Since 1969 the Cyprus Summer Studio (also called the Cyprus Summer School) has been offering artists and art students from Britain, Ireland and elsewhere the chance to spend a month enjoying the Cypriot sunshine at an affordable price. There are no formal classes and it is not a course: it is simply an opportunity to spend some time in the summer working on your art, in the company of other artists and art students of all ages, without having to worry about galleries or deadlines or assessments. In other words its a place to make art for the love of art.

 

You will be in the company of other artists and art students (as well as the occasional design student, poet or musician) and have access to the studios of the Cyprus College of Art  (Paphos).

                             

Our accommodation is simple youth hostel style accommodation, with shared bathroom and cooking facilities, and everyone chips in to keep the place clean. It is simple, but pleasant accommodation which you can think of as being a bit like camping, but you should imagine stone tents!

 

The ethos of the Cyprus Summer Studio today is the same as it was back in 1969. The Summer Studio (or Cyprus Summer School as it was called in 1969) was set up to provide artists and art students with a place in the summer sunshine where they could live, work and produce interesting and innovative art.

 

The sense of freedom has always been central to what we do, so that although many universities and art studios might pay lip service to the idea of artistic freedom, very few of them practice it in a meaningful way. We try to. That does not mean there are no rules, but there are no prejudices or preconceived ideas.

 

​Most of all the Cyprus Summer Studio has always been about living and working as a community of artists. This seems very idealistic in today's money minded art world, but we are idealistic. The Summer Studio and the Cyprus College of Art is a simple place, a bit ramshackle and rough around the edges, but it points to a future ideal world where art is valued not for its financial value, but for its intrinsic quality. It points to a utopia where artists are considered important because of what they make, and not because they are a brand name or celebrity always filling the media.

 

If being an idealistic, utopian artist living simply in the sunshine for a summer appeals to you, then get in touch or enrol on the Cyprus Summer Studio.