Wealden Times | WT183 | May 2017 | Restoration & New Build supplement inside

Nina
Year 13, ArtsEd Chiswick
Why did you decide to study drama? Drama was my way
of expressing myself. It allowed me to be a creative and an
open-minded person. I also loved watching people on TV and
on the stage when I was a child and just fell in love with it.
What creative facilities do you have at your school/
college? We have music, dance and black box studios. We
also have a gorgeous theatre, which is used for the music
concerts, the dance show and acting performance.
do you participate in drama outside the classroom?
On Saturdays I am a teaching assistant at my local
Stagecoach and we teach 4-6 year olds three disciplines -
singing, dancing and acting - for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
I am very fortunate to have this as my part-time job.
Would you like a career in drama?
Will you study it at a higher level? Yes
definitely 100%! I am taking a foundation
course in Acting starting in September
after finishing my Extended Diploma
in Acting and in the future hopefully
moving on to train for my degree.
Education
do you study
any other creative subjects?
I also love to sing and have had singing lessons since
I was little. I also have a YouTube channel in which
I post beauty and lifestyle vlogs every week.
ArtsEd Independent Day School & Sixth Form combines
an academic education with performing arts training in
Chiswick, West London. 020 8987 6666 artsed.co.uk
What the teachers say:
Emma Delpech
Art Teacher, Sevenoaks School
Why art? Art is my passion. From the youngest age my family
would draw together, with new sketch books every school
holiday. I remember the sense of fulfilment playing drawing
games with my dad. Of being in love with the feeling of moving
materials around and of creating. I would knit, sew, paint, draw,
sculpt, cast, photograph, print; all the time feeling like I wanted
to share it with everyone. Hence I became a teacher. I now aim
to bring some of that love of all things artistic to my students.
Who’s your favourite artist? That changes on a daily basis.
I am always open to inspiration and to learning new skills. I
am a huge fan of a wide range of artists including: Gormley,
Moore, Goldsworthy, Klimt, Auerbach, Frankenthaler,
Cragg, Bourgeois, Mueck, and Basquiat. They all inspire
me on so many levels. But a walk around any gallery fills
me (and my sketch book) with new ideas and reflections.
How do you keep your students inspired? I think it is
important for students to feel that they have some control in
what they do – that they can work from their own intuition
and build a project that has a language with which they
are fluent. Working with a wide range of materials is key
as so many students feel limited by one element of being
creative, whilst there are infinite pathways they can explore.
I also work with my students at times: they see my passion
and engage in conversation about creativity. We bounce
ideas around and leave conversations mutually inspired.
What are you currently working on with your students?
My students study Art on the Sevenoaks Certificate which
replaced the GCSE. This promotes huge independence and
allows for a smooth transition into the IB course which they
would study in the Sixth Form. They may start with the
word ‘Impact’ or a word that can have broad interpretation.
Contextually they do plenty of independent research and
find a path which suits them. This means that at any one
time, all of my students will be working on totally unique
and diverse projects utilising the full range of department
facilities: sculpture, ceramics, installation, paint, print,
photography and digital media. There are almost no limits
and we encourage them to be as ambitious as possible.
do they get the opportunity to go on field trips? We
take trips to London, Paris and New York at different age
ranges. Students are encouraged to go to galleries whenever
they are able to. We also bring exhibitions to the school and
recently had an exhibition at Sevenoaks School with the
title ‘Making It’ consisting of former students exhibiting
their work. This included many notable artists such as
Andrew Burton, Thomas Heatherwick, Emma Hope and
our own Oliver Barratt. This gave our current students
insight into some of the potential directions for creatives.
Sevenoaks School is a co-educational independent
day and boarding school for 11-18 year olds in
Kent. 01732 455133 sevenoaksschool.org
171 wealdentimes.co.uk