Leicester School of Art
John Beck and Matthew Cornford
The Art Schools of the Midlands
April 26th – June 15th 2025
The twin Victorian engines of industrial ambition and social reform powered the British art school system, which developed by the end of the nineteenth century into a complex nationwide network of institutions. Art schools could produce skilled workers and cultivate citizens, it was argued, at once raising the quality of British design and manufacturing and ameliorating the often harsh working conditions of factory labour through the cultivation of taste. When towns across the North and Midlands constructed their civic architecture, alongside the grand town halls they build libraries, galleries, museums, technical and art schools.
By the mid-1960s there were still over 150 art schools in the UK and ‘art school’ had become shorthand for creative innovation across the arts, design, music and advertising. Yet at the peak of their influence on British cultural life, art schools in many towns and cities were already being amalgamated, reorganised and rebranded as part of a drive to reshape education in the arts. Most art schools have long since been absorbed into larger institutions, many of the buildings repurposed or demolished.
This exhibition focuses on the impressive number of art schools located in the Midlands and features original photographic images of all 48 sites from across the region, from Hereford to Boston, Chesterfield to Northampton. Celebrating a key aspect of the civic, industrial and architectural history of the region since the mid-nineteenth century, the photographs are also an investigation of the present, recording the sites of former art schools and their current circumstances.
John Beck and Matthew Cornford have been researching the history and legacies of British art schools for fifteen years. Their work has been exhibited at, among other venues, Liverpool Bluecoat, Bury Art Museum, Rochdale Touchstones, the New Art Gallery Walsall, Bonington Gallery Nottingham, and Martin Hall Gallery Loughborough. John Beck teaches literature and visual culture at the University of Westminster (incorporating what was once Harrow School of Art), and Matthew Cornford teaches fine art the University of Brighton (formerly Brighton School of Art).
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To celebrate the launch of The Art School Project The Gavin Bryars Ensemble will play their first concert in Leicester in more than 25 years. for further information and tickets follow the link below
Gavin Bryers Ensemble
Jesus’ Blood at its source, and earlier work
St Mary de Castro, Leicester.
Saturday 03 May 2025
The Gavin Bryars Ensemble Tickets | Saturday, 03 May 2025 at 6:00 PM