GRAY'S SCHOOL OF ART

'Gray's School of Art' is an art school located in Aberdeen, Scotland, presently - since 1966 - in the Garthdee grounds of the Robert Gordon University.
Gray's was inaugurated in 1885 as the Gray's School of Science and Art, with its name a nod towards that of its founding father, sometime local businessman, pillar of the free church and community philanthropist John Gray (1811-1891). The original site, at Schoolhill, permitted the fine art buildings visual coherence with the neighbouring art gallery, as was Gray's wish.
The art school's subsequent befriending of the Garthdee Estate, then two miles out of Aberdeen, heralded a movement in that direction by the closely allied Robert Gordon Institute of Technology, of which Gray's was, and still is, a constituent - prior to its elevation to university status in 1992.
'Garthdee Campus'
In the mid sixties, the School was relocated to the Garthdee Estate to a function-built Modernist building which marked the beginning of RGIT's redevelopment of Garthdee. The School has three floors and designed in a U formation with the large front facade and two wings.
The ground floor on the main facade houses the Printmaking Studios and workshops as well as administrative offices, a Mac-filled Computer Lab, photocopiers and Textile Printing workshops. The East wing houses a Photographic Studio, The School Art Shop, Refectory and The large First Year Hall. The West Wing is a near identical Inversion of the East, although this side houses Ceramics, Jewellery and 3D Design workshops as well as Life Model changing rooms and two Large Open-Plan Sculpture Studios.
The Wings only have one floor, however underneath the Sculpture and First Year Studios built into the hill on which the school stands, are two general wood and metalwork workshops.
The First Floor houses Second and Third Year Painting Studios, Visual Communication studios, Textiles Studios, Life Drawing Rooms and The Head of School's Office in the East and the Printmaking Staff Room in the West.
The Smaller Second Floor until recently exclusivelly housed the Fourth Year Painting Studios, however in the last two years two rooms have been lost to the new PEM course (Photography and Electronic Media.)
In the early nineties "Temporary" Portacabins were put in place to house the growing number of students, they still stand today housing 3D Design Studios, Design For Industry Studios, Critical and Contextual Studies, and the MFA Programme Studios.
In the centre of the school is a grassy quadrangle with seating, and two ponds. In warmer weather the quad is used as a lunchtime hangout for the students.
The School is earmarked for a massive renovation which wi
'Areas of Study'
Grays teaches a wide range of Fine Art and Design Subjects. It employs a General First Year where students get a taster of each subject area before choosing which area they want to specialise in from Second to Fourth (Honours) Year.
Subject Areas:
Fine Art:
Sculpture
Printmaking (The only stand-alone printmaking course out of the four Scottish Art Schools)
Painting
PEM (Photography and Electronic Media.)
Design and Craft:
Visual Communication
3D Design
Textile and Surface Design
'Degree Show'
Grays, along with tradition of Art Schools, holds an Annual Degree Exhibition which gives the Students a cance to culminate their years of study with a Public exhibition to show their work. The Show always runs head to head with the Glasgow School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art Degree Shows.
The degree show this year is held from Friday 15th June until Saturday 23rd June from 10am until 6pm.
'Community'
The small size of Grays gives rise to a strong community and social network between current students and alumni, Grays being a strong force in the Aberdeen Visual Arts Scene, the General First Year allows students of each year to get to know each other and maintain friendships across disciplines as they move through the school.
Gray's is often perceived as the "Underdog" of the Four Scottish Art Schools, which drives it's students to work hard to prove themselves and take a great deal of pride in their Art School. Every year at the Royal Scottish Academy Student exhibition Grays Students make T-Shirts to symbolise their affinity with the school.
T-Shirt slogans to date have been:
2003: Grays Pride
2004: Grays Matter
2005: Bona Fide
2006: By The Power of Gray's School

Contents

Notable alumni

External links

Notable alumni

★ Josephine Broekhuizen, artist

★ Robert Brough, painter

★ Joe Edwards, painter of rural life

★ Callum Innes, Turner Prize nominated painter

★ Donnie Munro, Scottish musician

★ David Blyth, Sculptor, Huntly Artist in Residence

★ George Collier (artist) (b. 1973), Scottish painter, represented in the collection of Aberdeen Art Gallery

External links

★ Gray's School of Art