Visit to Radley College's Sewell Art Centre

On Tuesday 2nd February a small group of 6th form artists and photographers visited Radley College’s Sewell Centre Art Gallery, located within their art department to look around the current Optical Art Exhibition -  ‘The Responsive Eye Revisited’. Work on show includes original pieces by Bridget Riley, Antonio Asis and Francois Morelett among others. The original ‘Responsive Eye’ exhibition was originally exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1965 and this is the first time much of the work has been shown to the public since then. This video shows the opening night of the original exhibition in 1965 attended by artists such as David Hockney and Larry Rivers.

The students were able to look around and photograph the exhibition as well as have a guided tour from Radley’s Head of Art, Ian Ellis focussing on a few key pieces. The students then took part in a short workshop exploring the graphic tendencies of Optical art in portraying portraiture as well as further time to look at the work.

Scholars' get inspirational masterclass

Headington's Art Scholars enjoyed a masterclass from Oxford artist Kieran Stiles. The girls, from L4 to U6, worked with Mr Stiles on the topic of 'The thinking hand'. The workshop included practical demonstrations of the elements and concepts of 'gestural mark making' and use of colour in modern painting. It was an opportunity for Headington's gifted young artists to learn about different methods using oils with different types of mark making and brush application.

Art Textiles Trip to London Fashion Week

U5 Art Textiles students had their first experience of London Fashion Week on February 25th, when they visited the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea which had been transformed into the ultimate catwalk venue. The girls were on task to complete a 'trend report' as part of GCSE portfolio investigations and took inspiration from the Spring/Summer 2016 collections as they came down the runway. They were given a fascinating insight into the hottest trends this season, including collections from designers such as Alice Temperley, Alexander McQueen and Emilia Wickstead. There was also an opportunity for the girls to be tempted by the 150 retailers offering the best of British and International brands.

New Photography Studio

The Maintenance team were very busy in the Autumn term creating a new facility for the Photography Department. A new Studio space, located at the top of the Diamond Building was opened for 2016. Completely fitted out with a choice of 3 rolling backdrops, a professional lighting system, 2 tripods and space for full length portrait and small table-top compositions, it is a wonderful facility for the students.

It has already been heavily used, not only by the photography A level students, but also by the L5 who were exploring ideas of dramatic lighting for their portrait Art projects, and by the members of student magazine 'hotspot', who used the studio for their 'cover shoot.'

It is a fantastic facility that will enable students to explore the communicative qualities of creative and dramatic studio lighting under controlled conditions.