Ardingly Art

Our project direction this term has been that of anatomy and natural forms.   Year Ten have been working in a variety of scales and media ranging from A1 ink wash skulls to mono print and henna decorated double self portraits, to mention but a few.  We are now launching into three dimensions and designs have been made for mod roc body casts that are to be embellished with decoration linked to (through personal choice) Egyptian motifs, da Vinci ribcages or William Morris creeping vines.  These pictures show the excitement of the lesson, hopefully showing how the group enthusiastically entered the session - racing in raring to go on a Tuesday morning!  I will post images once these challenging, individual pieces are complete.

The show this year led to a beautiful mixture of submissions from the characteristic spread of 4 to 18 year old Ardingly students.  Displaying Reception age artworks alongside Upper Sixth always fills me with joy, and this year was no exception.  The theme allowed artists to choose from fire, water, earth or air as a starting point - with many also addressing the combination of all four.  Volcanoes, rainbow rain storms, moss covered portraits and ornithalogical hanging mobiles were amongst the pieces on show.  The evening private view was a busy affair on Monday 13th November with parents, staff, students and friends admiring the lively, bright display.  The work will remain up until the end of the month with collection required on Monday 4th December. 

There will be Senior prize winners within each year group this year (awarded at the end of term by the Headmaster) and many more prizes distributed to the enthusiastic, imaginative Prep school students within their own assembly.  It is agreed that the stand out overall winner of the show this year is Luc West of Year 8, with his amazing 3d environmental destruction sculptures taking centre stage in the galleries.  Congratulations to everyone who got involved - you've done yourselves proud yet again!

Claire Grover - Head of Art, Senior

The annual 6th form art trip took place on Friday 22nd September - to the Sussex venues of Pallant House Gallery, Chichester Cathedral and the Cass Goodwood Sculpture Park.

The IB and A Level upper and lower sixth students explored the exhibitions, using the works they saw to stimulate and enhance their own bodies of work - spanning themes as diverse as metamorphosis, entrapment and energy. The large works planted in the beautiful grounds of the Cass foundation were an inspiration to all, exploring the sunny glades and stumbling across some monumental structures both abstract and figurative. Pallant's contrasting wings and collections of art gave all the students a massive choice of reference materials also. Everyone agreed this to be a superb trip, helping them appreciate curatorship and see live work first hand - and the beauty of it being reasonably local means many students can return independently in future.

a really useful research tool, full of current art and artists - excellent for contextual understanding, inspiration for personal work, pin pointing shows and art you want to explore in further depth...