Last week our Fine Art students visited both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery seeking inspiration for their Personal Investigation coursework projects. It was a fabulous day and the students made the most of the opportunity to photograph and discuss the work of old masters such as Rubens, Turner and Manet.  In the portrait gallery many students were inspired by the new room of immense square-formatted portraits by the contemporary artist Colin Davidson. Our  'Masterclass' graduates were thrilled to see one of Sean Henry's small figurative sculptures standing in front of huge projected photographs of celebrities such as Marcus Rashford. These students were well acquainted with Henry's work from their visit to the art stores of the Lightbox Gallery in Surrey last year where they had been given an exclusive tour by the curator.

Meanwhile our Textiles students visited the Tate Modern to gather ideas for their projects and were mesmerised by the current display in the Turbine Hall by the Chilean artist and poet Cecilia Vicuña. Another favourite was Bob and Roberta Smith's Thamesmead Codex installation of texts and phrases from the local community. The students were interested to see that the artists were using many of the same materials, processes and techniques that they have been experimenting with themselves at school.