Pupils, parents and members of the Bath community gathered at King Edward’s on Thursday to welcome renowned British artist Kurt Jackson to the opening of an exhibition.
The artist spoke at the opening of the School’s New Horizons Art & Photography Exhibition, the day before his own work went on show at the Victoria Gallery in Bath.
Speaking to an audience of over 150 people, Kurt opened the Exhibition with a talk on some of his latest work, before reflecting on his journey to becoming an artist.
A graduate from Oxford University with an honours degree in Zoology, a gap year spent walking the length of Africa, painting as he went, convinced Kurt that his future lay in working as an artist.
With no formal training aside from regular attendance at classes at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, in Oxford, while studying Zoology, but with a childhood steeped in art with parents who were both artists, Kurt relocated to Cornwall to focus on painting.
Thirty years on and now a leading contemporary artist, Kurt’s large expressive canvases typically reflect a concern with a sense of place, natural history, ecology and environmental issues.
Talking to the audience gathered at King Edward’s, Kurt described how his background in zoology continues to influence his work, with his newest exhibition in London focusing on the fauna of Cornwall.
He explained that before starting on a landscape, he will research the geology, fauna and history of the area, for instance recently walking the length of the River Avon from source to Avonmouth, observing the habitat.
As Mr Pell, Head of Art & Photography at KES observed: “Kurt’s work has a solid intellectual content, as well as looking beautiful.”
After finishing his talk, Kurt toured the School’s New Horizons Art & Photography show and spoke with some of the pupils exhibiting their work.
As part of this year’s show, the School selected ten budding artists’ work and made them available to buy as prints.
A highly popular event, the New Horizons exhibition was attended by parents and friends of KES, as well as wider members of Bath’s art community including Bridget Sterling of Bath Contemporary Gallery, Hetty Dupays from Art at the Heart of the RUH, Jenny Pollitt from Lane House Arts, Katie O’Brien of 44AD and Daniel Allen, Head of Art and International Activities at the Bath School of Art and Design, Bath Spa University.
One of the paintings on display was by recent Year 13 pupil Callum Aitken, who completed his studies in the summer.
As part of his A Level Art course work, Callum chose to produce a study of his grandparents. The School was delighted to welcome Callum back to view his work on show and was equally delighted that he was accompanied by his grandparents, Audrey and Cairns Aitken, there to see the painting for themselves.
Mr Aitken declared he was delighted by Callum’s work and had captured their mannerisms perfectly.
There is a strong tradition among KES Art pupils to go on to study Art Foundation or Architecture courses, with recent destinations including the University of Bournemouth, City of Bath College, Falmouth University and the University of the Arts London.
