Creativity is at the heart of every area of our lives – it is an essential skill that enables us to be effective in all that we do. The Collingham Art Department provides an environment where students can develop and nurture this life affirming skill. Students will learn to develop their own unique approach to the world of the visual arts, refining and improving their ability to experiment with materials and respond to the visual world using the key skills of drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and digital media.
The Collingham Art Department is a flourishing centre for the development of the visual arts, enabling students to produce artwork that is both original and technically accomplished. Our staff are committed, inspirational, demanding and fun: given appropriate guidance and sufficient individual attention, all students are capable of producing works of a very high calibre. We achieve a high success rate at both GCSE and A Level and we have a high success rate with entries to foundation and diploma courses at colleges such as Central St. Martins, Chelsea, Camberwell, Wimbledon, Brighton, City and Guilds and the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford.
If you would like to see some of the artwork that our students produce, please visit our art gallery here.
Feedback from ex-students has time and again showed that, unlike many art departments, our individual and creative approach prepares students to work independently, think for themselves, and develop a mature working method that is invaluable when faced with the demands of Foundation and Degree level Courses.
The purpose-built Art Studio has facilities for drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and various digital media. Research trips are organised to galleries, exhibitions, museums and places of special interest.
The Course
We currently follow the Edexcel syllabus for GCE Fine Art. In the first year, students are coached in sketchbook skills, in how to develop a project as a true self-expression, and in developing all the skills mentioned above. In the second year, students continue to produce two units of practical work for projects that are chosen by the students under the direction of the tutors, including a critical study involving a minimum of 1000 words of writing and pertinent research derived from the students’ own work.
Life Drawing Classes are provided at various points in the year, and the Art Studio is accessible to students forty hours a week. We require a programme of homework to be carried out equal in time to the duration of lessons each week.
There is no winter examination in this subject on any board.
As a Cabalist once said: “In order to grasp the invisible, first you must look very carefully at the visible.”
Preferred Board: Edexcel
'Paris 1945', by Evangeline Ling, oil, french polish and packaging tape, 8' x 6'
Evangeline won The Rector's Prize in 2015, judged by Dr. Paul Thompson, Rector of The Royal College of Art.
"The competition this year was immense; we had a record 8,300 entries and are exhibiting 760 pictures, the standard was extremely high, so further congratulations to both Evangeline and her Collingham teachers."
The 2016 'Art Club' has gained and retained a regular group of enthusiasts, some of whom have returned to art after a gap of some years and are not studying the subject for the purpose of taking an exam but for its own sake. It is wonderful to attend, encourage and resource the students' interest' and unique skills in interpreting aspects of our visible and conceptual world.
One of the Art Club members, Diana Calmic (below) working on her piece which took many weeks to complete (a record, timewise, I think) and the final hard-won painting!
Chris Wood (GCSE art tutor)
Diana Calmic working on 'The Ghost In The Machine', Acrylic and Oil on Paper
'The Ghost In The Machine', 2016, (finished painting) Acrylic and Oil on Paper.