Aberystwyth School of Art success

The Edward Davies Building, home of the School of Art

Monday 13 march 2006
Aberystwyth School of Art success
National prizes recently awarded to students of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth School of Art attest to the continued high standard of achievement in the School and the high regard held for our students' work, reports Robert Meyrick, Head of School and Keeper of Art.

Just recently five printmakers from the School of Art have been included in the prestigious exhibition, ORIGINALS 06: The Contemporary Printmaking Show, at the Federation of British Artists, Mall Galleries in central London.

The panel of distinguished judges, that included Julius Bryant (V&A), Stephen Coppel (British Museum), Richard Lloyd (Christie's), William Packer (Critic) and Stuart Pearson Wright (Artist), selected prints by Aislinn Knight, Hannah Streat, Judy Macklin, Christopher Webster and Andrew Baldwin. 240 prints, by 182 artists from across the UK—young as well as established—are represented in the exhibition.

Three of the five Aberystwyth printmakers were awarded prizes at the opening ceremony on the evening of Tuesday 14 February: Hannah Streat (3rd year undergraduate) won the Joseph Webb prize awarded by the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, worth £250; Aislinn Knight (postgraduate taught Masters) won the R K Burt & Co Ltd prize of a solo exhibition in London; and Andrew Baldwin (Senior Technician and 3rd year undergraduate, part-time) won The Arts Club Prize.

Closer to home, Emily Faludy (2nd year undergraduate) and Barry Charlton (postgraduate taught Masters) have both had works selected for the biannual Wales Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery’s partner institution Bodelwyddan Castle, which opens on 2 March and tours to Birkenhead, Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Mold and Rhyl. The judging panel, led by Sandy Nairne, Director of National Portrait Gallery, selected 55 paintings chosen from nearly 300 UK-wide and International submissions.

Postgraduate taught Masters student, Joe Sparrow, who completed his studies in October was selected to represent UW Aberystwyth, at the second MA and other Postgraduate Art Exhibition at the Atkinson Gallery, Millfield that showcases the diversity of postgraduate work across 18 UK institutions and includes student work from Camberwell and Central St Martins Schools of Art, the Slade, Royal Academy Schools, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Winchester, Reading and the Royal College of Art.

At Aberystwyth, specialised courses are available in Painting, Printmaking, Photography, Book Illustration, Drawing, Life Drawing and Life Painting, offering an education and training that combines the study of traditional skills and techniques with contemporary practice and theory. In 2007, the School of Art celebrates its 90th anniversary, and in all that time drawing has remained at the heart of the student’s experience. In the context of the recent revival of interest in traditional drawing skills, the School is at the cutting edge of art education.

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