Autumn leaves and abstract images in Photography Club

Photo by Oliver Green (Year 9)

Each term, Leckford Place students take part in a variety of clubs and extracurricular activities – and every so often we'll give an insight into what the children have been up to by profiling a particular activity. So today we have a report from the Photography Club, which meets on a Wednesday afternoon each week.

This term we have considered more subjects than ever before and some truly wonderful shots have been taken by our group – a couple of which are featured in this post. We have looked at the landscape, macro, portraits, movement and creating abstract images. We have spent a lot of time looking at trees, particularly because the autumn colours have been so special this year.

A few of our keener students have even upgraded their gear, having developed a very healthy interest. I do hope they will continue to observe the world around them during the holidays.

— Report by Oliver Stone (Club leader & Head of Spanish)

Photo by Tom Leavey (Year 9)

Artweeks Exhibition 2010

d'Overbroeck's College doesn't just sponsor Artweeks; we also host our own exhibition. This year's took place over the weekend just passed. As those of you who came along will attest, there was a fantastic array of work: everything from intricately detailed miniatures to gigantic cardboard sculpture; oils to watercolours; sketching to photography.

Here's a slideshow of photos taken at the Private View of our exhibition, on the evening of Friday 14 May.

Artweeks Artist and d'Overbroeck's Parent

Yesterday we paid a visit to Kevin Wooding, who is the father of Year 9 student Lucy Arque. Kevin is exhibiting a selection of his art as part of the Oxfordshire Artweeks festival – currently in full swing.

[On which note, a quick reminder that our own exhibition – featuring work by students, parents and staff of the College, as well as local artists – will be open this weekend. Please do come along! More details here (pdf)]

Artweeks entails a host of Oxfordshire artists throwing open their studios, galleries and homes to the public. In this spirit, we pitched up at Kevin's exhibition, video camera in hand, to find out a little bit about his art. To find out more, watch the interview:



If you'd like to see Kevin's work in the flesh, the opening hours for his exhibition are on the Artweeks website. Alternatively, send Kevin an email to book a viewing.

Student art on show at Museum of Natural History

This Thursday (6 May 2010), artwork by a number of Leckford Place students will be on display at the Natural History Museum in Oxford, as part of the 'Young Art Oxford' exhibition in aid of Cancer Research.

The students listed below had their work chosen from a field of over 1,000 entries, so all have done very well in being selected.

• Joseph Anderson
• Lucy Arqué (highly commended)
• Laura Bossom
• Barney Cremin
• Robbie Dorey
• Hamza Khan
• Flo Rifat
• Aidan Robbins
• Alex Robertson McWillam
• Chloe Townsend
• Peter Wood

The exhibition will feature work from children at 24 Oxfordshire schools, and opens on Thursday 6 May at 3pm. Postcards and the works of art are for sale and all money raised is in aid of Cancer Research UK – specifically, going towards research into the genetic causes of cancer in children.

Prize-winning Steampunk artist

Year 7 pupil Hovnan Eayrs has won the runner-up prize in an art and design competition run by the History of Science Museum -- a superb achievement. The theme of the contest was 'Steampunk', and it was open to secondary school pupils throughout Oxford.

Here's a photo of Hovnan alongside his winning project, 'The Time Traveller's Toolbox'.


Leckford Place pupils Harry Bridge, Laura Bossom, Joseph Anderson and James Lambert all received certificates for their entries to the competition. Congratulations to them all!

Come along to our art exhibition

by Emmie van Biervliet

This weekend, Leckford Place School will metamorphose into an art gallery containing an exciting, diverse array of work by Sixth Form and Leckford Place students, as well as parents, staff and local artists.

We'll also be showing the winning entries to our Primary School Art Competition.

Having already seen some of the work that'll be on show, we're eagerly anticipating a superb exhibition. And we'd be delighted if you'd come along.
The show will be open from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 May – and entry is, of course, free to all. See location on Google Maps.

We hope to see you there!

by Paul Amey

Artweeks Carnival: Music, Art and Juggling

On Saturday, Summertown in North Oxford was alive with colour and sound – thanks to the street festival organised as part of Artweeks.

The joint d'Overbroeck's Sixth Form and Leckford Place School stand offered younger children the opportunity to contribute to a giant collaborative piece of art:







... Whilst Sixth Former Steve Litherland entertained onlookers with an impressive display of juggling.




Musical accompaniment, meanwhile, was provided by Evie Oswald, Sarah Pearson and Kathryn Poon.



Many thanks to the students and staff who gave up their time to help make the street festival such a great success – and to those friends of the College who came along to visit our stall.

Below, a slideshow of photos from the event:

Pupil art to brighten hospital walls

Year 9 pupils at Leckford Place have been hard at work painting canvases for display at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Drawing inspiration from Action painting, the Colourists and the American Expressionists – principally, artists such as Joan Miro, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Basquiat – each student has created a piece. Photographed reproductions of the finished work will soon be on permanent display at the John Radcliffe Hospital, in conjunction with the Occupational Health Unit.

The students have had the chance to experiment with various media – ink, paint, tissue paper collage, pastels and chalks – and with creating different moods within their work. In the knowledge that the canvases would be exhibited together, the students felt that their work should share common themes and use similar colouring. The finished canvases bear out this approach.

Click the following link to view an interactive gallery of the canvases (click on each image to zoom in and out)

... or browse the work on Flickr

Diving into Artweeks

Detail from 'The Diver' by Flo Amey, Upper Sixth

Oxfordshire's largest visual arts festival, Artweeks consists of around 400 stunning exhibitions. We’re delighted once again to be main sponsors of the festival.

For three weeks each year, Oxfordshire's artists and craftspeople throw open their homes and studios, and a vast array of work in every style and medium imaginable is put on show.

Artweeks enables us to catch a glimpse of the creative process itself: to smell the fresh paint and the drying clay; and to meet the artists in their own space, surrounded by their tools and materials, and often also by their own favourite sources of inspiration.

Preparations are well underway for summer's festival. As well as being main sponsors, we are also hosting our own show, which will feature work by current students, parents and staff alike. As with all Artweeks shows, entry will be free to all.

Our exhibition will be at Leckford Place School on 16-17 May – and we'd love you to come along. Entry is free to all, and the exhibition will be open 10am to 4pm. Please telephone us (01865 302620) for details.