The art of being an art school
As the Cyprus College of Art celebrates 28 years, its final year students put their works on display
Write down the names Terry Frost, Bridget Reilly, Euan Uglow and Rachel Whiteread and you have the start of a list of some of the most significant figures in world art from the past thirty years. Add to this list the name Stass Paraskos and you will find yourself with the beginning of a who’s-who of some of the artists who have visited, studied or taught at the Cyprus College of Art. It is an unexpected connection between a small art school on a small island and the big names in international art that often astonishes people unfamiliar with the Cyprus College of Art.
Stass founded the college in Famagusta in 1969, but after 1974 relocated to Lempa, north of Paphos. It is one of the oldest art institutions in Cyprus and, despite its ramshackle collection of buildings, has an enviable international reputation. Indeed it is the only art institution on the island that is visited regularly by television crews and newspaper journalists from all over the world. Even TV celebs, such as Carol Smiley, have called in to make a programme or two, and, Sarah Hoskins, daughter of Hollywood actor Bob Hoskins, is one of the college’s alumni.
Each year the college attracts students from all over the world, including many from prestigious art colleges and universities such as the Royal College of Art, Leeds University and Goldsmiths College in London. According to Stass, “They come here to be artists and escape from art experts who never pick up a paint brush but still think they can tell artists what to do.” It is a typically bombastic attitude from the principal of the college that has endeared him to several generations of artists and students.
The college runs a number of art courses and adult education classes, but among these there is little doubt that Stass is most proud of the Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, which this year is celebrating 28 years. “We’ve never had a bad year,” Stass said, “but this is the best ever”. As he speaks the students behind him laugh nervously, as though a little embarrassed at such fulsome praise, but looking around the studios there is plenty of evidence to justify his claim. At the front of the building three of the students are hard at work, Clare Carter, Rachel Hogg and Emma Duer. Despite all three being painters, the range of work is astonishing, from Hogg’s almost Baroque still lives, to Carter’s expressive landscapes, to Duer’s bright and bold abstractions. Next to them is Susan Toler, working on a series of drawings exploring the way the human body moves. “We don’t really have a house style,” Stass said. “We just encourage students to let Cyprus influence their work.”
The influence of Cyprus, which Stass calls the “spirit of place”, can be seen in the students’ colours and subject matter. One of them, Jonathan Smith, has painted powerful images of the Cypriot landscape that are vaguely reminiscent of the work of that great artist David Bomberg, who also visited Cyprus. The Cypriot colours of ochre and olive green are also very much in evidence in Ken Williams’ landscapes, while Roberta Cummings seems to have been impressed by the chickens that run around the village, and no doubt wake her up with their morning cries.
Of course, the spirit of place can influence artists in ways that are not always clear to an outsider. In the abstract work of Gemma Plant, for example, the connection to Cyprus is not obvious, but is palpable in the chocolate-rich colours and organic shapes. Joseph James’ influences too might not be immediately apparent, until one thinks perhaps of the shapes of the cactus plants that surround the college.
A particular feature of this year’s student group is the range of artistic practices. As well as painting, there is sculpture, with fossil-like stone carvings by the American student Jason Heartisan, photography, in the fairy-tale like images of Hilary Heartisan, and installation art by Nicola Ross. In each there is an extremely high level of technical and creative ability that would put the students of many other, more wealthy, art institutions to shame. In the past year the college has also branched out into printmaking, a facility being used by the British student Timothy Watson, and internet art, with an audio-visual work, entitled Mirror-Mirror, by the German student Michael Dettmer.
As well as the students, the college’s tutors will also be exhibiting work in the end of year show, including Margaret Paraskos, Neil Brinley Stephens, Grahame Parry, Andreas Efstathiou and, of course, Stass himself. “We all take part in these shows because we are all artists. It’s how an art college should be,” Stass said. Looking around the studios at Lempa, it’s hard not to agree.
The Cyprus College of Art degree show opens at Lempa on May 12 at 7pm. Open daily from 9am to 6pm until 19 May. Tel: 26 270557
