Before half-term, Mrs Elden-Ford and I took our Year 11 Art students to Tate Britain. We looked at works in the gallery’s permanent collection and also saw Fly In League With The Night – a special exhibition of the work of contemporary British painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. This award-winning artist is a figurative painter, but she doesn’t just work from life as, say, a portrait painter might do. She explains, “I work from scrapbooks, I work from images I collect, I work from life a little, I seek out the imagery I need. I take photos. All of that is then composed on the canvas.” Her paintings are intriguing, moving, playful and striking. Yiadom-Boakye’s work was new to all of us, and I think we all became big fans after seeing her show.
Being at the gallery was also a brilliant opportunity to see some of the great works in Tate Britain’s main collection. We all found the day really enjoyable and inspiring; the students certainly truly engaged with the artworks they looked at and produced some excellent drawings in the process.
Ian Russell, Head of Art & Design
