Glasgow School of Art

Glasgow School of Art is one of four independent art schools in Scotland, situated in the Garnethill area of Glasgow. It was founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Government School of Design, one of the first Government Schools of Design. In 1853 it changed its name to the Glasgow School of Art. Initially the School was located at 12 Ingram Street, but in 1869, it moved to the McLellan Galleries. In 1897 work started on a new building to house the School on Renfrew Street. The building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the first half of the building was completed in 1899 and the second in 1909.

Campus

Today the Glasgow School of Art campus is spread across 10 buildings, most of which are situated on Renfew Street in Garnethill. One exception is the digital design studio which is situated within the House for an Art Lover, in Bellahouston Park on the southside of the city.

These buildings are:

The Mackintosh Building- or 'the Mac' as it is colloquially known by staff and students- is the heart of the campus and continues to be a functioning part of the school. It primarily houses the Fine Art Painting department, first year studios and administrative staff. It also houses the Mackintosh gallery which holds many different exhibitions throughout the year. The gallery is the only part of the Mackintosh building open to the general public, all other areas are of the school are only viewable by guided tour. An exception to this rule is the Degree show where all the studios within the Mackintosh building are opened to allow people to view the graduating years final artworks.

Directly opposite the Mackintosh Building are the Newbery Tower, Foulis Building and Assembly Building. The Newbury Tower houses the Textiles,Jewellery & Silversmithing departments and the Refectory, which is run by Where the Monkey Sleeps run by three ex-graduates. The Foulis plays host to the Product Design and Visual Communications departments.

The Richmond Building is home to the Fine Art photography department which was founded by Thomas Joshua Cooper in 1982. The BA (Fine Art) Photography course was the first of it's kind in Europe.

The Mackintosh School of Architecture and the school's Library are situated in the The Bourdon Building.

The Barnes Building on West Graham Street is the base for the MFA and Sclupture and environmental art studios. David Shrigley is one contempory artists to have graduated from that department.

Glasgow School of Art's Students Assosiation

The Assembly Building houses the Glasgow School of Art Student Association's Administritive offices. Known by many of the staff and students as "The Vic" due to the remains of a Victorian cafe, called The Victoria cafe, saved from beneath a condemed building in the 1960's.

Students from other institutions often refer to the building as "The Art-School", which often refers to the gigs and club-nights that run by the GSASA.

The GSASA also has different socities including the Mural society, LGBT society and Cinema Society.

The SRC is a body of students elected by fellow students. They meet once a month with different sections of the school to discuss issues affecting the students.

Students

The Glasgow school of art has a diverse student population. Unlike the associated University of Glasgow, where over 80% of full time students are from the west coast of Scotland, there is a large international body of students mainly from America, Asia and Continental Europe.

Expansion

Currently, the school board are planning on developing the current Garnethill campus. The Mackintosh building will still be centrepiece of the campus, though there are plans to sell of some of the more periferal buildings and to re-develop the Newbury site.

Notable alumni

Ewen Bain, cartoonist
John Byrne, artist and scriptwriter
Steven Campbell, painter
Robbie Coltrane, comedy actor
Stephen Conroy, painter
Alan Currall, artist
Ken Currie, painter
David Donaldson, artist
James Fullarton, artist
Douglas Gordon, artist
Alasdair Gray, writer and artist
Muriel Gray, broadcaster
Bob Hardy, painter, musician
Francis Healy, musician
Peter Howson, painter
Cathy Jamieson, Member of Scottish Parliament
Andy Knowles, musician
Jim Lambie, artist
Ann Macbeth, embroideress
Margaret MacDonald, artist
Alexander Mackendrick, film director
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, architect
Norman McLaren, animator and film director
Susan Montford, Filmmaker
Rosalind Nashashibi, artist
Jenny Saville, Artist
Ross Sinclair, artist
David Sherry, artist
Lucy Skaer, artist
David Shrigley, cartoonist
Simon Starling, artist
Damian Sutton, writer
Dudley D. Watkins, cartoonist
Adrian Wiszniewski, painter

External Links