Bringing it all back home
A new exhibition reunites 36 people who were students of tutors at Newport College of Art 40 years ago, writes Jenny White
AFEW years ago, Neil Carroll, who studied at Newport College of Art in the late 1970s, decided it would be a good idea to track down the members of his former year group and invite them to join an exhibition of work past and present.
Now, after delays due to Covid, the exhibition is about to launch at Newport Museum and Art Gallery. There are 36 exhibitors in total with work ranging from animation to sculpture. The majority of them graduated in 1980.
Titled Forty Years On, the show explores how art school training and experience at Newport has enriched their lives over these past 40 years, leading them in many different directions.
Each exhibitor submitted a piece of work that represents what they are about, what they have done, and what they are still doing with their lives.
“I have aways been fascinated by the brilliant UP series of documentaries by Michael Apted and Paul Almond that follow the lives of a group of individuals from the age of seven upwards, so there’s a positive influence from that in my project,” says Neil.
“The initial idea I had, was how an art school experience enriches lives, and that our time at Newport was so very special that I should try and find out how my former peers have got on and how their lives have been. I thought it would be valuable to put this over and bring it to wider public attention.”
The major challenge of the project was tracking down the former students.
“If we think back to our school, college and uni days most people head off in all manner of directions and pursue their lives in all parts of the world too. That’s the interesting bit really,” he says.
“I have kept in touch with a number of my college contemporaries and have always invited them to the openings of exhibitions held over the last four decades.”
He also developed a Newport College of Art page on social media which has provided a forum, a meeting place and a platform for former students.
“It has helped to contact individuals and draw interest for my project idea,” he says.
Some of his year group were not traceable, some had died and some did not want to take part in the exhibition. However, he was delighted to get a positive response from many former students, and to be able to include some former tutors too.
These include writer Gillian Clarke, who was the National Poet of Wales from 2008 to 2016 and world-famous sculptor David Petersen who worked on the set for the epic movie 2001 A Space Odyssey and created the dragon memorial at Mametz Wood, as well as the one that tops the National Museum building in Cardiff.
“Also included is professor Gerda Roper, who is one of our finest painters here in Wales and also a very distinguished art educationalist,” says Neil.
“Our tutors made a massive impact on us and gave us our guidance to pursue our lives. For example, poet Gillian Clarke reached many students across the departments in a very meaningful way. It is important to me to include a representative collection of our tutors which will hopefully convey the diversity and quality of our educators.
“Sadly since I started this project in 2017, two of the tutors involved in it have passed away – Terry Ilott in 2019 and Philip Muirden in 2023, and there will be tributes to both within the exhibition.”
Among the former students is animator Graham Bebbington, who went on to work on the animation series Superted and has been a special effects artist on many well-known movies. He also worked on the 1982 film The Snowman and in 2012 The Snowman and The Snowdog.
Cathy Cooper is an award-winning travel photographer who has taken her cameras trekking in the Himalayas, got up close and personal to bears catching salmon in British Columbia, kayaked in the Arctic Ocean and flown along glaciers in The Yukon. Cathy has a palpable love and passion for her subjects and her work has been shown in prestigious London galleries.
Other exhibitors have forged careers outside visual art. Julia Wolton, who has contributed powerful photography to the show, began her career working with young people at The Winchester Project in 1981. After 30 years of being dedicated to helping youngsters in very challenging situations, she became the London Regional Development Manager of the Brathay Trust and led a team of 22 people delivering frontline, targeted, youth-work and a range of gang-intervention programmes across London.
Since February 2012 Julia has been a consultant with Mobilise in London, a social-purpose business created to reshape the relationship between citizens and their public services.
Bari Goddard left college and in London, formed his own band, Knives, was a vocalist with Then Jerico, and toured the world playing major venues. He sang with Jimmy Somerville of The Communards, supported David Bowie in Paris, and appeared in a Madonna video.
He has now returned to visual art and is a successful photographer and filmmaker who has exhibited at The Louvre.
“In many ways the exhibition is more to do with the stories of the people themselves,” notes Neil.
Newport Museum and Art Gallery is a significant choice of venue because it’s where the group had its original degree show in 1980.
“We are very fortunate to be able to stage this show back in exactly the same venue,” says Neil.
“My thanks to Leader of Newport City Council, Councillor Jane Mudd and to Emma Newrick heritage and culture manager as well as Barbara Bartl, Newport Museum and Art Gallery manager, for allowing me to stage this exhibition at their fabulous venue.
“We are all very excited that the exhibition will be opened by Dr Peter Wakelin and we are very
Our tutors made a massive impact on us and gave us our guidance to pursue our lives
hopeful that Gillian Clarke will do a reading of one of her poems too.”
Supporting activities in the pipeline include talks, tours and workshops, and Neil hopes the project and exhibition will reach out to primary and secondary schools, colleges, and the University of South Wales and trigger others to get involved and perhaps put their own exhibitions together.
“It’s important to be able to bring it all back
home too, to where we began at Newport,” he says.
“I really hope that parents, carers and teachers will encourage the youngsters of Newport and the Valleys to go along and to engage with this project, to gain insights into and inspiration from what they see and read in this exhibition. To see how their lives can be enriched by a foundation within a creative activity.”
■ The show opens next Saturday, February 3, and runs until Saturday, June 1.