Chelsea College of Art and Design

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Chelsea College of Art and Design
Established: 1895
Dean: Professor David Garcia
Location: London, United Kingdom
Affiliations: University of the Arts London
Website: www.chelsea.arts.ac.uk
Chelsea College of Art and Design (South Block)
Chelsea College of Art and Design (South Block)

The Chelsea College of Art and Design, the erstwhile Chelsea School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London and one of the world's premier schools of art and design. It offers further and higher education courses in Fine Art, Graphic Design, Interior Design and Textile Design up to Phd level.

Contents

[edit] History

The college was originally founded in 1895 as the South-Western Polytechnic on Manresa Road and Chelsea Square (SW3). The area was renowned for many artists and craftsmen who had moved into studios and workshops for the purpose of The Great Exhibition of 1851.

The curriculum was primarily vocational, placing an emphasis on 'commercial art', with disciplines such as illustration, textiles, etching, lithography and architecture being taught throughout the college. H.S Williamson, the college's appointed headmaster from 1930 to 1958 introduced sculpture shortly after World War Two. Notable artists from this period were employed as teachers such as Henry Moore, Norbert Lynton, Patrick Caulfield and Graham Sutherland.

The forming of the prior Chelsea School of Art was in 1964, an amalgamation with the late West London School of Art. The premises were situated in Great Titchfield Street and were originally part of Quintin Hogg's Polytechnic in Regent Street from 1889. The campus at Manresa Road introduced painting and graphic design during 1963, with both disciplines being particularly successful. During this period, Chelsea had the highest enrollment of Fine Art students in any school of its kind in the country.

Lawrence Gowing, painter and art historian, was appointed as the first headmaster of the newly established Chelsea School of Art. He was responsible for the integration of history and theory with practice, employing artists rather than art historians to teach art history and theory. This approach remains intrinsic to Chelsea's teaching philosophy today. William Gallaway, headmaster from 1989 to 1992 with Colin Cina, appointed dean of art and Bridget Jackson, dean of design, reformed the two devolved schools as one and ensured the redevelopment of the entire academic program offered by the college. This introduced courses at multiple levels from HND to accredited degrees, which were validated by the University of London.

Chelsea expanded from one campus to four, having acquired Bagleys Lane (SW6) in 1975, a merger with the Hammersmith School of Art at Lime Grove (W12) and lastly Hugon Road (SW6) in 1981. The college changed its name to the present Chelsea College of Art and Design in 1986. This shortly happened after the joining and forming of the federally structured London Institute, known now as the University of the Arts London since 2004. Professor Roger Wilson, appointed as the dean until his retirement in 2006, led the relocation to the listed Royal Army Medical College, renovated as a purpose built arts college by architects Allies and Morrison in 2005. The college presently resides next to Tate Britain in Millbank (SW1), returning to one standalone campus.

The substantial notable alumni contrasts with a modest student intake of 1,500 on site in any one year. At Chelsea, students are taught by teachers that are highly regarded in the art world, such as artists Roger Ackling, Neil Cummings, Amanda Faulkner, David Musgrave, Dave Beech, Hayley Newman and fashion textile designer Rebecca Earley.

[edit] Exhibition

The college comprises three notable on-site exhibition spaces:

  1. Chelsea Space is an international and interdisciplinary platform for professional practitioners to exhibit experimental curatorial projects. The gallery also releases regular publications from participating authors, artists and designers.
  2. The Parade Ground, situated within the college, has been transformed into London's largest open-air gallery hosting events from film screenings to large scale installations in spring 2008. The exhibition ground had previously been used for students and professionals as an open area platform, notably artist Chris Burden's 'A Flying Steamroller' in 2006.
  3. The Triangle Gallery, pertaining to its name, has been designed as a modern angular shaped space for students to showcase their work throughout the year.

[edit] Research

The college hosts a variety of research centers, groups and clusters:

  1. International Centre for Fine Art Research (ICFAR)
  2. Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN)
  3. Critical Practice Chelsea
  4. Textiles, Environment, Design (TED) [1]

[edit] Affiliations

Chelsea is a sister college of the Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art. The college also has exchange links with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, USA.

[edit] Other

CLIP CETL

Chelsea and the London College of Fashion share the 'Creative Learning in Practice Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning' (CLIP CETL). The Centre is funded by the British government in recognition of the two college's excellent results in developing student learning.

Art School

Newsman and writer John Humphrys, TV personalities Ulrika Jonsson and Clarissa Dickson-Wright, comedian Keith Allen and BBC Radio 1 DJ Nihal Arthanayake underwent an intensive two-week course at Chelsea in the BBC series Art School in 2005. Under the guidance of the college's tutors, the students explored all aspects of art - from the basics of drawing, to installation and performance art - which culminated in an end of course show.

Allocation of Space

Arguably, one of the more controversial aspects of the college was the decision to provide its administrative arm an entire building to itself (North Block), despite the overcrowding suffered by the students throughout the rest of the college site. This was touched upon in the May 2008 issue of Art Monthly, which dissects the often fractious relationship between the administrative and educational roles of the modern art college, made tangibly real in the allocation of space at Chelsea.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. History of Chelsea
  2. Millbank Move
  3. Millbank Move (2)
  4. Parade Ground Millbank
  5. Chris Burden's A Giant Flying Streamroller

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_College_of_Art_and_Design"
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