Sea Change by M.J.Mott

Oil/Mixed media on board 23″ x 19″

Continuing in our look back at the art and poetry exhibition, ‘A Brush with Words’, here is Sea Change which inspired the poem ‘Where the Dark Is Rising’ by Rita Carter and ‘Magic island’ by Trevor Innes

Where the Dark Is Rising
(for Sea Change)

Dynamo
ringed in the fish-eye
diver’s head
coal black
neophyte

Where the dark is rising

thought-fishes dart
a scion into a cloud burst
embryo tree

Rita Carter

Magic island
(for Sea Change)

A joining axis wheel,
china blue on white,
beneath the green tree
makes a path scross the sea

Where three fish swim
through a dark-eyed moon.
something holds this
all together, more

than a Norse dream. The tree
is placed in a cloud. The dark
sky recedes around.
Ferdinand is buried somewhere.

He’ll return to find love
and his father on an island where the tree
holds no monster but a wheel.
Happy endings can be found.

Trevor Innes

bird & davis ltd

45 Holmes Road, Kentish Town, London NW5 3AN

t: 020 7485 3797 f: 020 284 0509 w: www.birdanddavis.co.uk e: birdltd@aol.com

Also in School’s shop, term-time 10 am to 11 30 am

By Eric Seeley, ‘Brief Parting’ oil painting

Continuing in our look back at the art and poetry exhibition,
A Brush with Words, here is Brief Parting, by Eric Seeley and Tricia Torrington.

In Praise of Blue
(For a Brief Parting)

Because there was a blue heat
Sweating our bodies to slow burn
Because there was a pure moon
Edging the sun to a swift end
Because there was a wide bay
gritting its teeth to our soft skin
Shadows enveloped us
So that we hid ourselves
Now the hills will neve be too high again
And loose limbed beaches never
So stretched, tanned, warm again,
We had seven blue days
because it was a week where we lost time
I will always lose time remembering…
Tricia Torrington

The Cast Corridor 1887 ‘Passing the Long rest’ from the Magazine of Art 1887

Rita Carter would like to thank those of you who have already responded with reminiscences for the book titled ‘ An intimate Portrait of the RA Schools’. We are gradually receiving some very interesting pieces from members and also evocative photographs. Please keep these coming. Your stories might seem unremarkable to you but each one forms a part of the era in which you studied at the Schools and adds depth to the picture as a whole. Some of the letters have been brief but heart-felt; you do not have to write pages and pages. However if you want to make a contribution but feel stuck here are some suggestions to get you started:

1. Recollections of your first day and first term.
2. Surroundings; interior & exterior impressions of the building.
3. Names of Keeper, Curator, tutors and students.
4. Photographs/portrait drawings etc of yourself or others as they were then.
5. Any visual records of what the studios and their contents looked like.
6. Teaching style and methods in contrast with previous teaching.
7. Typical sights and sounds experienced on a daily basis; timetable, routine etc.
8. Significant events; humorous, traumatic, transformative experiences.
9. Attitudes to smoking, drinking, musical trends, fashion etc.
10. Artworks by yourself or other students that trigger associations or significant ideas.

Email: atir_49@yahoo.co.u

Many thanks to Paul Bartlett for his help and advice.

Sally Scott, ‘Icarus’ Sandblasted and Engraved Flash Glass Disc
22″ diameter; slate base 7″ x 27″

Continuing in our look back at the art and poetry exhibition, A Brush with Words, here is Icarus, by Sally Scott and Tricia Torrington.

Tonight
(for Icarus)

Tonight I would give you a list of things
not to forget…

Keep land in mind, your feet
tipped to the magnetic -

I wish it was tonight we could become
extraordinary

for the sky is bright enough with all
its winking heroes

Orion, Perseus, the shield of Achilleus -
and the Wain,

keep that in mind, that group of stars
that turns always

on the same point, the only ones that never bathe
in the sea -

Tonight I would have you remember Homer’s
“weariless sun”,

It is love that attracts us like moths.
But how it burns.

Tricia Torrington

Annie Hudson ‘Langdale’ oil 5″ x 16″

In October 2005, the Border Poets, a group of poets in the Shropshire area led by Roger Garfitt, together with members of the Royal Academy Schools Alumni (RASA) collaborated to produce an exhibition of poetry and art. The exhibition A Brush with Words, curated by Michael Sangster, took place at Martin’s Gallery in Cheltenham during the literary festival. We will be displaying some of the images and poems on this page over the next few months.

To srart the series, here is The Langdale by Amanda Attfield and Annie Hudson.

Dinosaur Eye (The Langdale) Amanda Attfield

You had the small box held up to your eyes,
I said What can you see? I wanted to be
lifted up so I could see, I wanted to see.
I wanted to see. I could hear it. Like breathing,
like when snow fell on dry leaves
in the woods at the back of our house,
where I wasn’t to go unless someone could
see me, or hear them call me, because
of that boy who went there and was
found crumpled up under a hedge.
The bridge had a V shape in it. You
could stand in and not get knocked by the traffic.
When I was older, I would make a rule
that all walls must have steps, and all bridges
must be of glass so I could see over, under,
through and down to where the breathing was.
She lifted me up. She gave me the small box
to look through. There was its one eye, and
the crag that was its head. A nose must be
somewhere for the breathing and feet, and
a tail, planted in the body of the hill
ready to burst out, and trample the bridge to pieces.
Ready for me to make it better, make it glass.

The 2008 Premium prize winner was Barbara Wolff. Here is an excerpt from a conversation I had with her about her work. There will be more of this in the RASA newsletter which will come out shortly.

Gloria: How shall we start? May be I should say why I like your work… I liked your work because strangely enough, I don’t know if it means anything to you, they reminded me of Renaissance paintings like Titian or Veronese somebody like that, exotic and that was my main feeling; but they’re quite mystical aren’t they?

Barbara: Yes I think they are. They start off from quite a scientific point I think because I am very interested in the patterns of nature and how the microcosm has got similar patterns to the macrocosm like for example here we can see the star formations are in the carpet, and it’s got similar patterns to the coral formations on the top of it. Also on this piece (a hanging basket) I am working on branching systems; it’s based on Fibonacci and the Golden Section.

Gloria: Which is renaissance?

Barbara: Yes and I’m very fascinated by renaissance paintings especially; and I come from a painting background. I used to be a painter but it’s kind of transformed for me…

More images of Barbara’s work can be found in the gallery

We’re using Flickr to provide our online picture gallery. Any work shown on our site can also be found on our Flickr page (www.flickr.com/photos/rasalumni/). We’re hoping this will draw a lot of attention from the people who visit Flickr every day.

We welcome  those who are studying in the Royal Academy Schools at present (including ex graduates who left up to 18 months ago), so if you’d like us to include your work let us know ; you will find information on how to submit up to 3 images on the membership page.