96-97 / 168
St Edward’s:
150 Years
98
99
packed so full that the cleaners were unable to clean. For those
of you who have seen Francis Bacon’s studio on display in
Dublin, the St Edward’s art studio was its clone, only a great
deal bigger.
Along the way, we were joined in the Department by the
legendary Kirsty Jones and Tim Greaves with their extraordinary
talent and enthusiasm. They ran a type of art factory regime in
the old boilerhouse where to the sounds of the blues, R and B,
country and western, pop and rap (Tim was also a DJ), young
artists were introduced to the fascinating world of Art.
This was a big time for the Department; I replaced Nick
Grimshaw after 25 years, Kirsty Jones and Tabatha Palmer were
about to leave to be heads of departments at Clayesmore and
Perrott Hill respectively, and Phoebe Brookes, Tova Holmes,
Lorraine Turley, Adam Hahn and Sharon Keen all recently
arrived, bringing colour and light to the Department.
One constant factor throughout has been the one and only
Phil Jolley who as Head of Ceramics, with Jane Bowen and
Richard Siddons, has kept the wheels turning and kilns full and
fired every week for the last 20 years – this despite Phil’s ten
years as Housemaster of Tilly’s.
In September 2013, Tova Holmes took over as our first
female Head of Department. I am confident that Art at St
Edward’s under her leadership will continue to challenge,
provoke and educate to the highest possible standards. Please
come and see our exhibitions in the North Wall Gallery, our
window to the world where pupils and staff exhibit regularly.
Peter Lloyd-Jones
Head of Art 2008–13
THE DESIGN PORTAL
Patrick Morton, an engineer by training, came to St Edward’s
in 1964 to teach Mechanical Drawing to a group of spare-time
enthusiasts. In 1979 he was asked by Warden Phillips to head
a Department of Design and Technology. When I arrived in
1987 we were still pursuing mechanical drawing in S6 of the
Science building. We had wood and metal workshops beside
the Music School, and a classroom in the Memorial Library
Building where the main computer room now resides – hardly
a single portal. Warden Phillips was a great believer in Art
and Design and funds were raised to build the current Art and
Design Centre, opening in 1988. The building was very fine,
with its terrazzo-floored foyer and grand stair, but workshop
equipment remained distinctly traditional. For the high-tech
setup that we enjoy today we must thank the very responsive
approach of the Governors, and successive Wardens.
Design at school level is a unique subject in that it allows
the developing mind the opportunity to test creative ideas
by putting them into practice, learning to find solutions
to the gaps between the vision and the reality of a grand
scheme. With our excellent facilities we are able to give
our pupils quite an accurate preview of modern industrial
manufacturing. We can draw, with the benefit of Computer
Aided Design, complex organic forms and print them out
in 3D with fused deposition rapid prototyping, in a testable
hard-wearing plastic. This is a far cry from the inevitably
flat-planed projects of the past: the roof rack, the shelving
unit and the toolbox. On the metalworking front we have a
CNC plasma cutter that allows accurate and repeatable metal
profiles to be cut in steel or aluminium, ready to be welded
together. This works well for finely curved chair frames and
table legs. We have CNC milling machines that allow us to
mill complex forms from the solid, such as a small aluminium
killer whale for a water feature. Not forgetting wood, still
the favourite material, we have a CNC router able to cut
all the parts from a plank, complete with joints, in a single
operation, or form a low-relief decorative panel, or cut out a
whole table top from pre-joined boards.
I hear you wondering what happened to good old-fashioned
craftsmanship with hand tools; surely that is the way to prepare
our engineers, architects and furniture designers. There is of
course still a great deal of hand finishing – gluing, clamping,
welding, varnishing etc. – that requires good hand–eye co-
ordination. All designers must understand the character and
capability of their materials, so we run a series of projects in the
pre-exam years designed to give that ‘feel’ and understanding.
Every syllabus however must evolve with the times, and the
current preoccupation is with Design for Manufacture, where the
forms required must match the means of manufacture. Green
Design encompasses ‘Cradle to Cradle Design’, where a product
can be ready for a new life once its original purpose is achieved,
either through reuse or easy disassembly for recycling. These are
the challenges for which we prepare our current pupils when
they enter the Design Portal.
Ben Pyper
Head of Design and Technology
Left: Sharon Keen
teachingInesOcampo
textile activity
(cushion making).
Below: Peter Dzhioez
welding.
Opposite: Clockwise from top left: Emma
Preston, jewellery inspired by nature; Tristan
Benfield,ashsidetable;Charliehayes,cherryand
walnut carving board; Peter Dzhioez, mild steel
brazier;MaxStern,walnutandashgamesboard;
Emma Cheng, jewellery inspired by nature.