The artistic life of the College benefits enormously each year from the presence of a talented and inspirational Artist-in-Residence. The individual in post continues to pursue their own artistic work and in so doing provides motivation and learning opportunities for all of our Art School pupils.
At the end of this school year, we say farewell and a grateful thanks to Amanda Cook, our 27th Artist-at -Marlborough.
Ceaselessly lyrical invention, neatly sums up Amanda’s creative immersion within the Art School over this past school year. From embroidery to stained glass via lino-printing and paper-making two strands stand consistently firm. The first is Amanda’s love of nature. She observes and reflects nature’s bounty and wonderment across the seasons. This in-turn is mirrored across her work. The second is her use of narrative, channelling Art to speak a message and for creativity to become a visual diary. And yet, Amanda’s work can be identified as an identifiable, discrete and homogenous phenomenon.
Pupils and staff have been very fortunate to work alongside Amanda’s fizzing energy and dynamism. She is a prolific, driven artist and has been an approachable role model to our pupil artists. Amanda’s studio space in the Art School became a beacon of invention through diverse and often unusual materials and combinations. She is fearless in her immersive creativity and happy sharing knowledge and techniques, offering creative nourishment.
Thank you, Amanda. We look forward to your exhibition in the Mount House Gallery in November.
From September, the Art Department is delighted to welcome portrait artist, Grace Payne Kumar to the Marlborough community.
Grace’s practice is underpinned by knowledge of the visual tradition and technique of centuries old European portraiture from which she is adding her own visual chapter. Grace began her training in Florence at the Charles Cecil Studios and has just completed her degree at Edinburgh University.
She was selected as a finalist for the Scottish Portrait Awards and won the Member’s Choice Award in 2019. In December 2020, her painting, Portrait of Niccolo, granted her the commission to paint Lord Justice Clerk, Leeora Dorrian, Lady Dorrian, the first woman to hold the position. In 2022, Grace’s portrait was hung in Edinburgh’s Parliament Hall on the Royal Mile alongside work by the immortal artists, Sir Henry Raeburn RA (1756 – 1823) and John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925).
Edward Twohig RE
Head of Art
