As winter loosens its grip and the days begin to lengthen again, we are preparing to open the 2026 programme of courses and events at Higher Spargo Art School. Planning this year’s programme has been particularly energising, not only because of the artists and ideas involved, but because of the remarkable growth of our community over recent weeks.

Many new readers have joined our mailing list since the start of the year. If you are one of them — welcome. It’s heartening to see such a strong appetite for thoughtful conversation about art and the processes behind it.

One thing that has stood out to us is how much interesst has been shown in our artist talks and interviews. When artists speak directly about their work — the doubts, the research, the experiments, and sometimes the failures — something powerful happens. These conversations open up the often hidden thinking behind art-making and remind us that artistic practice is rarely straightforward. It is usually a long process of questioning and re-seeing.

Perhaps that appetite for deeper engagement reflects a wider cultural moment. At a time when much visual culture moves quickly past us in the scroll of a screen, there seems to be a renewed interest in slowing down and hearing artists explain what they are doing and why.

Opening Event: Tim Shaw – Lifting the Curse

Our first event of the 2026 programme brings us a particularly compelling example of artistic storytelling.

We will be screening and discussing Tim Shaw’s Lifting the Curse — a powerful sculptural work that explores ritual, belief, and the uneasy territory between myth and contemporary experience. Some viewers may recognise the piece from its appearance in a music video by Peter Gabriel, where Shaw’s haunting imagery found an unexpected second life in a very different cultural context.

Shaw’s work often operates in that intriguing space where the ancient and the modern meet. His sculptures draw on folklore, religious iconography and contemporary politics, asking how inherited narratives continue to shape our imaginations. Lifting the Curse is both visually striking and conceptually rich, making it a fitting opening for a programme concerned with how artists translate ideas into form.

Artists Speaking About Their Work

Throughout the year we will continue to invite artists to talk candidly about their practices. These sessions have become a central part of the school’s ethos. Rather than presenting finished work as something mysterious or inaccessible, we want to illuminate the processes behind it.

Artists often describe their practice as a series of negotiations — with materials, with history, with the expectations of audiences and institutions. Hearing them speak about those negotiations helps demystify the creative process while revealing just how much thought, research and persistence lies beneath the surface of a finished work.

Art, Uncertainty and the Present Moment

This year’s programme also arrives at a time when artists are increasingly engaging with urgent questions: ecological crisis, technological change, and the shifting nature of public space and public discourse.

Many artists are responding not by providing answers but by creating spaces where questions can be asked differently. Sculpture, film, painting and installation can slow down our perception and allow us to encounter complex issues in ways that are less immediate but often more profound.

Art schools and artist-led spaces have a particularly important role here. They can provide environments where experimentation and reflection remain possible — where ideas can develop before they are fully resolved.

Looking Ahead

Over the coming months we will share more details about the full range of courses, talks and events planned for the year. The programme brings together artists, thinkers and makers working across many disciplines, united by a shared commitment to curiosity and thoughtful practice.

If you are new to Higher Spargo Art School, we hope you will join us — whether by attending events, taking part in courses, or simply following the conversations that unfold throughout the year.

Art thrives in communities that are curious, questioning and open to new ideas. Judging by the number of new voices joining us recently, that community is growing.

And that is an exciting place to begin.