How to
Look at
Modern
Art

Book a Place

Four Tuesday Evenings

Dates: 10, 17, 24 November & 1 December

Time: 6.30 - 8.30 pm

Place: Broadway Cinema, Nottingham


Cost: £150 per person for all four sessions

A confession from an art historian: I do not understand every artwork I encounter, or every exhibition I visit.

I still walk into galleries and find things that leave me uncertain. Some works require time and context. Some become more interesting when I return to them. Others still fail to persuade me.

What I have learned is that expertise does not remove uncertainty. What it does give you are ways of working with it.

You learn to ask:

  • What am I actually noticing?

  • What choices has the artist made?

  • What does the material, scale or display contribute?

  • What changes when I know more about the circumstances in which the work was made?

  • What remains unresolved?

These questions do not produce a single correct answer. They create somewhere to begin.

This autumn I am running How to Look at Modern Art, a small-group course for curious people who want more confidence and independence in museums and galleries.

No prior knowledge is required.

£150 per person for all four sessions.

You do not have to get it.

You only need somewhere to begin.

Book a Place

The Course

Week by week

How to

Look

at

Modern Art

Book a Place

  • The Birth of Modern Art
    Why artists stopped following established rules.

  • When Art Stops Resembling the World
    Abstraction, colour, composition and scale.

  • Why Materials Matter
    Objects, processes, found materials and physical presence.

  • Why Is This Art?
    Contemporary art, repetition, display and artistic intention.

About Me

I am a writer, educator and curator who has spent my career helping people understand how images work.

I am an Associate Professor in History of Art at the University of Nottingham and the author of books on American art, photography, and visual culture. I have taught art and photographic histories in universities, galleries and on public courses, working with experienced learners and people encountering the subject for the first time.

I created Off-Campus and co-founded Sequence because I wanted to make more space for serious, generous learning beyond formal education. Off-Campus opens conversations around art history, photography history and visual culture, while Sequence uses photography as a practical and participatory way to make, share and learn together.

Both grow from a belief that learning is most valuable when it is active and shared. I want to create spaces where people feel comfortable contributing what they already know, curious enough to explore what they do not, and confident enough to question their assumptions. The aim is not simply to know more, but to leave looking at art, images and everyday life with renewed attention.

Follow Me On Social