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September 16, 2005
The rough and rocky road to art school
“But I can’t even draw a glass of water,” I said.
Mrs Robinson, my art teacher, had suggested I go to art college. “Art College – Me?” She smiled the knowing smile of an Art Teacher and pointed out that a glass of water was in fact a tricky thing to draw.
Grinder, pencil, 1973
I eventually ended up at Liverpool College of Art where I chose film and animation as my subject, primarily because it was taught by Ray Fields. Ray Fields was a truly inspirational tutor, who taught me that, as a visual person, I should be able to attempt anything from typography and illustration to portraiture. He didn’t limit his tutorials to film and animation – though he was passionate about these, and about colour, which he always pronounced “cal-er”. He said: bring me your paintings, bring me your sculpture, bring me your poems, bring me the Head of Alfredo Ga… [enough, Ed]. Bring your work to me in wheelbarrows.
His big thing, apart from colour, was DOING IT. “Less talk more DO”, he would say, marching into the studio on a morning; and proceed to talk for an hour. But he was so passionate about art that we listened like a parcel on Christmas Eve: rapt.
Posted by john at September 16, 2005 05:28 PM