Duchess of Cambridge joins Grayson Perry in visit to school art studio
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Version 0 of 1. The artist Grayson Perry said on Thursday he was wearing his “lady who lunches” dress to meet the Duchess of Cambridge when she visited a London primary school to officially name an art studio dedicated to providing creative therapy to children. The duchess is royal patron of The Art Room, the charity behind the new project to maintain a dedicated art room in a number of schools in Oxfordshire, Edinburgh and the capital. In October Perry, another of the charity’s patrons, opened the studio at Barlby primary in Ladbroke Grove, west London, which was on Thursday named the Clore Art Room. Each week up to 85 children, aged five to 11, receive art sessions designed to provide them with self-confidence, self-esteem and independence through creativity and self-expression. Perry said: “For me it comes down to the thing about what art is about, not about creative industries and making money – a lot of the benefit of art is doing it, interacting with who you are. Art is a language that gets to places that other things don’t.” The artist said the art sessions allowed children to express themselves away from their sometimes difficult lives, adding: “I identify with that myself, for me it was a refuge.” Perry went on to criticise former education secretary Michael Gove: “Often people regard art as an add on – the recent education secretary, no names Michael Gove. Art is something you elbow off the curriculum, it’s not important. It’s a huge part of Britain plc, an essential part of life, you shouldn’t think it’s something for posh people.” The room was named after the Clore Duffield Foundation, which has been making donations to The Art Room since 2005. The foundation was established by businessman and philanthropist Sir Charles Clore and to mark its 50th anniversary, celebrated last year, it chose to meet the opening and running costs of the new Barlby art space for three years. Sir Charles’s daughter Dame Vivien Duffield, chair of the foundation, was invited to the visit and joined Kate, Perry and education professionals for a roundtable discussion about the work of The Art Room. The duchess was given a chair made by the youngsters and decorated with stamps donated by the royal correspondence office and received posies from a group of young children. |