Bath School of Art and Design
Encyclopedia
Bath School of Art and Design is an art college in Bath, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It forms part of the Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University is a university based in, and around, Bath, England. The institution was previously known as Bath College of Higher Education, and later Bath Spa University College...

 whose main campus is located a few miles from the City at Newton Park
Newton Park
Newton Park is an 18th-century landscape garden, designed by the landscape gardener Capability Brown, and now owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.Newton Park was laid out on land containing the 14th century keep and gateway of St Loe's Castle, a fortified medieval manor house, Elizabethan farm...

, near Corston
Corston, Somerset
Corston is a small village and civil parish close to the River Avon and the A4 road in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England...

, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

.

History

The school was founded as Bath School of Art in 1852 following The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October...

 of 1851. The Bath Directory for 1856 shows its location at Weymouth House (roughly the rear of the present Marks and Spencers store) and its Master as Anthony Carey Stannus, an Irish painter noted for marine scenes and who later helped establish a society which evolved into the Royal Ulster Academy
Royal Ulster Academy
The Royal Ulster Academy has existed in one form or another since 1879. It started life then, as The Belfast Ramblers' Sketching Club...

. By the 1858 edition he had been succeeded by John J. Drummond, who by 1860 had set up his own Mr Drummond's School of Art at 3 Bladud Buildings, and later (1862) at 5 Princes Buildings almost opposite.

The original School moved to Hetling House, Westgate Buildings, an ancient building which George Newenham Wright
George Newenham Wright
George Newenham Wright, , was an Irish writer and Anglican clergyman. He was born in Dublin; his father, John Thomas was a doctor. He graduated B.A. from Trinity College in 1814 and M.A. in 1817...

 in his Historic Guide to Bath (1864) says had been garrisoned for the Royalists in the Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, adding that "the School of Design now occupies the principal and older part". The Master for a few years was John Hill, who later continued as a private tutor and artist at his home in Combe Down
Combe Down
Combe Down is a village suburb of Bath, England in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Somerset. Combe Down sits on a ridge above and about 1.5 miles to the south of Bath city centre. "Combe" or "coombe" is a West Country word meaning a steep-sided...

 until about 1884. The School's syllabus was "in connection with Marlborough House", which meant the Government School of Design and Practical Art.
By 1866 the School was at 33 Paragon
The Paragon, Bath
The Paragon in the Walcot area of Bath, Somerset, England is a street of Georgian houses which have been designated as listed buildings. It was designed by Thomas Warr Attwood. It now forms part of the A4.Numbers 1 to 21 are 3 storey houses with mansard roofs...

, opposite The Star Inn, and the Master was Robert Campbell Puckett, Ph D, whose 1871 work "Sciography, or radial projection of shadows" was published by Chapman & Hall of London. The tuition fee was one guinea per quarter according to the school's prospectus published as a one-page advertisement in the annual Directories. Courses were "in connection with the Science and Art Department, South Kensington". A branch was opened at The Corridor for evening classes. Later Head Masters were William Harbutt
William Harbutt
William Harbutt was a painter and the inventor of Plasticine.Born in North Shields, England, Harbutt studied at the National Art Training School in London, and eventually became an associate of the Royal College of Art...

 (1874), the inventor of Plasticine
Plasticine
Plasticine, a brand of modelling clay, is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. The name is a registered trademark of Flair Leisure Products plc...

, John Charles Swallow (1878), and Charles M. Hodges (1880). By 1884 William Harbutt was teaching at The Paragon Art Studio, 15 Bladud Buildings.

By 1894 the School had come under the umbrella of the Bath Technical Schools and in April 1896 these occupied the new north extension of the Guildhall, including the retitled School of Art, Art Crafts and Design. The new Head Art Master was Frank Griffin ARCA who had won bronze and silver medals, replaced by Nathaniel Heard ARCA by 1906. By 1912 the Master was Henry Wilkinson ARCA who had been taught by Ruskin and whose son (also Henry) became a well-known engraver. Successors were D.S. (probably Douglas) Andrews ARCA (1920) and Arthur Payne ARCA (1922).

The Technical Schools evolved into the Municipal Bath Technical College  which moved to the building in Beau Street vacated by the Royal United Hospital when it moved to Combe Park. The process was overseen by the new head art master, the artist Paul Fripp (1934–37). Then came the important appointment of the long serving Clifford Ellis (1937-1972). The School of Art moved to 7 and 8 Green Park early in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when the Beau Street building was taken over by the Admiralty. This new home was totally destroyed by bombs in April 1942, and temporary refuge was found at the home of the artist Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....

 at Bathampton
Bathampton
Bathampton is a village and civil parish east of Bath, England on the south bank of the River Avon. The parish has a population of 1,504.The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the village and a toll bridge links Bathampton to Batheaston on the north bank of the canal.-History:Bathampton Camp is...

. Sickert had been a part-time teacher at the School but had died in January 1942. Clifford Ellis is said to have cut the lettering on Sickert's headstone.
In November 1942 the School began its association with 99 Sydney Place. A note in the local history section of Bath Central Library records the opening of the new premises by Sir Kenneth Clark, then Director of the National Gallery
National gallery
The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...

 and Surveyor of the King's Pictures. After the war the process began of transforming into Bath Academy of Art based mainly at Corsham Court
Corsham Court
Corsham Court is an English country house in a park designed by Capability Brown. It is in the town of Corsham, 3 miles west of Chippenham, Wiltshire and is notable for its fine art collection, based on the nucleus of paintings inherited in 1757 by Paul Methuen from his uncle, Sir Paul...

 and with an initial emphasis on training teachers of art. The nascent City of Bath Training College was first based in another house at Sydney Place before its move to Newton Park
Newton Park
Newton Park is an 18th-century landscape garden, designed by the landscape gardener Capability Brown, and now owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.Newton Park was laid out on land containing the 14th century keep and gateway of St Loe's Castle, a fortified medieval manor house, Elizabethan farm...

, meaning that by 1947 (along with Bath College of Domestic Science
Bath College of Domestic Science
Bath College of Domestic Science was a small college in Bath, Somerset, England.The teaching of domestic subjects in Bath started in 1892 at 19 Green Park with the founding of the Bath Technical Schools. The Technical Instruction Act of 1889 had given local authorities power to levy a rate to...

 then still at Brougham Hayes) all the major components of the future Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University is a university based in, and around, Bath, England. The institution was previously known as Bath College of Higher Education, and later Bath Spa University College...

 were now in existence.

The 1983/4 prospectus contained a short history stating that from 1946 the Academy ran two courses at Corsham, one for teacher training and the other a National Diploma in Design with a small intake, with interaction between the two being seen as a particular asset. The Robbins report of 1963 led to more standardised teacher training provision, and the Academy's course was phased out by 1968. The introduction of Art Foundation courses from 1963 onwards led the Academy to begin such a course, based at the Sydney Place site which had been retained for part-time classes for the general public. In 1974 control of the institution passed to the new Avon County Council and from 1st September 1983 the Academy became part of Bath College of Higher Education.

In 1985/6 the Art and Design courses, now of Bachelor's degree status, began the process of moving from Corsham to newly converted premises at Sion Hill, Bath, largely vacated by the switch of Home Economics and related courses to new premises at Newton Park.

Curriculum

Courses at the School include Graphic Communication, Fine Art, Digital Design, Fashion and Textile Design, Ceramics and MA Design (Interaction Design, Ceramics, Brand Development or Textiles), Master of Fine Art.

Personalities

Visiting artists and tutors have included Kenneth Armitage
Kenneth Armitage
William Kenneth Armitage CBE was a British sculptor known for his semiabstract bronzes.-Biography:...

, William Scott
William Scott (artist)
William Scott was a British artist known for still life and abstract painting. He is the most internationally celebrated of 20th century Ulster painters.-Early life and education:...

, Terry Frost
Terry Frost
Sir Terry Frost RA was an English artist noted for his abstracts....

, Peter Lanyon
Peter Lanyon
Peter Lanyon was a Cornish painter of landscapes leaning heavily towards abstraction. He also made constructions, pottery and collage....

, Sir Herbert Read, Adrian Heath
Adrian Heath (painter)
Adrian Heath was a 20th century British painter.Heath was born in Burma and attended Bryanston School in Dorset, southern England. In 1938, he studied art under Stanhope Forbes at Newlyn. In 1939 and 1945–47, he attended the Slade School of Art...

, Bernard Meadows
Bernard Meadows
Bernard Meadows was a British modernist sculptor. He was part of the 'Geometry of fear school', a loose-knit group of British sculptors whose prominence was established at the 1952 Venice Biennale.- Early life :...

, Howard Hodgkin
Howard Hodgkin
Sir Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin CH, CBE is a British painter and printmaker. His work is most often associated with abstraction.-Early life:...

, Anthony Fry, Martin Froy, John Colbeck, John Furnival, Gillian Ayres
Gillian Ayres
Gillian Ayres, CBE is an English painter.-Early life and career:Ayres was born on 3 February 1930 in Barnes, London, the youngest of three sisters. Ayres started school when she was six. Her parents, a prosperous couple, sent her to Ibstock, a progressive school in Roehampton run on Fröbel...

, Peter Potworowski, Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...

, James Greaves, Peter Kinley, James Tower, John Hoskin
John Hoskin
John Hoskin was a British sculptor from Cheltenham. He began drawing when he returned from Germany after serving in the Second World War. Terry Frost, a painter from the St. Ives school encouraged him to become a sculptor. John while working as an architect's draftsman but longing to become an...

, Mark Lancaster
Mark Lancaster (artist)
-Early years:Educated at Holme Valley Grammar School, 1949–52, and Bootham School, York, from 1952 to 55, after which he worked in a family textile business and studied textile technology for six years, painting in his own time, before going to King's College, Newcastle in 1961 to study Fine...

, Michael Craig-Martin
Michael Craig-Martin
Michael Craig-Martin RA is a contemporary conceptual artist and painter. He is noted for his fostering of the Young British Artists, many of whom he taught, and for his conceptual artwork, An Oak Tree...

, John Ernest
John Ernest
John Ernest was an American-born constructivist abstract artist. He was born in Philadelphia, USA, in 1922. After living and working in Sweden and Paris from 1946 to 1951, he moved to London England where he lived and worked from 1951...

, Anthony Hill, Richard Hamilton
Richard Hamilton (artist)
Richard William Hamilton, CH was a British painter and collage artist. His 1956 collage, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, produced for the This Is Tomorrow exhibition of the Independent Group in London, is considered by critics and historians to be one of the...

, Adam Burton, Jim Dine
Jim Dine
Jim Dine is an American pop artist. He is sometimes considered to be a part of the Neo-Dada movement. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended Walnut Hills High School, the University of Cincinnati, and received a BFA from Ohio University in 1957. He first earned respect in the art world with...

, Tom Phillips
Tom Phillips (artist)
Tom Phillips CBE R.A. is an English artist. He was born in London, where he continues to work. He is a painter, printmaker and collagist.-Life:...

, and Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...


Notable alumni

  • Edward Piper
    Edward Piper
    Edward Blake Christmas Piper was an English painter.Edward Piper was the eldest son of the artist John Piper and his wife Myfanwy. He was educated at Lancing College and later studied under Howard Hodgkin at the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham and later at the Slade School in London.He produced...

    , painter
  • William Harbutt
    William Harbutt
    William Harbutt was a painter and the inventor of Plasticine.Born in North Shields, England, Harbutt studied at the National Art Training School in London, and eventually became an associate of the Royal College of Art...

    , artist
  • Howard Hodgkin
    Howard Hodgkin
    Sir Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin CH, CBE is a British painter and printmaker. His work is most often associated with abstraction.-Early life:...

    , artist
  • Axel Scheffler
    Axel Scheffler
    Axel Scheffler is a book illustrator best known for his cartoon-like pictures for children's books, particularly The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child written by Julia Donaldson.-Life and career:...

    , illustrator
  • Laura Ford
    Laura Ford
    Laura Ford is a Welsh artist and sculptor who has exhibited her work at the British Art Show and represented Wales at Venice Biennale. She is recognised internationally as one of the UK's leading sculptors and is included in important museum collections worldwide-Early life and career:Ford was...

    , artist
  • Roger Deakins
    Roger Deakins
    Roger Antony Deakins, ASC, BSC is an English cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers. Deakins is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers...

    , cinematographer
  • Peter Randall-Page
    Peter Randall-Page
    Peter Randall-Page is a British artist. He studied sculpture at Bath Academy of Art from 1973–77.- Biography :Randall-Page has undertaken numerous large scale commissions and has exhibited widely. His work is held in numerous public and private collections throughout the world including Japan,...

    , artist
  • Dermot de Courcy Robinson, artist
  • Judith Trim
    Judith Trim
    Judith Trim was a British studio potter...


External links

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