Architecture, Art and Design Workshop Day: Wayfinding

STORE a London-based association of artists, architects and designers and a socially engaged design practice ran a an architecture, art and design workshop during activities week for our prospective architects and artists. The day was led by two  expert award winning tutors from RCA and UCL Kevin Green and Viktor Westerdahl.

The focus of the day was signposts which serve to organise the understanding of urban landscapes. The Headington School’s campus provided a great opportunity to explore the dual quality of art and sign. Our L6 student’s own experiences of the school grounds was a starting point, for designing and making a new object in concrete and wood for wayfinding to be placed outside the Art Department. 

The L6 worked in teams designing two interlocking elements of a sculpture. The girls starting by planning, researching, discussing and developing their ideas. Throughout the day they realised their ideas drilling, sawing wood and mixing and pouring concrete. Just before 6.30 pm the girls finished and located their sculpture outside the Art School, after a compelling, creative, engaging and exhausting day.

Pop-Up Fashion Design and Illustration Workshop with Designer Anna Mason

L5 Art Textiles were fortunate to spend the day with London based designer Anna Mason, learning how to model directly onto the stand and then illustrate their designs. Anna, who has worked in the Fashion Industry for over 20 years, trained at The Royal College of Art having won the prestigious Karl Lagerfeld Scholarship.

Lagerfeld,  ( Head Designer and Creative Director of the fashion house Chanel as well as the Italian house Fendi) funded  Anna's MA Degree at The RCA and offered her a design position upon graduation with Distinction. Anna now has her own label Anna Mason On-line and is currently looking for a summer intern. Please contact Kate Turnbull if you are interested in this position

Year 11 complete their GCSE Art work.

Girls worked hard during their externally set assignment to complete their final outcomes. Students produced an exciting variety of results, ranging from giant 3D paper art, miniature hand-made sculptures and cast porcelain faces, to name but a few. Sketchbooks and coursework were also diverse, with the emphasis being on rigorous drawing,  experimentation with a wide variety of media and processes, cultural referencing and ambitious outcomes. Students were lucky enough to have the use of the new laser cutter, which some of them effectively incorporated into their projects.

Headington School takes part in Oxfordshire Art Weeks.

Headington School has been selected to take part in the prestigious Oxfordshire Art Weeks, in Oxford Town Hall.  Working collaboratively with Thame based Poseytude Gallery, students at Headington will have their postcard designs displayed alongside contemporary works from young and emerging artists from Oxfordshire, the UK and some selected international artists plus finalists of "Change the World" art Competition.

The exhibition is open daily and runs until 30th May. Email Poseytude Gallery for further details. 

Art Exhibition Success!

Work displayed at the Private View in March was so well received, that the entire exhibition was moved to a more permanent position within The Ashmolean, for almost 2 months. Thousands of visitors from around the world, had the opportunity to view postcards designed by almost 500 pupils, staff and alumni.

Centenary Arts Festival 'Post Card' Exhibition at The Ashmolean

The world renowned Ashmolean Museum in Oxford was transformed into an art gallery for the evening on March 6th, as the highlight of the Art Schools Centenary celebrations. Gallery 2 was opened by keynote speaker and revered artist Jason Bowyer, who was awe inspired by the quality of art work produced by Headington pupils, spanning from 11 to 18 years. Work of alumni was also on display, including pieces by Emma Watson and Saatchi competition winner Eugenie Scrase.

In the run up to the exhibition, every girl in the school had the opportunity to visit one of the Oxford Museums, in order to inform and inspire the piece of work created especially for the show. Oxford Museum of Natural History, The Pitt Rivers Museum and The Ashmolean kindly opened their doors to us, sharing with us their treasures and expertise. Parents were able to marvel at the results,while enjoying a glass of champagne and delicious canape in the remarkable setting of the Museum.

Susie Forbes gives inspirational keynote speech at Conde Nast School of Fashion

Susie Forbes, Principal at The Conde Nast School of Fashion gave an inspirational talk to A Level students and Alumni, last December. An industry famously difficult to break into, Susie talked about arming a whole new generation of students with the skill and capability to pursue a successful career in the fashion industry.Girls were surprised to hear how many different career paths could potentially be open to them, beyond designing: Editing, curating, styling, journalism, marketing and PR are other exciting options which the girls were keen to learn more about. Since opening in April 2013, Conde Nast graduates are already employed  in fantastic jobs around the world.

Headington girls also had the excellent opportunity to talk to Alumni. Sophie Lomax, designer at Graff, described the intricacies of working with diamonds, while Hannah Brown, who heads up Development and Fundraising at The Royal College of Art enthused about her particular career path. Annie Turner-Ward was able to give sound advice about working as an intern at Vogue and how to pursue a career in marketing and events.

This was a highly successful event, which left our students eager to keep in touch with alumni and consider the wide range of careers open to them in fashion.