A warm welcome to the 2009 RCA
SHOW One – our exhibition of Fine
and Applied Art.
I was at a seminar recently at 11
Downing Street on the American
‘New Deal’, the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) Artists Project
of the mid-1930s, and its possible
lessons for the arts and for arts
education in Britain during a deep
recession. There were presentations
about how far-sighted President
Franklin D Roosevelt had been, and
about the resulting public works
created by visual artists – murals,
photographic surveys, paintings of
social life – at that time. The ensuing
discussion focused on the arts as
morale boosters, as statements
of confidence, as contributions to
national reputations at a time when
these reputations had/have been
severely dented, as employment
and as stimulants of the creative
economy. The discussion irritated
me, though, because it assumed
that the public sector for the arts
and for arts education in Britain had
everything to learn from FDR and the
American example, when the real
significance of the American example
is that it happened at all in the
context of minimal public investment
in the arts either before or since.
Actually, the British system of public
funding of both the arts and arts
education remains the envy of the
world. A ‘mixed economy’ system,
rather than all private or all state.
We should be less defensive about
saying so.
The seminar discussion turned next
to public support for the arts and arts
education during a recession – and
the general view was that support
for them was particularly important
in difficult times, for all the reasons
the ‘New Deal’ was significant in the
mid-1930s, and many more besides.
One or two people talked about
leaky garrets and how art thrives
on adversity, and how the recession
will purge the excesses of the art
scene; you always get that sort of
talk, from people who never get to
meet artists. But the consensus was
that the arts should be encouraged
to move centre stage at this time
– and especially the up-and-coming
generation of artists. The biggest
legacies of the WPA Artists Project of
the mid-1930s have names such as
Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Mark
Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Orson
Welles and Walker Evans.
This Introduction is written in very
different circumstances from last
year’s. I wrote this time last year
of a buoyant economy, of RCA
graduates entering a world that
welcomed them with open arms, of
the visitors queuing up to see the
work of the College. I’m sure this
year’s SHOW One will attract just
as many visitors, if not more – but
it takes place against a background
of deep instability, a completely new
experience for students who have
graduated over the last decade.
Whether their work will reflect this
– and whether the practices of the
fine and applied artists who are
exhibiting in it will be significantly
affected – only time will tell. Talent
and survival may be the key issues.
One thing remains certain. The
College’s annual Shows have in
recent years become a major fixture
in the calendar of art and design.
They are the culmination of our
postgraduate students’ studio work
and research: a series of individual
exhibitions amounting to one big
exhibition, a glimpse into the ideas
factory of the College itself, an
opportunity to open our doors to the
public even wider than before, a
testing of research ideas and a calling
card on behalf of all the talented
exhibitors who are in the process of
launching themselves into the worlds
of fine and applied art.
There has been a lot of discussion
about public value lately, discussion
which has had extra urgency at a
time of diminishing resources. We
hope the RCA Shows 2009 will – as
ever – contribute, and tangibly, to this
discussion. RCA students consistently
produce exciting and challenging
work, and many will already have
achieved recognition in top national
and international competitions.
We remain committed to nurturing
originality, creativity, innovation and
professionalism within our walls:
the words creativity and innovation
have become clichés of public policy
in recent years – here, they are real.
The SHOW is always a powerful
visual demonstration of the latest
ideas of students who have studied,
researched and practised here,
and for all of us it is the highlight
of the year. So it is with very great
pleasure that I present the work of the
postgraduates completing their work
at the Royal College of Art in summer
2009. A total of 416 students from
some 39 countries will be exhibiting
from six courses.
When I graduated from a traditional
university, my final year work was
read by three examiners – and my
aunt, actually – and that was that.
When RCA students graduate, in
addition to their examiners, their work
is seen by – exposed to – thousands
of members of the public. I’m not
quite sure how to define the term
public value but I’m sure these
Shows are a good example.
In this catalogue you will find the
contact details of our graduating
students. Unless styled as MPhil
or PhD students, in other words as
research students, the individuals
whose details can be found in the
following pages are all final year
Master of Arts students. Some have
chosen to make a short statement
about their particular themes and
interests and some have indicated
their future plans on graduation.
The images shown here are a
combination of pre-Show and Show
work. You can find an online gallery
of this work, plus student CVs and
statements, by visiting our website
www.rca.ac.uk.
My sincere thanks go to all those who
have supported the Royal College
of Art – the institution, its courses,
its equipment, its projects, its prizes
and its students – throughout the
academic year 2008/9: in particular
The Conran Foundation, which is
an educational charity aiming to
promote a better understanding of
good design and visual culture, and
which is very generously sponsoring
this year’s Shows – for the fourth
year running – enabling them to
happen in such a professional way.
We have never before had such
a perfect match between sponsor
and Show. The Trust’s mission is
precisely the College’s mission as
well. Without investment from the
private sector, supplementing our
public income, the College would
be a poorer place in many more
ways than one. And investment it
is: investment in the future. Not
short-selling or playing the market
or building a casino inside the bank,
but investment in the future. Many
of the individual exhibits, and the
specific environments in which they
are presented, have been supported
in this way.
This is the last time I will be writing
a Rector’s Introduction to the RCA’s
Summer Show catalogue. After a
professional lifetime at the College
– as, successively, tutor, senior tutor,
professor, Pro-Rector and, since
1996, Rector – I have decided it is
time to move on. My successor is
Dr Paul Thompson, who currently
directs the Cooper-Hewitt Museum
of art and design in New York – an
excellent choice. He will be taking
over in the summer.
My time as Rector has coincided
with a welcome new emphasis in the
public sector on the key importance
of the ‘creative industries’ and of
innovation to all our futures, and the
College has taken full advantage of
this shift. So I leave it ‘on a high’,
in excellent condition. Also in my
time there have been very significant
developments in Fine and Applied Art.
Printmaking and Photography have
moved from the School of Graphic
Arts to Fine Art – with profound
implications for both. Sculpture has
physically moved from the Queen’s
Gate Huts to Howie Street in Battersea
(now completely refurbished) while
Painting is about to enter its custombuilt
studios – a vast improvement on
their existing accommodation. All to
the good. When I first arrived, Peter
de Francia, Professor of Painting,
expressed in a lecture his concern
about the popular stereotype of the art
student: Neanderthal Man at one end
and Lucky Jim at the other. That has
changed too, and very dramatically,
not least the gender balance.
A few months ago I was able to
announce a donation of £5 million
from the James Dyson Foundation
towards the building of our completely
new campus in Battersea – which will
in the end accommodate all of the
Fine Art departments and, in time,
Applied Art as well. This is the single
largest donation from an individual
in the long history of the College.
What better symbol of the dynamic
relationship between art and design.
And what better antidote to the
current gloom?
This Show is another.
Warm congratulations to the
graduating students of summer
2009. We all look forward very much
to hearing about their achievements
over the coming years – as we
undoubtedly will, whatever the
economic climate. They have nothing
to fear but fear itself.
Professor Sir Christopher Frayling
Rector and Vice-Provost
Royal College of Art