Chenderit School celebrates its 40th anniversary with an alumni exhibition
This week 40 years ago, Chenderit School welcomed students for the very first time and the School has planned numerous activities to celebrate this milestone anniversary. One of these is an exhibition entitled ‘Forty Years On: A Celebration of Chenderit Art and Design Alumni 1979-2019’, supported by the Friends of the Heseltine Gallery. Exhibits will be the current work in all media by former Chenderit students.
The school has a long tradition of promoting excellence in the visual arts and has taught and inspired generations of young artists and designers, many of whom have gone on to make outstanding careers in a wide range of creative fields. The exhibition commemorates not only the school’s 40th anniversary, but features the work of former students who have gone on to build careers as artists, architects and illustrators, in advertising, marketing communications and commercial design, and as fashion, jewellery and furniture designers.
“An arts education is an essential element of every child’s education and every child could achieve a GCSE pass.”
The exhibition will take place in the school’s purpose-built Heseltine Gallery and is expected to include works by jewellery designer Lucy Sylvester and painter Nathan MacDougall amongst around 75 past students. It has been organised by the Friends of the Heseltine Gallery.
John Childs, former Head of Art & Design at Chenderit, has curated the show. He said: “Forty years of memorable students who went on with their art studies seemed an opportunity for one last show. I have had a good go at contacting a wide range of former pupils, creating an exciting show.”
Childs started at Chenderit with the purpose of creating an outstanding department, based on the belief that an arts education was an essential element of every child's education and that every child could achieve a GCSE pass. His own training was as a painter, a ceramicist and textile printmaker. Following 37 years at the school, his career has seen him become GCSE assistant chief examiner and president of The National Society for Education in Art and Design.
The exhibition will be open from Monday 9 September until Friday 18 October during school hours as well as dedicated weekend openings, which will include some special events organised by the Friends of the Heseltine Gallery:
A Private View for the featured artists and the Friends of the Gallery, to be opened by Victoria Prentis, MP for North Oxfordshire, on Saturday 7 September.
Forty Years of Chenderit School: A Celebration of Memories, which will take place on Saturday 14 September 12noon-3pm, especially for alumni and the local community. The event will encourage former students to share their memories of Chenderit School with staff and current students.
Visitors will get the chance to hear John Childs talk about his long career at Chenderit in a ‘Meet the Curator’ event on Sunday 6 October at 2pm.
The Heseltine Gallery is supported by South Northamptonshire Council and weekend openings for the exhibition are sponsored by Town and Country Plumbing and Heating Ltd and by CJ Charles and Sons Ltd.
Do come and celebrate with us at the Heseltine Gallery!