New 'Life' at Sir William Ramsay

The first screen as you enter the show at Sir William Ramsay (Specialist Art College) displays some of the best student life drawing I think I have ever seen. It was fortunate that I saw show with Richard (HoD) who confirmedthat it was drawn from first hand experience or I would have assumed it was a studious copy of professional drawing.

It was, as always, a large, high quality and interesting show and this year there are signs of new directions for the school. There was some really strong, simple, culpture which got to the heart of the materials being used - the dense heaviness of cement and the light natural rythmn of withies.

Some strong photographs once again confirm the general very noticeable increase in the role of photography. Here it is a mixture of wet and digital photography (tip 1. Good SLR film cameras are very cheap on e-bay)

 Textiles work is strong with intriguing stitched drawings and whimsical costumes. It was also good to read extended essays which were simply well written rather than just well decorated. (tip 2 for rusted fabrics wrap material soaked in vinegar in cling film with iron wool and heat. result is fast)

It was interesting to see year 9 students entered for the new short course. As the school entered students for the new specifications it was possible to get a sense of how things may be changing. It was felt that the new time limitations (45 hours) of the externally assessed test together with the new marking scheme does make it more difficult to achieve the higher grades. There may be some issues here for next year. I understand that SWR was one of only 15 schools that entered and assessed the short course using these specifications this year. It may be that this could suggest a change in pedagogy and preparation. Perhaps this is a discussion that should happen next term.