Ahead of their collaborative group exhibition ‘Beating Time’, which opens at ARB, Cambridge, later this week, Jack Hutchinson spoke to artists Alison Critchlow, Miranda Boulton, and Una D’Aragona who have all participated in Turps Art School’s Correspondence Course. They discuss the benefits of the programme to rural-based artists and how it offers an alternative to courses run by traditional art education institutions.
In 2017, New Contemporaries, an annual exhibition of emerging artists from UK art schools, opened up its application to include artists from alternative learning programmes. Director Kirsty Ogg discusses this decision, the changing climate for emerging artists in the UK, and what artists really need to develop and challenge their practice. Interview by Michaela Nettell.
Alternative art education programmes come in a range of formats, from entirely self-organised to more structured offerings. Lydia Ashman hears from seven artists who discuss how they chose a programme which would develop their practice and fit with their lifestyles, and offer advice on selecting the right one for your needs.
Turps Art School was founded in 2012 as a medium-specific art school providing year-long studio and distance learning programmes for painters. Co-founder Marcus Harvey talks to Michaela Nettell about the ideas and values behind the school.
School of the Damned is a free year-long alternative, and unaccredited, art school. Each year a new student group comes on board and collectively devises and develops their programme of learning. Laura Davidson finds out more from members of the founding cohort, Class of 2014, and the Class of 2018 graduating students.
The alternative art school, which relocated to Margate from east London in 2017, has moved into the former Thanet School of Arts and Crafts building where it will be based alongside the Kent Adult Education service.
The Salford-based peer-led art school has teamed up with Manchester Metropolitan University for a fully funded research post which will explore alternative school models.
