Autumn Newsletter 2009
New Courses
A new course in Metal Clay Jewellery making has been added to our Autumn schedule. This new short course (October 26th – 29th) introduces students to the fascinating possibilities offered by metal clay, an increasingly popular medium for making fine silver jewellery at reasonable cost.
Metal clay is a non-toxic, versatile material that is easily modelled and textured, then fired to produce pieces in fine silver, which is 99.9% pure. It differs from sterling silver in being slightly softer, but has the advantage of tarnishing much more slowly. Tutor Lorretta Wyatt is an experienced silversmith and certified tutor who has been teaching metal clay techniques for several years.
We will be running further metal clay classes in the evening class schedule from January 2010.
The new evening classes and weekend courses starting in January are also now on the website and open for booking. As the current group of courses is proving popular, we are keeping them the same for another term. Most of the courses are suitable for different levels of experience and ability, but if you have done one of the introductory courses – for example, Introduction to Painting – why not look at a more advanced course next time – Painting the Human Figure would be a good follow-up. If you can’t make your mind up, there’s always the Friday Mix, our sociable ‘taster’ class covering different aspects of drawing, painting and sculpture over the course of 10 weeks.
Graduate Show 2009
Judging by the feedback from the visitors to the show, the 2009 Graduate Show was one of the strongest ever. On the opening night, we were delighted to have Sir Peter Blake presenting the graduation certificates. Though best known for being one of the leading lights of the the Pop Art movement and the man behind the cover of the Beatles ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, Peter has also taught hundreds of students over the years, not least during his time at the Royal College of Art, so he has huge experience in the field of art education. In his generous speech, he reflected on the lack of skills teaching in most Fine Art courses in the UK today and gave his support to the Art Academy’s ethos, not least in respect of giving students a basic artistic language with which to express themselves in the form of skills in drawing, painting and sculpture. For more images of the show and of the opening night, click here.
News from our resident artists and tutors
James Hart Dyke had a very succesful solo exhibition at Beaux Arts Bath in October. Some of the works were familiar to followers of James’s painting, whilst others broke new ground, and this body of work drew on many of his travels and experiences. There were Himalayan mountain scenes, portraits from West Africa, soldiers in the midst of battle, plus that most English of post-prandial sustenance – cake, which gave Hart Dyke the license to concentrate on the business of studio painting, and using paint as deliciously as possible.
Efi Liarokapi graduated from the Academy last year and is having her first solo exhibition at Gallery 118, Westbourne Grove, London W11 from 9th – 18th November. For further details of the gallery see their provisional website at http://gallery118.blogspot.com
Chloe Leaper, another graduate and now a professional sculptor, has a solo exhibition coming up at 22 Gallery. Full details will soon be on the gallery website (www.22gallery.co.uk), or contact Chloe via her website so that she can keep you up to date – www.chloeleaper.com
As was the case last year, artists associated with the Art Academy have been included in this year’s Threadneedle Prize Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. Our congratulations to resident artists George Triggs and James Lloyd, and to sculpture tutor Suzie Zamit for being part of this increasingly prestigious show.
BAC Accreditation
We are delighted to have been awarded accreditation recently by the British Accreditation Council following a thorough inspection process looking at all aspects of our facilities, curriculum, health and safety and pastoral care of the students. BAC accreditation is recognised the world over by students, agents and government officials as the clearest mark of educational quality in the private sector. As a next step in enhancing and promoting the Academy’s Diploma programme, we are seeking to form an articulation agreement with one or more institutions offering advanced accredited courses in Fine Art.
Articulate Outreach Programme
Since the programme started in January 2009, Articulate has developed collaborations with project partners to run a variety of art-based activities, workshops and projects. Each project partner has a specifically designed programme to offer practical and applied skills, with the aims of working towards an accredited qualification such as a Bronze Arts Award. During the summer, two workshop series took place with SILS4, a Southwark-based Key Stage 4 centre for Year 10 and 11 pupils who have been previously excluded from mainstream education, and the Kids Company’s Urban Academy, a post-14 educational and life skills academy, specifically designed to meet the needs of young people who reject, or have been rejected from, other educational facilities. For more about these workshops click here Further workshops are taking place in the coming weeks with Depaul UK (a charity working with homeless young people) and TC Education Services (TCES), an education company specialising in providing education services for Special Education Needs (SEN) pupils with Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Difficulties (BESD) or Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Building on this pilot, we will soon be applying for full funding of the Articulate project, and would welcome contacts, suggestions and offers of support, both practical and financial, from all sources.
Fundraising
We are immensely grateful to a benefactor for a recent donation of £5000 that will go towards the future of the Articulate project. Of course, as a not-for-profit organisation we are constantly in search of support to continue both our art education and outreach work, so all suggestions and contributions are very much appreciated; please don’t hesitate to contact Mark Tattersall at the Academy to discuss any aspect of this: mark@artacademy.org.uk
