By: Sue Tansley, Head of Art and Sarah Jones, Teacher of Art
Year 11 received their ‘real’ exam paper on January 2nd. At the end of the first week back from the Christmas holidays; bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the artists travelled to London.
The theme for this year’s exam is ‘Fragments’. Fine artists traversed the miles of corridors of the Victoria and Albert Museum, exploring the architecture galleries, cast courts, portraiture busts, fashion collection looking for different cultural fragments. The wealth of material provided rich pickings from around the globe. The photographers crossed the road to the ever sumptuous ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ at the Natural History Museum. Observing the depth of colour and patterns in nature this exhibition never disappoints. The Tate Britain provided rich source material for the painters. Many enjoyed the dramatic, impasto or Turner’s seascapes and his dedication on being strapped to the ships mast to fully experience his subject matter. Whitereads’ ghostly spaces of ‘One Hundred Spaces’ gave question to the materiality of space whilst Ofili’s ‘No Woman No Cry’ addressed issues of race with material shock with collaged faces in tears and elephant dung to decorate. The photographers had further inspiration from the tiny polaroid images made by artistic film director Wim Wenders. Fragments of his life in film-making were on display seen through the medium of instant photographs aged by time, along with some exquisite contemporary work in the print rooms.
A great deal was seen and it is now up to our artists to decide on which fragments they will take forward to conclude their artistic endeavours. We look forward to seeing to seeing the culmination of their efforts in their summer show.
