George Irvine
Fine Art
Welcome
George was brought up surrounded by Art and artists. His mother recalls George commenting on recognizable forms in the clouds at the age of 4 and always encouraged him to paint from an early age. At the age of 16 he was the youngest exhibitor at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and then at the early age of 17 became a Fine Art student at the Slade School, University College of London where painting was a very much inherited and celebrated activity. At the Slade he had the good fortune to spend time in the ‘F’ Studio with Euan Uglow and experience the energy of Bruce McLean.
George taught at Stowe School for more than a decade and he was widely regarded as one of their most inspiring teachers. He has now decided to use what he has learnt over the last twelve years, to set up his own Art School at his home in North Oxfordshire, as well as focus on making his own Art.
The Stowe Art Department regularly produced outstanding results with 96% A*AB at A2 and 91% A*A at GCSE in 2011. George draws on his considerable success as a professional painter to lead his pupils on a journey of creative discovery. His own work shows remarkable versatility and ranges from abstracted landscapes to sensitively drawn portraiture and interiors. He encourages his pupils to master draughtsmanship, composition, spatial awareness, tonal values, colour contrasts and texture. George is a popular and successful teacher. Many of his students ascribe their exam success and interest in Art to George’s enthusiastic teaching.
At Buttermilk Art School there is an open approach to Art teaching. Through discussion and an emphasis on Art itself, the opportunity for the student to mature as an independent thinker is real. Although there is a great emphasis on observational work as a starting point students can be guided in endless directions. Students are taught to seek out meaning and purpose behind works of Art and learn how to make thematic connections, from contemporary practice through to the Greats of the past. Sketchbooks are a place to think. This aspect of thinking by collecting articles, written notes, diagrammatic drawings etc is seen as a vital part of a student’s learning.
