A warm welcome to the 2009 RCA SHOW One – our exhibition of Fine and Applied Art.

I was at a seminar recently at 11 Downing Street on the American ‘New Deal’, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Artists Project of the mid-1930s, and its possible lessons for the arts and for arts education in Britain during a deep recession. There were presentations about how far-sighted President Franklin D Roosevelt had been, and about the resulting public works created by visual artists – murals, photographic surveys, paintings of social life – at that time. The ensuing discussion focused on the arts as morale boosters, as statements of confidence, as contributions to national reputations at a time when these reputations had/have been severely dented, as employment and as stimulants of the creative economy. The discussion irritated me, though, because it assumed that the public sector for the arts and for arts education in Britain had everything to learn from FDR and the American example, when the real significance of the American example is that it happened at all in the context of minimal public investment in the arts either before or since. Actually, the British system of public funding of both the arts and arts education remains the envy of the world. A ‘mixed economy’ system, rather than all private or all state. We should be less defensive about saying so.

The seminar discussion turned next to public support for the arts and arts education during a recession – and the general view was that support for them was particularly important in difficult times, for all the reasons the ‘New Deal’ was significant in the mid-1930s, and many more besides. One or two people talked about leaky garrets and how art thrives on adversity, and how the recession will purge the excesses of the art scene; you always get that sort of talk, from people who never get to meet artists. But the consensus was that the arts should be encouraged to move centre stage at this time – and especially the up-and-coming generation of artists. The biggest legacies of the WPA Artists Project of the mid-1930s have names such as Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Orson Welles and Walker Evans.

This Introduction is written in very different circumstances from last year’s. I wrote this time last year of a buoyant economy, of RCA graduates entering a world that welcomed them with open arms, of the visitors queuing up to see the work of the College. I’m sure this year’s SHOW One will attract just as many visitors, if not more – but it takes place against a background of deep instability, a completely new experience for students who have graduated over the last decade. Whether their work will reflect this – and whether the practices of the fine and applied artists who are exhibiting in it will be significantly affected – only time will tell. Talent and survival may be the key issues.

One thing remains certain. The College’s annual Shows have in recent years become a major fixture in the calendar of art and design. They are the culmination of our postgraduate students’ studio work and research: a series of individual exhibitions amounting to one big exhibition, a glimpse into the ideas factory of the College itself, an opportunity to open our doors to the public even wider than before, a testing of research ideas and a calling card on behalf of all the talented exhibitors who are in the process of launching themselves into the worlds of fine and applied art.

There has been a lot of discussion about public value lately, discussion which has had extra urgency at a time of diminishing resources. We hope the RCA Shows 2009 will – as ever – contribute, and tangibly, to this discussion. RCA students consistently produce exciting and challenging work, and many will already have achieved recognition in top national and international competitions. We remain committed to nurturing originality, creativity, innovation and professionalism within our walls: the words creativity and innovation have become clichés of public policy in recent years – here, they are real. The SHOW is always a powerful visual demonstration of the latest ideas of students who have studied, researched and practised here, and for all of us it is the highlight of the year. So it is with very great pleasure that I present the work of the postgraduates completing their work at the Royal College of Art in summer 2009. A total of 416 students from some 39 countries will be exhibiting from six courses.

When I graduated from a traditional university, my final year work was read by three examiners – and my aunt, actually – and that was that. When RCA students graduate, in addition to their examiners, their work is seen by – exposed to – thousands of members of the public. I’m not quite sure how to define the term public value but I’m sure these Shows are a good example.

In this catalogue you will find the contact details of our graduating students. Unless styled as MPhil or PhD students, in other words as research students, the individuals whose details can be found in the following pages are all final year Master of Arts students. Some have chosen to make a short statement about their particular themes and interests and some have indicated their future plans on graduation. The images shown here are a combination of pre-Show and Show work. You can find an online gallery of this work, plus student CVs and statements, by visiting our website www.rca.ac.uk.

My sincere thanks go to all those who have supported the Royal College of Art – the institution, its courses, its equipment, its projects, its prizes and its students – throughout the academic year 2008/9: in particular The Conran Foundation, which is an educational charity aiming to promote a better understanding of good design and visual culture, and which is very generously sponsoring this year’s Shows – for the fourth year running – enabling them to happen in such a professional way. We have never before had such a perfect match between sponsor and Show. The Trust’s mission is precisely the College’s mission as well. Without investment from the private sector, supplementing our public income, the College would be a poorer place in many more ways than one. And investment it is: investment in the future. Not short-selling or playing the market or building a casino inside the bank, but investment in the future. Many of the individual exhibits, and the specific environments in which they are presented, have been supported in this way.

This is the last time I will be writing a Rector’s Introduction to the RCA’s Summer Show catalogue. After a professional lifetime at the College – as, successively, tutor, senior tutor, professor, Pro-Rector and, since 1996, Rector – I have decided it is time to move on. My successor is Dr Paul Thompson, who currently directs the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of art and design in New York – an excellent choice. He will be taking over in the summer.

My time as Rector has coincided with a welcome new emphasis in the public sector on the key importance of the ‘creative industries’ and of innovation to all our futures, and the College has taken full advantage of this shift. So I leave it ‘on a high’, in excellent condition. Also in my time there have been very significant developments in Fine and Applied Art. Printmaking and Photography have moved from the School of Graphic Arts to Fine Art – with profound implications for both. Sculpture has physically moved from the Queen’s Gate Huts to Howie Street in Battersea (now completely refurbished) while Painting is about to enter its custombuilt studios – a vast improvement on their existing accommodation. All to the good. When I first arrived, Peter de Francia, Professor of Painting, expressed in a lecture his concern about the popular stereotype of the art student: Neanderthal Man at one end and Lucky Jim at the other. That has changed too, and very dramatically, not least the gender balance.

A few months ago I was able to announce a donation of £5 million from the James Dyson Foundation towards the building of our completely new campus in Battersea – which will in the end accommodate all of the Fine Art departments and, in time, Applied Art as well. This is the single largest donation from an individual in the long history of the College. What better symbol of the dynamic relationship between art and design. And what better antidote to the current gloom?

This Show is another.

Warm congratulations to the graduating students of summer 2009. We all look forward very much to hearing about their achievements over the coming years – as we undoubtedly will, whatever the economic climate. They have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Professor Sir Christopher Frayling
Rector and Vice-Provost
Royal College of Art