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Edmund de Waal opens the King Street Studios Director of Art Peter Cordeaux describes the opening of the new pottery and photography facilities in King Street
I
F THE HEADMASTER HAD ASKED me at interview what were the two most important development issues for the Art Department at King’s, I would have told him we needed to relocate the Pottery to be adjacent to Blackfriars and we needed to improve the Photography facilities. I am very lucky that the Governors also realised this was a priority and on 3 November the new King Street Studios were officially opened.
which is geographically separate from the rest of the Department but now pupils and staff can buzz between the two buildings, making full use of the three-dimensional workshops and photographic facilities. The pupils produced new artwork for the opening of the building, including paintings by the Sixth Form on the theme of ‘transformation’. The building was for many years the Prince of Wales public house, and the name of the local brewer
This site, on the corner of King Street and St Alphege Lane, houses the ceramic studio, with plaster and sculpture area and kiln room, and a fully equipped photography studio, with digital suite and film processing and dark room facilities. It was an important day for the Department as the enhancement of the facilities we have to offer our pupils will make a real difference not only to their artwork but also to the atmosphere within the department. No longer is the ceramics work produced in a satellite building
Rigden can still be seen in the windows – there were Rigdens at the King’s School in the eighteenth century. More recently it was used as a lap-dancing club. (The neighbours are, on the whole, grateful to the School for this tasteful conversion.) The Headmaster’s speech hinted at the history of the site but like so many of the School’s historic buildings we let them evolve to remain fit for purpose. The Art
“the power of being deeply moved by the presence of beautiful objects”
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