On this intensive 1-week summer school we will take a deep dive into the wonderful, quirky, upside-down world of the misericord, or mercy seat. These seats form part of church choir stalls and are seemingly hidden away but once the seats are flipped up the viewer is treated to a whole array of weird and wonderful master pieces from the 13th century right up to the present day.

On the course, guided by your tutor, master carver and heritage crafts wood worker of the year, Thomas Ball. You will start off with an introductory talk showing these weird and wonderful carvings and hear about their origins and where to find them. You will then move onto an introduction on the carving tools you will be using and learn how to use them before doing some warmup exercises to get you used to the timber. Next up you will choose from the examples provided of various casts taken from original misericords. From this point onwards your tutor will guide you through the process of carving from start to finish, creating your very own carving to take home.

This course is suitable for beginners and those with experience of carving who are looking to enhance their skills, and the course will be capped to ensure that each student has plenty of tutor time.

This course takes place over 5 days, Monday 7th – Friday 11th September, 9am-5pm daily. There will be a break for lunch each day. Tea/coffee is provided, and there is a fantastic café on site.

Description supplied by the event organiser.