Artist in Residence

No limits... Just possibilities

artist copy

The Artist in Residence is an annual or bi-annual appointment, which has proven to impact on learning across the school and college. Now in its 8th year, we have hosted a diverse range of art practitioners, in areas such as weaving, music, puppetry and sculpting.    We aim to look at student’s specific interests and find artists who have specialism in that area.  Our current Artist in residence, Steve Glynn, is a Plasticine Artist.  Students are part of the interview panel for finding an AIR.  The AIR then works in their studio, facilitating 1 to 1 sessions and showing the students examples of their own practice.  The studio is situated next to the Adventure Playground.  This allows for a high foot fall. Many young people like to look through the window and observe the Artist at work. They come to see Art as a meaningful career or hobby- a constructive, joyful use of time.

The AIR always leaves a legacy piece for the school and ends the year with an exhibition at Cranleigh Arts Centre.  In recent years the AIR has also been involved in leading CPD for all staff, providing Creative enrichment for the whole school community.

Head of Creative Arts Kath Hitchings has had opportunity to share about the impact of the residency at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Arts Society and The National NASS Headteacher’s conference.

It is important to understand the differences between the job of the Art teachers, the Artist in Residence and Art therapy. Whilst there is some inevitable overlap between these professions, they do perform very distinctive roles. The Art teachers’ lessons have specific learning objectives and outcomes, operating within the teaching standards framework. The Artist in residence leads students by example, showcasing their particular expertise, enabling a much more open and experimental approach than the art teacher towards the creative end-goal. The Art therapist uses the process of self-expression and the resulting artwork to help students therapeutically. Historically this has been an excellent partnership and there has been concrete evidence of the success of these disciplines working together for the benefit of the young people.