The Open Studio

I spent some fifteen or so years working at the University of Derby. I joined it a few years after it pulled off the remarkable feat of going from a College to a University sparking the gap as it were of Polytechnic status. Just over twelve months after I arrived (ostensibly as a short term contract of three months)I became the 'Acting' Dean of the (then) School of Art & Design. Six months later I was given the job for real. The first two years were tough but luckily I was aided and abetted by a really good bunch and we revalidated every course, survived three inspections and 'steadied' a badly listing ship. For a few years we were able to re-establish something that approximated a 'proper' Art School...no mean feat in a University. Of course there came a reorganisation in which we became a Faculty, with the Engineering School tacked on to us along with the Humanities courses (it might have been more ridiculous - the first plan was to amalgamate Art & Design with Health, that their Dean wittily suggested was because "they made the drugs and we took 'em").

One of the things that was a lot of fun though was The Open Studio - that we set up as a result of the research funding we were given after the 2001 RAE (Research Assessment Exercise. It enabled the School to support a number of exhibitions, inviting in artists from outside and enriching the student experience. The establishment of the Studio was accompanied by work by Peter Finnemore.

Over the years many artists mounted shows of their work. Inevitably given the School's long time excellence in Photography quite a few were included, some Masters and PhD students, others with no previous connections to the place. But the painters amongst us managed to include some shows too...

Above a canvas by Thomas Hylander, a recent Royal College graduate, below a painting on board by Sarah R Key, a previous graduate from Derby with a body of work that constituted part of her PhD submission at Loughborough University.