An inspiring Art research trip to London Galleries for our L6th Form artists

March 5th 2024

An inspiring Art research trip to London Galleries for our L6^th Form artists...

On Monday 4^th March, the L6^th Form Artists and Art Historians embarked upon an overnight trip to London to visit a series of cutting-edge exhibitions and museum collections at four major art institutions in the capital. This timely visit was designed to give our pupils a chance to research into areas of interest and experience first hand, artworks that may inspire their forthcoming personal investigation projects.

It was pleasing to see our artists taking the opportunity to record, respond and bounce ideas as a group with opportunities to discuss key themes and discover areas of interest from their point of view. We split into focused groups with our artists visiting the V&A Collections & the Barbican to explore the exhibition titled, Unravel-The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art. Whilst the Art Historians took an alternative route on day one visiting The Courtauld with a striking display of Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads.

There was ample opportunity to engage with art and culture as we navigated the city with public sculptures lining the streets, inspirational architecture, and along with taking time out in the evening to watch a film, called One Love. This inspiring entertaining documentary style film was a golden chance to delve into the Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley and his life behind the scenes as he overcomes adversity to become the most famous reggae musician in the world.

Day 2, did not disappoint as we began our morning at Tate Britain to understand more in relation to Art & Activism in response to the Women in Revolt! exhibition. In between galleries, we took the opportunity to visit Chelsea College of Arts. We were fortunate to take our pupils on a behind the scenes tour of Chelsea College of Arts studios, gallery and workshop spaces. Our student ambassador tour guide, Hannah was a recent MA Fine Art Graduate (@hannahkaycreative) who gave an inspirational tour with ample opportunity for our pupils to ask questions and grasp a clear understanding of the workings of the art school. I feel we all gained a useful insight into the degree show preparations, group crits and facilities available at one of the top art courses in the UK. We look forward to checking out the Undergraduate Summer Show taking place in June. The dates and details will be published on the webpage nearer the time with open day events during shows becoming available in the coming weeks. One for our artists to keep an eye on!

To round off our London art trip we headed to the recently refurbished National Portrait Gallery, with a timely and progressive exhibition, called The time is Always Now- Artist reframe the Black figure. This show was well received by our pupils as this was a fantastic insight into the survey of the Black figure in Western art history with artist such as Chris Ofili, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, and Henry Taylor to name a few trail blazers that are creating vibrant and poignant works today.

Congratulations to the following pupils, Lucy, Flo, and Sophie for claiming the art trip prize for their focus and commitment towards recording and gathering relevant inspiration towards their next project. Everyone contributed well and showed dedication towards developing their own pathways moving forwards. It has been fantastic over the course of the trip, and on our return, to share pupils' highlights and how they plan to use this experience as a springboard moving forwards.

Mr Cole - Art Teacher

This week’s overnight art trip was a fascinating opportunity for us to explore and instigate our personal investigation. We visited the Barbican Centre, The National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain, V&A and looked round Chelsea Art School, which was a great way for us to see what could lie ahead. The European Renaissance section in the V&A and ‘Reframing the black figure’ exhibition in the National Portrait gallery was particularly useful to me as I am to explore the theme of religion and combine this with figurative painting. I personally found the exhibition ‘Reframing the black figure’ captivating as the vivacious use of colour combined with the figures was distinctive and unique, especially with the works of Claudette Johnson standing out.

Florence - L6^th Form Art

Seeing artwork first hand instead of in class was amazing. There were many favourite parts of the trip which were enjoyable including the V&A, the courtyard and Tate Britain as well as the Bob Marley film. I was especially inspired by the exhibition in Tate Britain called ‘Women in Revolt’ which really helped me navigate my chosen topic as well as my initial ideas. The huge reality of this social history really widened my view and made me look back on our history and how far we've come since then. I want to explore further into this idea of the women figure and how it has changed over the years. Overall, this trip was helpful, fun and inspiring.

Lucy - L6^th Form Art History