Supremely confident at Stowe

I was lucky to get access to this A Level exhibition at Stowe School on Saturday morning, but, of course, these students and their teachers work on Saturdays, as well as the rest of the week. The work is extraordinarily sophisticated showing a real depth of understanding about the work of artists which underpins students' own personal enquiry and research. This is working within a genre, but not 'working in the style of'. A key feature of all of the work here was the overwhelming quality and maturity of the painting.  It was really exciting to see so many large beautifully painted canvasses. They were painted with a reflective, self confident, fluidity which shows familiarity with good quality materials and with studio practice. But it was not all painting, I also found a second set of installations and the first prints I have seen in any of the shows visited so far.
A particulaly striking set of work was to be seen in the huge charcoal drawings done for AS Level. The investment in rolls of 'double elephant' paper certainly pays off. The energy and scale of this work in year 12 must be important in underwriting the subsequent work and practice of students. The exhibition takes place in the school 6th form art studio's with each student having their own bay to display their work.