Gray’s School of Art Visit 

Aspiring artists, knowledgeable lecturers, and reminiscent teachers – all gathered in one room amongst some of the finest art created by first year university students. The Gray’s School of Art visit was a unique opportunity for young and creative minds to discover their potential path and view first-hand what university life could be like studying art.

Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen visited Elgin Academy on the 7th of February, providing advice and resources for students seeking help on effective folios, the ability to find out about different courses and facilities offered, as well as ultimately being able to discover different pieces of work and explore the many career options that interest certain individuals.

There was an immense collection of diverse pieces from students at the university, experimenting with style, mediums, techniques, and much more, providing an insightful contrast to art at our school, as the university understandably has more options for resources and materials than most schools will have. This also illustrates the level of creative freedom that university students have with their art, as students are free to explore and develop their own style beyond expectations, whilst also improving their technical skills in multiple areas of art and design.

An exciting and eye-opening video was also shared, showing an annual assignment with themes that change slightly with each year. The task included creating huge cubes using cardboard boxes in groups, and each group’s cube would have a different theme. Once the cubes are put together in the middle of the room, students are given the opportunity to use their imagination and creativity to draw the boxes over the span of a week, adding more and more things to their artwork as boxes fell or crumpled, as people came and left, and as random objects would make their way into the room. By capturing so much movement over a long period of time into just one piece of art, it is evident to see that there are many productive methods to create special pieces of work within the university.

A discussion with Erin, S5, who attended the event, continued to highlight the value of this visit. “It was really interesting and inspiring to see all of the different styles and how the artists had used different techniques such as painting from different angles and using lots of unusual media.”

“There were a lot more different styles of art shown from the university than I’ve been using in school and there seemed to be a lot of opportunity for the artists to choose what they wanted to create.”

Taking art further proves to have its perks, with a much higher level of artistic liberty and the ability to produce what you desire.

Erin continued to highlight the diversity and range of artwork and freedom. “The experience gave me more of an idea of how much freedom artists have to paint exactly what they want.”

Undoubtedly, this visit was a great way for pupils to see what they could be capable of, should they decide to take art to a further level. The vast number of different artworks, the exciting possibilities, and the potentials of studying art have ultimately sparked fascination among the artistic community of Elgin Academy!