Mrs Lugsden (Head of Art and Textiles)

On Tuesday, Year 11 Fine Artists had the opportunity to become fully immersed in the work of Post-Impressionist artist Paul Cézanne on a one-day workshop, to replace a planned Art Trip which had to be postponed due to current restrictions. A French artist, Cezanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism.

During the morning, the artists spent time researching his life and works, and then were able to begin visual responses, exploring his distinctive painting technique. They developed a clear knowledge of his work, and their practical responses were of super quality, building strong evidence for their coursework.

A highlight was definitely the Cézanne exhibition and shop, set up in the computer room, where images of his work were on display, and girls could pick up badges, postcards, bookmarks and even Cézanne inspired cupcakes, baked by our talented Green Kitchen chefs! It was a wonderful day!

Ellie Douglas (Year 11) added: “Due to COVID-19, our usual trip to the Tate Modern was cancelled, but the art department still created an amazing day that we all enjoyed. Our art day was mainly focused on Paul Cézanne, a revolutionary artist of the post-impressionist era. We first of all learnt new, developed techniques to analyse art and learnt how to write about context of an artist.

“Our teachers were kind enough to make a miniature gift shop, filled with badges, postcards and pictures of paintings created by Cézanne, and at break we were given incredible cupcakes, with bright icing matching the mini paintings on edible paper on top. After some more writing, our class was desperate to start painting, and we spent the rest of the day replicating the complicated marks and perspectives of Cézanne. It was an amazing experience, and definitely a fun break from our other lessons.”

View photos from the workshop here.