The Art Department's focus is to encourage each girl to express themselves creatively, to be bold and innovative and to create exciting and dynamic creations in a variety of media.
We love challenging every individual to explore with confidence and without fear, to push their boundaries and enjoy creating work that inspires them. We embrace a culture of investigation and reflection that accommodates imaginative and original thought and opens the doors to personal expression and exploration.
Curriculum
From the start of Year 7 girls experiment with a wide range of materials through a carousel of drawing and painting, textiles, sculpture and printmaking. Every pupil studies Art until the end of the Year 9.
We offer both Fine Art and Textiles at GCSE and provide three different choices of Art & Design at A level: Fine Art, Textiles, Photography.
Within our Fine Art GCSE and A Level syllabi the girls develop skills, knowledge and understanding using techniques and processes specific to their chosen areas of study. They have the opportunity to work in a number of different areas of Fine Art including drawing, installation, lens-/light-based media, mixed-media, land art, printing, painting and sculpture. There are lots of opportunities to experiment in their chosen subject and to develop the full range of techniques and skills in their field. Girls also study critical and contextual sources, such as the work of historical and contemporary fine artists and the different purposes, intentions and functions of fine art within their area of work. Every girl works on a portfolio of coursework material as well as the examination pro.
Inside the Classroom
Art pupils at St George’s enjoy the use of three spacious and well resourced art rooms, a sculpture and painting room complete with kiln, a photography department with darkroom and digital imaging and a textiles department with plenty of sewing machines. Art pupils can access the art rooms during their free periods as well as after school and receive expert technical advice from our art staff.
Extension and Stretch
Life drawing and supervised weekly prep sessions are offered to our GCSE and A Level pupils. This support is given by experienced teachers, providing expertise and inspiration to help them with their ongoing projects.
Beyond the classroom
Every girl has the opportunity to visit contemporary exhibitions during the year. We also arrange for visiting artists to run workshops.
Our connection with the local community remains a priority and a highlight; our artwork regularly decorates Ascot train station and we continue to enjoy working with other local schools on a number of different local projects. As well as our annual Christmas Card Design Competition, the girls often enter their art into the Royal Ascot Art Competition, the Young Artists' Summer Show for the Royal Academy and have frequently won awards in different categories. We have taken part in the Lions of Windsor sculpture trail, where some of the girls enjoyed the opportunity to decorate a large fibreglass lion cub. This project led to our collaborative initiative for the St George's dragon sculpture, which looks over the grounds of the School.
Many of our artists continue their artistic further education on an Art Foundation course or degree. We have enjoyed frequent success at entry to London’s leading art colleges such as Central St Martins and Chelsea College of Art. The Arts opens the door to Fine Art, Photography and Textiles; often studied in combination. Many pupils go on to university or prestigious Art and Design colleges, leading to exciting creative careers in fashion, animation, film, video game design, architecture, graphic design, curating and illustration. Art develops highly valued transferable skills; creativity, visual communication, problem-solving and independent thinking, supporting future pathways in the creative industries, media, marketing, education, galleries and museums.
Alumnae have gone on to successful careers worldwide and frequently return to the School to share their expertise, inspiring our current girls during our SGA Futures careers events and workshops.