About Us
Our accessible and friendly art studio in
John Archer Hall, Upper Hill Street.
Liverpool Independent Art School (LIAS) is a collective of passionate art professionals with over 80 years of teaching experience between them.
The organisation was set up in 2015 when Paul put out a call for artists who might be interested in forming an independent art school. The aim was simple: encourage people to engage with art by teaching skills and developing critical faculties.
The first group comprised around seven artists and the first event was a drawing festival held in the summer of 2016. Within a year or so LIAS consisted of just Toc and Paul who took on studio space on Rose Lane, Mossley Hill. Here they held regular classes in life drawing, painting and printmaking. This was a great time and great fun.
Covid lockdown prompted LIAS to move online. Thanks to the loyalty and determination of the LIAS regulars we came through the pandemic, relaunched in a variety of venues and were joined by new tutors Elsa and Andrea before finally settling in the wonderful LIAS Studio at John Archer Hall. Becoming part of the John Archer Hall and Toxteth TV community has been the icing on the cake heralding a new era for LIAS.
This is just the beginning of the LIAS story and the team are continuously planning new projects and courses. We hope you’ll come and join us!
Our Team
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Tony O'Connell
I’ve worked in arts education since 1998 (most of that time as a tutor on Foundation Art and Design, which has been the biggest influence on my approach). After twenty years I then helped set up Liverpool Independent Art School. We wanted a way to take the best of that creative practice in a deliberately less corporate and more human direction.
My own art practice focuses on reclaiming hierarchical imagery (particularly around religious exclusion of LGBTQ people) it covers sculpture, print making, painting, performance and drawing.
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Elsa Parkin
Hi, I’m Elsa. I love to craft and create. I studied design but like to work right across the board. I work with children and adults alike and love art for well being. I give full permission to play!
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Karen Halewood
I am a multidisciplinary artist using the mediums of experimental typography, printmaking, mixed-media collage and sculpture/installation.
My practice is based on exploring intersections between embodiment, esotericism and feminism.
I have a BA Hons in Graphic Arts and an MA in Fine Art both from the Liverpool School or Art and Design (LJMU) and have exhibited in the UK and internationally.
My ethos on teaching is drawn from the ten years I spent lecturing in graphic design alongside many inspirational colleagues and students on art and design foundation courses across Liverpool, Southport and St Helens. It was during this time that I experienced first hand how when groups of practicing artists get together and create an environment in which boundaries between specialisms, techniques and processes are opened up with the aim of liberating creativity and supporting artists in a journey of self-discovery, something very magical happens.
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Paul Gatenby
I started studying art seriously as a mature student after fifteen years working in industry. During my student years I worked in community arts and adult education, then after my degree, I started teaching in Further Education. I left Further Education in 2014 and became a freelance artist. It was around this time that I set up Liverpool Urban Sketchers and, along with Toc, Liverpool Independent Art School.
I’ve always thought of art as a social pursuit - none of that ‘starving in a garret’ business for me! It’s about making connections; with the audience, with other artists and with the subject matter.
Urban Sketching led me on to painting cityscapes and I tend to be drawn to forgotten corners. I look for the beauty or tragedy in a tumbledown old warehouse or abandoned pub. When I paint people I like the painting to look like them. There is no message, I’d just like you to see what I saw.
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Andrea Stables
I am an Illustrator, artist and urban sketcher, influenced by realism.
I have a first class BA Hons degree in Graphic Design and Illustration from the Liverpool School of Art and Design at LJMU.
My practice includes drawing, painting, print making, 3D modelling, paper engineering and sketch book making. My favourite medium changes by the day, but I regularly work in ink, acrylic, oil, gouache, watercolour and I also create digital artworks.
Creating, and being among creatives, is incredibly important to me and I truly believe art is essential for wellbeing and should be accessible to all.