Galleries - March 2013

School , is also going great guns, on a rather different trajectory to Heatherlys. New studio spaces will open over the next 2/3 years behind the refurbished Georgian terrace that makes up its dec- eptively genteel appearance and here again, a remarkable range of courses is on offer. City & Guilds has remained closer to its roots; its courses on conservation, hist- oric architectural carving & gilding and stone & wood-carving award Diplomas recognised as among the best in these fields. The School has Fine Art teach- ing too and now with BA level accreditation (from the University ofCentral England) in Painting and Sculpture (plus a Foundation course accredited by the Univ- ersity ofthe Arts). With the disa- ppearance ofthe much-loved By- am Shaw into the maw ofthe UofA, not to mention Wimbledon, City & Guilds is now the only in- dependent in Greater London off- ering BA Fine Art qualifications. Finally, there are also a couple of interesting evening courses here – an introduction to stained glass and a glass techniques class – as well as a summer school in drawing. NU Given Cornwall’s importance to the development of contemporary art, it’s not surprising that this region and its far west in particular, is well catered for. In St Ives, the School of Painting, still situated in the historic Porthmeor studio it inherited from Denis Mitchell in 1938, has alumni that include the brightest and best working during the heady days that were to follow. Links with the locale continue and the recent addition of a second space in the Porthmeor complex allows room for workshops led by well known artists from neigh- bouring studios such as Naomi Frears and Lucie Bray. Similarly, the school maintains a connection with events in the St Ives galleries (Tate included) scheduling classes by exhibiting artists or curators to coincide with their shows. As a charitable trust and full time sch- ool its courses are for locals and visitors alike while a link with the Verrochio Centre in Tuscany en- ables them to run painting cour- ses twice yearly in Italy. Newlyn’s School of Art is rel- atively new, only 18 months old, but in that time its short courses (1 to 4 days) in painting, drawing, printmaking, stone carving, fabric design and art history have gen- erated a huge amount of interest. They are led by some of the best known artists in the area – names such as Neil Pinkett, Lisa Wright and Paul Wadsworth will ring bells with many hoping to combine a short break in Cornwall with a chance to develop skills and ex- pand creative horizons. The atmo- sphere is ‘can do’ and dynamic with local artists in studio spaces within the school. New courses for 2013 include Abstract Painting at Lamorna Cove, a Painting Day at Trebah Gardens and two new Pottery courses with the lead potter from the Leach Pottery, Jack Doherty. PP Alongside the mainstream art school system, the independents are also thriving, offering some- thing a little different. Here we sample courses in two key cen- tres – London and Cornwall. Fuelled by the glamorous inter- national reputation of British artists and designers over the last 25 years, London has become a magnet for international art stud- ents – you only have to visit an RCA degree show to see what an important element in a school’s finances they are. But it’s not just the big boys that are benefiting – the few surviving independents are doing well too. Heatherlys , London’s oldest (1845), has profited from re- development around its once rather desolate location in Lot’s Road and now has spanking new premises for a huge variety of full, part-time and evening classes. Emphasis has always been to- wards teaching figurative art and mainstream skills in painting, scu- lpture and drawing, often hard to find within the bigger, degree- courses. Very successfully too, with many former students going on to professional careers with exhib-iting societies such as the RBA, ROI and RBS. There is also a wide range of evening and part- time courses which are demand rather than selectively based and thus open to all comers. In Kennington Road another product of that Victorian drive to- wards professional training for artists and designers working in industry, City & Guilds Art PLOT AN ALTERNATIVE COURSE Nicholas Usherwood and Pip Palmer 12. GALLERIES MARCH 13 Image: courtesy City & Guilds of London Art School