Having benefited from attending ISADA (Independent Schools Art & Design Association) conferences hosted by other leading Independent schools around the country, I was finally persuaded to host one at King’s, writes Wayne Spilsbury.

Planning a whole weekend of workshops, events, lectures and visits for one’s peers is a daunting task; it started back in March with 18 delegates attending from a wide range of schools.

The Friday evening was the Private View of the Diversity exhibition and this was shared between delegates, King’s staff and O.B.s with a welcome from the Headmaster.

Saturday saw a range of practical workshops involving a Japanese ceramicist; a seamstress demonstrating pattern making; a commercial airbrush artist and yours truly hosting a life class. Delegates chose two over the morning, placing themselves in the shoes of their students. In fact the sculptural life class was a replica that our Lower Sixth had done the previous evening and was presented in exactly the same way. Morning coffee at the Chapel punctuated the practical activities and after a school lunch we had our first talk given by Sarah Wallis from OCR who outlined the implications of teaching the new GCE examinations. This was an opportunity for questions and discussions about how different schools were approaching these. It rapidly became clear that there remains much uncertainty in this area and so this was an invaluable networking opportunity.

The second speaker was Dr. Sarah Monks, lecturer in Art History and admissions tutor at the Sainsbury Institute, UEA. She outlined the unique learning experience that Norman Foster’s iconic building offers and delivered a short sample lecture comparing the human form over different cultures. Some schools were keen to take advantage of the free outreach programme offered. The remainder of the afternoon was spent at Durslade Farm with an introduction to Hauser & Wirth from Debbie Hillyerd.

After a brief respite Saturday evening began with a lecture on drawing by Professor Anita Taylor, Dean of Art & Design at Bath Spa and co-founder of the internationally renowned Jerwood Drawing Prize. Drawing is being made a focus in the new specifications and so this seemed timely. Some fascinating explorations of what drawing is and might be were illustrated with historical references and examples from prize-winners. This gave issue to a lot of discussion and some heated debate which carried on into the excellent ISADA Conference Dinner at the Roth Bar & Grill.

Those who remained for the Sunday morning were issued with my patented sketch pads and went to Stourhead with a two hour sketching brief. With the colours changing this was a pleasant wind down after the hectic main day of the conference. Everything appeared to go to plan thanks to the brilliant support offered by Seamus and Marty and everyone seemed to have enjoyed their time at King’s, leaving with some new ideas and insights.