RFSA bursary recipients share their stories of how the bursary has impacted them in their life and studies.

Amelia Green
Foundation year
City & Guilds of London Art School​
​
My foundation year was split into three sections. The diagnostic phase at the start of the course allowed us to get to know the tutors and other students while experimenting with new media and approaches. In the development section, we chose how we wanted to specialise and then worked on our own independent projects from a number of prompts. We were also able to attend optional workshops where we learned techniques not covered in the diagnostic stage. Finally, in the consolidation section, we worked on our final major project.

During the diagnostic section, I had the opportunity to try out practices and techniques I had not explored before in my art education. I loved the refashioning workshop, where we transformed old clothes and had a chance to experiment with fashion photography. I was also drawn to the printing workshop. When deciding which foundation course to attend, the printing facilities at City & Guilds of London Art School were a major factor for me. I was intrigued by the process and loved learning about the history of etching. I carried this process into other aspects of my work throughout the year.

​I chose to specialise in fine art during the development section. I picked briefs around ‘Science and Art’, where I explored Victorian developments and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde. I worked in the print room and created optical illusions with my prints to communicate the idea of the line between fact and fiction being blurred (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

I also explored the question of what happens when we die. I documented the decay of flowers, which are often given to people at both the beginning and end of life. I took a face casting workshop and created my own death masks, painting them to represent different beliefs about what happens after death: going to the afterlife, experiencing nothing, or being reincarnated. I was heavily inspired by Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life for this project (see Figure 2).

Finally, I responded to a brief on fashion illustration. By this point, I was enjoying more conceptual work but still wanted to revisit fashion. As with my other projects, I took inspiration from a book I had read: Joan by Katherine J. Chen, a fictional retelling of the life of Joan of Arc. I explored the contrast between masculinity and femininity in her story and the way she is portrayed in the media today. I also experimented with ink and digital illustration (see Figure 3).

After completing the development section, I realised just how much of an impact reading has on my creative practice. I’m an avid reader, and I love being able to combine my interests in my work. I chose to focus on books as my final major project in the consolidation section. I looked at how different artists experiment with the physicality and content of books. I tried altering book imagery to change the look of the covers. I also created a painting of how I visualised the Yorkshire moors in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. I was heavily inspired by surrealist artists—I didn’t want the painting to feel like an exact copy of something real. I wanted it to feel like it came from someone’s imagination, so I used bright colours and leaned into the slightly skewed perspective of the landscape to give it a dreamlike feel.
I then looked at artists who use the text of books to create their own poetry. Inspired by this, I began editing book pages in the style of Tom Phillips. I was drawn to this technique and started writing more poetry, some of which I submitted to a poetry competition held by Cambridge University. I decided to transform my poetry into a visual format and began exploring filmmaking. I had never done any filmmaking before, so I learned about filming and editing as I went. I particularly loved the editing process and learned how to add music and transitions to my clips (see Figures 4, 5, 6).

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Throughout my foundation year, I’ve been informed by the things I’ve read and constantly inspired to pursue my own creative writing. I applied to study English Literature at university and received offers from all the institutions I applied to, including Durham University, where I will begin in October. My experience on an art foundation course really helped me stand out in my personal statement. I’ve learned how to apply my creative practice to analytical reading and writing, allowing me to explore ideas in ways other students might not consider.
​
I would personally like to thank the Royal Female School of Art Foundation for supporting me during this year. It has been a transformative experience, and I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to pursue it. Being able to dedicate a year to trying out new practices allowed me to experiment with things I hadn’t been able to do at A level and helped me identify the direction I want to take in further education. Although I’m now moving on to an academic degree, this year has given me invaluable life experience and shaped how I read and write. I’m incredibly thankful that the RFSA Foundation made this possible for me.