehatharmony @fzh_atelier

Announcing this year's annual Degree Show: Exploring the great art traditions of East and West, our graduating students from UK, Italy, Germany, China, USA and Egypt, will present work in a range of media encompassing: intricate Celtic work, ancient Chinese astronomical devices, carved architectural portals from the Islamic world, devotional paintings from Tibetan and Christian traditions, cosmological diagrams in painting and ceramics, a Bahá’í themed showcase of gold on fabric, wood and leather, the Garden of Eden in stained glass, depictions of angelic hierarchies and a journey into Dante’s inferno. 📅 30 June - 1 August 2026 🕛Varies, see our website for timings 🎫Admission is free to all, no booking required. 🌍The Garrison Chapel, Chelsea Barracks, 8 Garrison Square, London SW1W 8BG @alishakaliciak @blackrobe.sj @brian_zix @colorandgold @ellijaeger.art @ilariaarciola @jin.lillil @miloday.art @moma_white_place @sangcuo5 @kingsfoundation

Our MA students have just returned from their annual field trip. This year, we visited Chartres Cathedral in France. Our students made drawings from the exquisite medieval sculpture, and examined the sacred geometry of the rose windows and labyrinth. We were joined by the celebrated astrologer Lynn Bell, who helped uncover the secrets of the zodiac hidden within the stained glass and ancient carvings and our guest faculty included alumni Tom Bree, author of The Cosmos in Stone, geometer Daniel Docherty and gothic specialist Lucie Galvani.

🎊NEW GEOEMTRY ONLINE COURSE🎉 Explore the less common tilings of the 10‑point stars found on the Mamluk minbar doors of Cairo. Each weekly session will focus on a specific tiling and the proportions behind a pattern family, followed by a drawing session for at least one pattern in that family. Between sessions, you’ll have time to explore variations on your own. By the end of the course, you will understand why the stars in these rarer patterns are spaced the way they are and what determines their proportions. In total, we will look at around 20 patterns. This course is about seeing and understanding the underlying structure of a family of Mamluk patterns—specifically, understanding both the tiling and the proportions that define them. Although it is a drawing course, it is really a course about the “why.” We will spend a significant amount of time looking at how tilings guide the layout, shape what we draw, and influence what we see in the final pattern. You’ll be encouraged to explore the tilings and proportions further on your own to see how this understanding broadens the possibilities of pattern design. Each Friday session introduces a new tiling from the 10‑point star pattern family. We will examine the tiling, discuss its proportions, and draw at least one example. The week between sessions is your chance to build on that understanding and try the other patterns in the family. 🎟️ Comment "MINBAR" to get a booking link in your DMs. 📅 Fridays, 10, 24 and 31 July, and 7 August 2026 ⏰ 15:00 - 18:00 BST UK 👩‍🏫 Alan Adams 🌍 Online

🎉 NEW CALLIGRAPHY COURSE🎊 Explore Maghribi Mabsut, a foundational script of the Maghribi calligraphic tradition known for its expansive horizontals, distinctive orthographic conventions, and rhythmic structure. Maghribi Mabsut offers a unique articulation of form and proportion within the wider Islamic calligraphic tradition, and its manuscript heritage embodies a regional expression of shared geometric and structural principles found across traditional arts. Throughout the course, you will learn to write with correct proportion, spacing, and stroke control. You will gain confidence in constructing words and short phrases, applying the script’s distinctive orthographic features, including its diacritical system and letter variations. Alongside technical skill, you will deepen your understanding of the historical development of Arabic calligraphy—from early angular Kufic forms to later cursive manuscript traditions—situating Maghribi Mabsut within this broader context. You will build these skills through structured demonstrations, guided repetition, and progressive exercises that move from individual letterforms to connected words and short compositions. Each session includes live demonstrations of stroke sequence, proportion, and spacing, followed by supervised practice. By the end of the course, you will be able to produce a short, well‑balanced composition and pursue your study of Maghribi Mabsut with a confident structural grounding. 🎟️ Comment "MAGHRIBI" to get a booking link in your DMs. 📅 Mon-Fri, 24 - 28 August 2026 ⏰ 10:00 - 16:30 👩‍🏫 Ubaydullah Ahmad @rhythmofthepen 🌍 In-person - London

Paintings in Medieval Manuscripts are heavily illuminated, as artists and patrons sought to show their devotion to God with gold reflecting light onto the page. Raised gilding, using manuscript gesso, is one of the most commonly used techiques for applying gold leaf in these manuscripts. This technique gives the most shine, and the relief enables the gold to catch light coming from every direction. In this course, you will work with genuine gold leaf, and learn a recipe for making gesso. Then build your confidence with raised guilding by designing a smaller test piece, followed by a second larger motif. Finish your piece, by decorating the background with watercolour or gouache. The choice of the motif is up to the participant, examples of geometric shapes or ornate initial letters will be provided. 🎟️ Comment "RAISED" to get a booking link in your DMs. 📅 Mon-Fri, 13 - 17 July 2026 ⏰ 10:00 - 16:30 👩‍🏫 Lucie Rose Galvani 🌍 In-person - London

Students in the Intermediate Diploma in Building Arts in Jeddah move between classroom and the streets of historic Jeddah, studying the architectural language of the city. These site visits bring the lessons to life, revealing the geometry and biomorphic patterns embedded in traditional buildings. By observing, sketching and experiencing the buildings up close, students develop both their drawing skills and their understanding of Al Balad’s rich visual heritage.

The transmission of traditional craft knowledge from antiquity through to the late classical period highlights the central importance of the ground as a fundamental element of artistic training. Although the ground is one of the most crucial components of a painting, it has become one of the least discussed and least understood in contemporary practice. A painting cannot be separated from its ground; its development is shaped entirely by its interaction with the surface beneath it. The flow of paint, the texture, the luminosity of colour, and the depth of tones all depend on the nature of the ground from which the painting emerges. In this five‑day workshop, students will receive instruction in preparing seven different types of traditional grounds. At the end of the course, participants will take home the full range of grounds they have prepared during the training. This course will cover: - Gesso ground on wood for egg tempera - Sized gesso ground on wood for the mixed technique of egg tempera and oil - Sized gesso ground on wood for oil painting - Gesso grounds on paper for egg tempera and silverpoint drawing - Coloured gesso grounds on paper suitable for egg tempera, oil painting, and silverpoint drawing - Sized pigment grounds on paper for egg tempera, casein, and oil painting - Stretching, sizing, and priming linen for oil painting, using wooden stretcher bars 🎟️ Comment "GROUNDS" to get a booking link in your DMs. 📅 Mon-Fri, 7 – 11 September 2026 ⏰ 10:00 -16:30 👩‍🏫 David Cranswick @alchemyofpaint 🌍 In-person - London

⁨ لحظات من ورشة الأصباغ الطبيعية في بيت جميل في القاهرة، بعدسة طالبة العام الأول إيناس إبراهيم. أقيمت الورشة على مدار خمسة أيام من تقديم وفاء عدالت من مؤسسة-الملك - مدرسة الفنون التقليدية، وبمشاركة مريم الفيصل، حيث تعرّف المشاركون على مراحل الصباغة الطبيعية بالكامل، بدءًا من تجهيز الأقمشة واستخلاص الأصباغ، وصولًا إلى استكشاف المواد والتقنيات المختلفة المستخدمة في الصباغة. عمل الطلاب على استخدام مواد طبيعية مستخرجة من النباتات والحشرات بعيدًا عن أساليب الصباغة الكيميائية الحديثة، مثل حشرة الدودة القرمزية ونبات الحناء والفوة وخشب البقم. كما تعرفوا على تقنيات متنوعة مثل الصباغة بالنيلة وتقنية الكاتازومي للعزل، في تجربة أتاحت لهم التعرّف على مجموعة من تقنيات الصباغة التقليدية. Moments from the Natural Dyes Workshop at Jameel House in Cairo, captured by first-year student Inas Ibrahim‬. Led over five days by Vafa Adalat‪ from @schooloftraditionalarts ‬alarts, alongside Maryam Al ‪Faisal, the workshop introduced participants to the full process of natural dyeing, from fabric preparation and dye extraction to exploring different dye materials and techniques. Unlike modern chemical dyeing methods, students worked with natural materials such as plants and insects, including cochineal, henna, madder, and logwood. They also experimented with techniques such as indigo dyeing and katazome resist paste, exploring a range of traditional dyeing practices. #naturaldye #indigodyeing #traditionalart #heritage⁩

The book Arts and Crafts of the Islamic Lands, written by experts from the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, contains the most comprehensive instructional manual on Islamic geometric patterns in the English language. In an extended series of online courses, students will work their way through the pages of this outstanding chapter written by Paul Marchant. Each week, students will learn a variety of drawing approaches and patterns to support and supplement those presented in the text. This course focuses on the eight-fold family. Over seven sessions, participants will engage deeply with the language of eight in geometric patterns. Visual presentations will show the patterns in architectural and craft contexts. 🎟️ Comment "EIGHT" to get a booking link in your DMs. 📅 Mondays, 8, 15, 22, 29 June and 6, 13, 27 July 2026 ⏰ 10:00 - 13:00 👩‍🏫 Tom Bree 🌍 Online

For the upcoming online courses on elements of Persian painting, Vaishali Prazmari talks us through how she compartmentalises the different aspects in a painting and its importance in the composition. 🎟️ Comment "FIRE" to get a booking link in your DMs. 📅 Wednesdays, 10, 17, 24 June and 1, 8, 15 July 2026 ⏰ 17:30 - 20:00 BST UK 👩‍🏫 Vaishali Prazmari @vaishaliprazmari 🌍 Online

Second-year MA student Caisangcuo @sangcuo5 shares how Tibetan Buddhist practice inspires and shapes her creative work. Work by all of our graduates will be on view at the Degree Show this June. Details below and on our website. 📅 30 June - 1 August 2026 🕛Varies, see our website for timings 🎫Admission is free to all, no booking required. @kingsfoundation