BURSLEM SCHOOL OF ART
The origins of the school can be traced back to a meeting in 1853 when representatives of the Stoke and Hanley Schools of Design met in the Wesleyan Schoolroom, Burslem to discuss the possibility of creating a central art school that could be attended by students from the Six Towns and Newcastle. In the nineteenth century each of the towns making up the (future) city of Stoke-on-Trent had founded its own art school. The Burslem School moved into the Wedgwood Institute when it was completed in the 1860s. In 1905 the art school moved across the road to new purpose-built accommodation designed by A.R. Wood, a local architect. The new building with its distinctive large windows helped the art school become pre-eminent in the district. The successful work of The Burslem School of Art continued through the 1930s and into the post war period. Notable alumni include Arthur Berry who taught artists William Bowyer, Chris Deakin ceramic designers Clarice Cliff, Jessie Tait and Susie Cooper, painter & embroiderer Frances Richards, poet and artist Charles Tomlinson and etcher Sidney Tushingham. At the time of the foundation of North Staffordshire Polytechnic in 1971, Burslem School of Art was one of three sites now used by the Stoke-on-Trent College of Art however, the department of Fine Art was subsequently moved from Burslem to the Polytechnic’s College Road site, thus leaving the historic Burslem building underused. The School of Art was listed in 1993 then left empty and boarded up for a time. In 1999 the Edwardian building was subject to a £1.2 million refurbishment and re-opened as an arts centre. It contains three galleries that have shown over 200 exhibitions, as well as containing offices for cultural organisations, and workshop and studio space. Regular art and ceramics training courses returned to the building in 2012 and will continue to run following the most recent refurbishment and the partnership with Haywood Sixth Form Academy
Works by This Artist
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Burslem School of Art |