Resist: Things Artists Do When Learning To Teach

This April, Freelands Foundation will present ‘Resist – Things Artists do Whilst Learning to Teach’, an exhibition that brings together the results of its fourth collaborative project with artist teachers from the Art & Design PGCE course at UCL, Institute of Education (IoE). This exhibition, and an accompanying publication, capture the insights and ideas of artists at the start of their careers in schools.

The title of the show, ‘Resist – Things Artists do Whilst Learning to Teach’, was born out of conversations that took place between the artists and Freelands Foundation, when the content of the exhibition was brought together. The title is consciously assertive and reflects a feeling amongst the artists of entering teaching at a challenging time, as the value of artistic practices and expression are being questioned as an academic form.

The project, and concluding exhibition at the Foundation, explores how artist teachers continue to produce their own work, while balancing the demands of life in schools. ‘Resist’ will address the rich tradition of great artists making great teachers and anecdotes about how all-consuming working in schools can become, with the difficulty of maintaining any sort of practice alongside teaching.

Following the completion of teaching placements in secondary schools across Greater London, individuals were invited to reflect on this time, their position as artists in schools, investigating their new context, and make an artwork in response to the situation.

For some of the 27 artists included in ‘Resist’, this has meant continuing an established practice, but focusing on a new subject, while in others, the shock of the school environment has generated new ways of working.

In the artworks of Alice Kemp and John Fitzgerald, the presence of the school and students is very much evident, picturing classrooms, lessons and painterly sinks.

In contrast, pieces by Ellie Northway and Sophie Ormerod take a more abstract approach, while still maintaining an element of connection to teaching through form and style. Ormerod invites the viewer to conjure their own mental picture through printed words, evoking colourful, vivid memories of art classes.

Notes to Editors:

About Freelands Foundation

Freelands Foundation was set up by Elisabeth Murdoch in 2015 and is run by Managing Director, Melanie Cassoff and Creative Director, Henry Ward. The Foundation’s mission is to support artists and cultural institutions, to broaden audiences for the visual arts and to enable all young people to engage actively with the creation and enjoyment of art. Critical research plays a vital role throughout the Foundation, being able to articulate the value that art and culture bring to society, creating positive interventions and support structures in order to provoke change and new ways of thinking and learning.

The Freelands Foundation’s first physical building at 113 Regents Park Road, which opened in early 2018, acts as an incubator
for new ideas and thoughtful conversations between artists,
teachers, students, writers and creative professionals.

Previous exhibitions include: Brink, a presentation of work made by PGCE students at The Institute of Education exploring creative practice in arts education; Look, a group exhibition bringing together eight recent graduates from UK art schools; Moving Rocks, a collaborative project between artist Ruth Proctor and Acland Burghley School, Repeat Repeat, an exhibition exploring routine featuring, among others, the painter Peter Dreher and the late Susan Hiller, most recently, Fault Lines, which bought together four UK-based artists working in the realm of sculpture; Angela de la Cruz, Alice Channer, Jonathan Baldock and Holly Hendry. Fault Lines comprises predominantly recent work, alongside a 2002 piece by Angela de la Cruz, which was featured in her 2010 Turner Prize exhibition.

Elisabeth Murdoch was appointed a National Council Member of
the Arts Council England in November 2017, running until November 2021. She was formerly a Tate Trustee between 2008 to 2016, and Chairman of the Tate Modern Advisory Council between 2009 to 2016.