St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 5 / Doorways and Gateways

Left:SchoolbuildingsinthestyleofPiper by the Shells, 2013, in the North Wall. Below left: Portrait of Freya Douglas Ferguson, by Deya Ward-Niblett.

I was taken on as a replacement for Michael Buck in 1997, but I use the word replacement advisedly, as Michael was truly irreplaceable. I joined a relatively small team of artist teachers with increasing pupil numbers. Initially I was part-time and thought it would only be for a year or two but such was the job and the camaraderie of my colleagues and friends in the Department and Common Room that 16 years on I find myself writing this just having stepped down from Head of Art, a position I took up when Nick left in 2008. It was clear from the outset that Nick Grimshaw ran the Art Department in a way that was revolutionary for a school at the time. It had a Bauhaus-like ethos, as Nick himself was fascinated by the work of Walter Gropius, whose ‘total’ vision was a model he aspired to. Nick was an accomplished painter and a meticulous draughtsman, who also had an encyclopaedic knowledge of techniques and materials. Nothing was too much trouble, and no idea was impossible. In the early days of the new building for Art and Design and Technology year groups were mixed and the studio was jam-packed with pupils, staff and stuff: canvasses, easels, paints, an etching press, the materials’ store, the paper racks, the tables covered in paint, not to mention the still-life props. These still-life objects mostly came from Nick’s family home and hung from the walls and ceilings of the Department like ripe fruits waiting for hungry pupils to pluck and do something creative with. Nick’s father was an exceptionally gifted artist but also a distinguished officer during the Second World War, and many of the still-life objects in the Art Department had found their way to the shelves in our studio from the armoured divisions in North Africa: Jerry cans, helmets, gas-masks, park pickets, gaiters, grease guns, paraffin burners, periscopes, bits of guns and barbed-wire entanglement screws. Add to this my own 1949 Royal Enfield motorbike, which I lent to the Department for still life purposes, and much beach-combed junk that Tabatha brought up from Bideford, the studio was

When Information Technology moved into the Memorial Library, we moved into the Old Gym. This wonderful old single-story wooden building was a fabulous place to work in. It came complete with a wonderful sprung maple floor that had gained an attractive patina from innumerable pupils’ plimsoles. Sadly our grubby outdoor shoes and all the paint spills soon ruined it. For some reason I had taken a chainsaw to a nearby disused telegraph pole and erected it inside and painted it fluorescent pink. Mike Buck (OSE) took over when I had a term’s sabbatical (1986) and after numerous resignations, which I ignored, he finally settled to become a fabulous art teacher who taught, inspired, and befriended generations of aspiring painters. Mike’s humanity and great sense of humour are something very special. The department was so much shaped by him. While the new Design Centre was being built, we moved into the upstairs above the then laundry, now the Drama

ART I was appointed as assistant art teacher in 1979 by Chris Ruscombe-King, who also taught at the Ruskin, and I found that there were only a handful of pupils taking the subject and that nobody that year was taking a public exam in Art. His wife Mo taught the Shells ceramics. My future wife Sue de Mestre was taken on at the same time as I was to help with the Shells ceramics as she was the only one capable of firing the new kiln. When Chris resigned through failing health, Sue’s hours were increased, and for many years she and I were the entire Department. We occupied the Memorial Library building, drawing and painting upstairs and ceramics downstairs (still Art). From this humble beginning we built a Department that at its height had 43 pupils taking A Level.

Top left: Art class 1959 with L.L. Toynbee. Above: Art Department, Cooper Quad, prior to the new building. Left: Phil Jolley (Head of Ceramics), Jane Bowen and Richard Siddons preparing for a class.

studio. This cramped space had atmosphere but very little else. The need for space and expanding staff, including Phil Jolley, Tabatha Ryan and ex-headboy Tim Greaves, meant that we converted the boilerhouse from a maintenance storage space into an Art Room. Two teaching rooms in the Design Centre were opened up into one studio and the whole top floor became a part of the Art Department. Nick Grimshaw Head of Art Department 1998–2008

96

97