Arts and Skills Institute

Arts & Skills Institute is Riyadh’s first dedicated Art and Fashion Institute for young women. Women aged 17 and older learn skills in Fashion Design and Visual Arts through enrolling in a cooperative Diploma delivered in conjunction with Box Hill Institute in Australia. Australian teachers oversee all subjects and deliver a major portion of the program. The graduates of the Arts and Skills Institute (ASI) gain credit for first year of university in their selected study area at participating universities. ASI graduate students have gone on to teach art, to open their own fashion boutiques, and to launch their own fashion labels. ASI leads the way for fashion design students in the burgeoning Riyadh fashion industry.

Arts and Skills Institute is situated centrally in Takhasossi Street in Riyadh, and combines the well known L’Art Pur Gallery under the same roof. The Diploma of Visual Art covers painting, sculpture, drawing, professional art practice, art history, digital photography, print-making, papermaking and digital art. Graduate students have gone on to study for a Master of Art, into teaching and professional art practice as independent and award winning artists. Some current Visual Art students have won national art awards and others plan to open galleries or become practicing artists on graduation. The Diploma of Visual Art is exactly the same diploma that is delivered to students in Australia and covers all required subjects for a Saudi/ Australian Diploma. Students learn to paint in watercolour, Chinese inks, acrylic and oils; they also create collages using imaginative techniques and combine mixed media to produce original art. Sculpture students work in many media to reveal their original ideas and techniques once they have learnt basic studio safety and methodology. Recycling is encouraged in the school, and students learn to make paper from discards and to use the papers made in their artworks. Found objects also find their way into original works art by sculpture students. Regular student exhibitions at ASI expose students to professional exhibiting and allow the public, their family and friends, to admire and view their works. Imagination is the key to learning art and all ASI students learn to use their imagination to describe, design and create works of art that are both original and imaginative. Fashion Design students at ASI learn about Design Theory and History, famous fashion designers, Lifestyle, Culture and Fashion as indicators of changes in society.

Fashion Diploma practical work includes: patternmaking for individual designs and industry, concept development, sewing, garment assembly and fashion drawing.

Graduates from the Diploma of Fashion Design have gone on to open their own labels in Riyadh, to take part in International fashion promotions, to advise and promote Riyadh fashion industry and to assist in Saudi fashion manufacturers within the fledgling fashion industry in Riyadh. Jobs available for graduates in the Fashion industry include Fashion Designer, Fashion Buyer, Illustrator, Stylist, Production Manager and Fashion Journalist. ASI Fashion Students work to produce professional pattern blocks and made-to-measure evening and day wear. Fashion Diploma students prepare to become part of Haute Couture and Commercial Fashion Industries on an International standing. Arts and Skills Institute actively encourages collaboration with well known artists and scholars, and has hosted visits and workshops from the Sorbonne Paris, and well known Saudi artists, craftspeople & photographers, as well as local Industries in Fashion and the Arts.