About us
Our studio is run with a passion for art and a love of teaching
We create a safe environment especially for you to experience the joy and power of art to ignite ideas, transform your wellbeing, enliven your senses, and change how you see the world. Learn and grow to become the artist you wish to be.
Our story
We are a small independent art school in Ancoats, Manchester. We are proud to offer a wide range of courses in drawing, painting, mixed media, life drawing, and creativity.
Beginnings
Our lead tutor Brian Raymond started the studio in 2010. The success of Creative Art Courses is built on his experience of adult art education, grassroots community art engagement, and mainstream education. His passion for supporting and encouraging people brings a welcoming warmth and vibrancy to the studio.
Creative Art Courses has grown and flourished into a calm, yet vibrant creative space welcoming diverse students of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and interests – a wonderful reflection of Manchester’s diverse communities. We’ve also welcomed international students from Switzerland, New York, Israel, Iceland, China, India, Kurdistan, Saudi Arabia, and beyond.
Your tutors
Our lead tutor Brian Raymond teaches most of the courses on offer. He is joined by a small carefully chosen group of guest tutors who embody the same high standards and passions for teaching art.
Find our more about them here.
Student Reviews
If you’d like to know what our students think of our courses and classes – check the ‘Reviews tab’ on every course page for the most recent reviews and comments.
Alternatively, read some older student reviews on this page>
Video to watch
Why choose us?
We love teaching art and we’re good at it– what more can we say!
We focus on teaching you, nurturing your creativity, and encouraging you along your creative path.
We are proud of our focus on teaching and learning and the wide range of well-structured art classes we offer. We recognise you as a unique creative individual and teach to your strengths, ensuring you achieve your best work, and experience the potential you have as a creative artist. Read more about our teaching style and ethos here.
Creative Art Courses is proud to be a part of the Adult Community Education sector supporting continued learning through all our life stages.
Our studio at AWOL Studios
AWOL Studios occupies 4 floors within Hope Mill and is home to over 100 creative businesses and artists. AWOL Studios sits on the fringe of a revitalised Ancoats, that has seen urban regeneration
turn a forgotten corner of our city into the hippest suburb of Manchester.
The suburb bursts with an independent spirit, and is home to a plethora of creative businesses.
Creative Art Courses is a proud member of AWOL studios playing our part in the vibrant and creative city of Manchester.
Studio with swinging side wall panels
Studio as an exhibition space
Studio as a creative teaching space
Hope Mill
Hope Mill is an inspirational place to visit.
Hope Mill buzzes with a mix of inner city energy and the spirit of endeavour that Manchester is famous for. The historical richness of the Grade 2* listed mill continues to resonate with it’s past industrial splendour. The mill now enjoys a contemporary vitality borne out of the mill’s re-imagined designation
as home to Manchester’s largest creative hub of over 100 artists, designers, photographers, and Hope Mill theatre. Read a brief history of Hope Mill here>
Facilities
The mill building has a lift (somewhat Victorian in character!) and a characterful main spiral stone staircase. We have the benefit of central heating in winter (a real bonus compared to other mill conversions); shared toilet facilities; kitchen/relaxation area; and equipment washing facilities.
Accessibility
Unfortunately the building is not wheelchair accessible or DDA compliant. If you have any specific access needs, please let us know before booking.
We are located on the 5th floor of a 200 year old mill building so please be confident you have the ability to walk up + down 5 flights of stairs in the event the lift is not working. We try our best to ensure our courses are as accessible and inclusive as possible.
Hope Mill
Spiral stone staircase + lift
Imposing facade from Pollard Street
Hope Mill history
Hope Mill was one of the earliest developments in the new industrial suburb created alongside the Ashton Canal in the 1820’s. In 1824, the owners, Joseph Clarke and Sons purchased an 80 horse-power mill beam engine from Boulton and Watt of Birmingham. By 1880, the area was fully developed, with a large number of steam- powered industrial complexes. In the early C20, Hope Mill was occupied by John Hetherington and Sons, manufacturers of textile machinery, based at Vulcan Works further west on Pollard Street.
Listed building
Hope Mill is a Gade 2* listed building and is one of the best-preserved examples of its type in Manchester. The Mill retains extensive evidence for the evolution of successive power systems, and which includes an innovative prefabricated iron roofing system.
This important component structure demonstrates an understanding by the designers of the principles of compression and tension acting in roof structures, and is related to similar early iron roof structures in contemporary mill developments in Ancoats.
Ancoats
Hope Mill makes a strong contribution to the international significance of this part of Manchester as the prototypical industrial suburb. The Mill along with Ancoats’ wider heritage represents the extent and density of Manchester’s textile and engineering industry at its peak, and together constitutes an historical industrial landscape of international significance.
