gone-but-not-forgotten

James Kirkup 1918-2009 53-56
Internationally celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, playwright and translator, died 10 May 2009, age 91 at his Andorran home. Born in South Shields, County Durham 23 April 1918. Head of English Department at Bath Academy of Art 1953-56.

The Independent obituary provided by Mike Keen 26.5.09

Shelagh Brettell (née Parfitt) 1941-2009 59-61
It is sad to have to report the death of Shelagh which occurred on the 25 March at the relatively early age of 68. She arrived at Corsham in September 1959 to finish her National Diploma in Design course, having done the first two years to intermediate level at Stourbridge School of Art. group photo 1960
She left the Academy in 1961 and did her Art Teaching Diploma in Birmingham, before going on to teach at Solihull Art School.
Mike Keen 5.5.09

Richard (Dick) Venning 59-60
Passed away peacefully at home in Heanor on Friday 11th April 2008, aged 71 years.
Dick was my art teacher from 1967 to 1972, a really smashing bloke.
Marc Koch 24.9.08

Andrew Corner-Walker 69-72
Andy died suddenly at the age of 37 in 1988 leaving a widow after being married for only a couple of months. He was at the time of his death an History of Art tutor at York School of Art.
He is very sadly missed.
Jan West 19.2.08

Michael Johnson 54-58
Michael died 29th July 2006 aged 68.
Michael was a painter all his life and has recently (September 2007) had a posthumous exhibition at Wolfson College, Oxford, to which many old student friends came. There is a photo of him here in the lithography studio with Doug Reilly, circa 1957, on the site.
I was Esther Chatterton, student 1955-58, where Michael & I met in October 1955. We married in 1959 when I became Esther Johnson. I still live in our studio in Wiltshire, some 8 miles from Corsham.

Pete Bateman 66-70
Died in New Zealand about 25 years ago, I am told by his ex-girlfriend.
Kai Wood Moe 25.6.07

Paul Bridger 81-84
Paul was a relatively 'mature' student at the time, being then in his late 20's (!). He left in around '84, having studied painting. Sadly, Paul died about 4 years ago, 2003, aged only 49. He had a sudden heart attack and had no idea he wasn't well. He died in Rye Harbour, East Sussex, at home. Paul was a lovely bloke and an old friend.
Alice 15.5.07

Edward Hughes 73-76
Ted Hughes, potter, died this year in a climbing accident on 31st of March 2006 in Cumbria near his home. 'I was in the same year and would like to say that he was a kind and generous man'. Kate Harris (nee Davis)
I'd also need to add that Ted was a very modest guy and great potter with a unique talent in search of 'that Shoji [Hamada] element' as we used to call it, in his own work.
It was a privilege to have known him in his last year at Corsham - Gerry.

Wyn Griffiths 56-59
30.5.1936 - 26.8.2006
Wyn was from Ynys Mon (Angelsey) and Welsh was his first language, and the everyday language of his home and community.
He entered Corsham in September 1956 after two years National Service with the Royal Artillery in Germany. His interests included art, music, and fellow Corsham student Paula Davies who he married after leaving BAA in July 1959. During the many impromptu folk music and skiffle sessions at Beechfield or the pubs he was a leading performer on ukelele, banjo ukelele or guitar - later in life; like many Welshmen, he became a member of a Male Voice choir.
His first art teaching post was in Essex but within a few years of leaving BAA he had moved to south Wales and spent his working life in schools of Glamorgan. After retirement he was able to devote himself to painting full-time and had several one-man shows in commercial galleries in south and west Wales.
He was a good friend, a decent man (without being a saint) and will be missed.

Hwyl Wyn, bachgen bach o Niwbwrch eriod.

Peter Bailey 66-69
Sculptor. born 1944 - died 29 June 2005 of a cardiac arrest. He was much loved and appreciated by the many friends he made during his years at Corsham, 1966-69.
For his obituary, book & exhibition details - 6th November to 15th December 2006 - then click the star link.

Harry Turner 73-76
Died 17th December 2004. He was suffering from MS and was in hospital in Frome.
Harry graduated in painting in 1976, and also worked as photography technician for Fine Art. His partner at the time was Stella, the sculpture school life model.
Stella and their daughter Katy still live in Corsham.

Susan Mallon 82-85
It is with such great sadness that I have to inform you of the death of Sue [sculpture 82-'85] from a fall in her home on the 3rd May 2004. She worked in Swindon Social Services and was a colleague, friend and close neighbour of mine.
Susan had a turbulent personal life post BAA, with many events that caused her great anxiety and conflict. After a serious medical diagnosis 4 years ago, she had to overcome added stress which compounded her illness. Susan was a fighter and had just managed to come through this with a positive attitude to her life. Very recently finding some happiness and contentment again.

Bhupen Kharkar 79
Passed away recently January 2004, he was a fellow at BAA in 1979 and worked at Monks Park. Bhupen was one of the best Indian painters and was celebrated all over the world. He was originally discovered by Howard Hodgkin and Peter Kinley but stayed with Jo Hope while at BAA.

Jeff Nuttall 50-53
Died aged 70 on January 4 2004. He was a catalyst, perpetrator and champion of rebellion and experiment in the arts and society. Bomb Culture, his 1968 chronicle of the emergence of internationalist counter-culture in Britain, remains a primary source and manifesto for the post-Hiroshima generation.
Other precursors whose legacies he extended were the dadaists, surrealists and beats, Dylan Thomas, John Bratby and kitchen sink painting, McGill postcards, bebop and northern music hall. In 1967 he co-founded the People Show, an improvising theatre troupe with which Jeff travelled, wrote and acted for five years.
From the mid-1980s he took cameo roles in films and television. Throughout his days he made and exhibited hundreds of lyrical-threatful-polemical artworks.
He was the Guardian's incisive poetry critic (1979-81) and during the last 40 years he published some 40 books. There were poetry, plays, fiction, memoirs, essays, and verbal portraits of kindred spirits.
He died on a Sunday, leaving the Hen and Chicks pub in Abergavenny, where his trad band's lunchtime gig had been the highspot of his week for 10 years.

Gareth Ball 66-69
Was taken ill on 21st November 2003 and died within minutes of reaching hospital. His family are devastated by his sudden and untimely death. His funeral was held at Aldershot Crematorium on December 1st 2003.

Elizabeth Martin 67-71
Died on Saturday 13th September 2003. Liz studied Graphic Design at BAA from 1967-71 and was Senior Conservator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. She will be greatly missed by her family and all her colleagues.
Liz's service will be held at St Patrick's Catholic Church, Pickwick, Nr Corsham, (on the A4) at 11am Saturday 4th October 2003. Friends and flowers welcome.
Liz is laid to rest at the cemetery signposted to the right off the Corsham to Lacock Road.

Philip Higson 66-69
Died on 15 September 2003 aged 56, the day after his birthday.
Phil was diagnosed with cancer last year. His funeral was held last Friday (19 September), he is survived by his wife Sue and three children.
Higson founded the Deeside web printer 20 years ago together with his former Allan Denver colleagues Graham Ostler and the late Bob Allan. “We worked together for 25 years. He will be sadly missed,” Ostler said.
After his diagnosis Higson fulfilled a lifetime ambition by buying himself a Bentley. “He’d always wanted one and we used to banter about it. At least he had a year of pleasure out of it”.

David Heale 73-76
I’m very sad to report that David Heale – also known as "Buzz" – who was at BAA (Painting) in the mid-70s – died on Friday 9^th May 2003 at home in Looe, Cornwall after an asthma attack.
He leaves his partner, Steffi and their 3 boys. He’ll be greatly missed by everyone who was lucky enough to have known him.

Derek Pope 50-85
My family and I were wondering if it would be possible for you to announce on the BAA web site that my husband Derek Pope died peacefully at home on Saturday the 1st of February 2003. As you know, he was associated with the Academy as a student, lecturer and Principal from 1950 - 1985. We thought that this would be an appropriate way of letting our many friends and colleagues know.

Dorothy Elliott 57-59
Following the death of Dorothy Elliott on 9th December 2002, Brenda Jackson, with whom she lived, wishes to thank the many Corsham friends who so kindly sent their condolences and deepest sympathy to her at this sad time.

Michael Finn 72-82
Died aged 80 on March 24 2002. He was head of two art colleges before devoting the last 20 years of his life to his own painting. In 1958, he was appointed principal of Falmouth College of Art in Cornwall, where he stayed until taking over as principal of Bath Academy of Art at Corsham in 1972. Under his leadership, both were among the most highly regarded art colleges in the country.
On his retirement, in 1982, he moved with his family to Tregeseal, near St Just in the far west of Cornwall, and began his long-postponed career as a full-time artist.
He is survived by two daughters, Christine and Michaela, and a son, Richard. His wife, Cicely, whom he married in 1943, died earlier this year.

Kenneth Armitage 46-56
Died aged 85 on January 22 2002, was among the most significant British sculptors of the 20th century.
He taught for 10 years (1946-56) at Bath Academy of Art during that period he found his mature style, beginning to make groups of figures in which a flat membrane envelopes upright or buttress supports. Two Linked Figures, People in a Wind (1950), now in the Tate Gallery, and Friends Walking are all fine examples of his most expressive period. In the elongated, fragile forms of his work, his overriding concern was always with humanity; a preoccupation with feelings expressed through the language of the body. The figurative image of man remained central to his work, and his departures into the world of non-figuration were always of short duration. He saw his sculpture as a way of communicating essential truths. "I believe that art is something shared among us and feel almost apologetic for the effort and specialisation involved in its production," he wrote early in his career, in 1955.
His wife Joan, whom he married in 1940, predeceased him.

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