West Dean College of Arts and Conservation is situated in the West Dean Estate, of West Dean near

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

. The Estate was formerly the home of the poet and patron of the arts

Edward James Edward Frank Willis James (16 August 1907 – 2 December 1984) was a British poet known for his patronage of the surrealist art movement. Early life and marriage James was born on 16 August 1907, the only son of William James (who had inherite ...

. He was an avid admirer of the

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

movement, and formed one of the largest collections of their works during his lifetime. He inherited

West Dean House West Dean House is a large flint-faced manor house situated in West Dean, West Sussex, near the historic City of Chichester. This country estate has approximately of land and dates back to 1086, with various royal connections throughout the ye ...

and the estate after the death of his father,

William Dodge James William Dodge James, (1854–1912) was the son of a wealthy American merchant, who was raised and educated in England. He married Evelyn Elizabeth Forbes, daughter of the Forbes baronets, 4th Baronet of Newe, who became a celebrated society hos ...

. In 1939 Edward wrote to

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley ...

, expressing his fear that after the war, certain arts, particularly the techniques of the craftsmen, would be lost. As a solution, James suggested that his Estate be set up as an educational community where the techniques of craftsmanship could be preserved and taught, whilst restoring old work and creating new art works. In 1964 James conveyed this Estate including

to the Edward James Foundation; in 1971 the Foundation established West Dean College as a centre for the study of conservation, arts, crafts, writing, gardening and music, providing both full-time and short courses. The Sussex Barn Gallery, Tapestry Studio and West Dean Gardens are also located on the Estate.

Short Courses

The college offers over 700 short courses a year, at various levels of experience and covering a wide range of subjects.

Diplomas, FdAs and MAs

Diploma workshop images credit Abigail Uhteg (9)

West Dean offers MA Degree and Diplomas programmes in Conservation Studies, Visual Arts and

Foundation Degree A foundation degree is a combined academic and vocational qualification in higher education in the United Kingdom, equivalent to two-thirds of an honours bachelor's degree, introduced by the Department for Education and Employment in 2000. Founda ...

(FdA) in Historic Craft Practices, validated by the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. The Conservation MA and Diploma can have a specialty in Conservation of Book and Library Materials, Ceramics and Related Materials, Clocks and Related Objects, Furniture and Related Objects and Metalwork. The Visual Arts MA and Diploma is in Visual Arts, Painting and Drawing, Sculpture or Tapestry and Textile Art. Graduates include artists Pippa Blake and Tim Kent, who have gone on to exhibit their work in a variety of galleries. The college also offers Diploma courses in Making Stringed Musical Instruments.

Tapestry Studio

The West Dean Tapestry Studio was established in 1974 to provide high-level craft-based programmes in woven tapestry, one of only a very small number of such studios worldwide. Their first major commission were The

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

Tapestries. Tapestries woven by the studio are in the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital ...

and

Chelmsford Cathedral Chelmsford Cathedral in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom, is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd. It became a cathedral when the Anglican Diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914 and is the seat of the Bishop o ...

. As well as new designs, the Studio is also engaged in recreating the 16th-century '

The Hunt of the Unicorn ''The Hunt of the Unicorn'' or the ''Unicorn Tapestries'' (french: La Chasse à la licorne) is a series of seven tapestries made in the South Netherlands around 1495–1505, and now in The Cloisters in New York. They were possibly designed in ...

' tapestries, part of a twelve-year project for

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...

, for the refurbishment of

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...

. The Studio wove a tapestry for

Tracey Emin Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawi ...

based on her Black Cat painting; it was shown at the

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the D ...

in May 2011.

Gallery

The Gallery on the West Dean Estate holds exhibitions of work by major outside artists as well as students and Tutors of West Dean College. Previous exhibitions include sculptor Phillip Jackson’s ‘Sacred and Profane’ in 2005,

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...

’s ‘light and image’ in 2005 and Brazilian artist

Ana Maria Pacheco Ana Maria Pacheco (born 1943) is a Brazilian sculptor, painter, and printmaker. Her work is influenced by her Brazilian heritage and often focuses on supernatural themes, incorporating them into unfolding narratives within her work. Pacheco's work ...

’s ‘some exercise of power’ in 2006. There has also been an exhibition on ‘the interior landscape of surrealism: A glimpse into the homes of Edward James, Roland Penrose and Lee Miller’ which included the famous lobster telephone and the

Mae West Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...

Lip Sofa from West Dean House, which were collaborations between Edward James and Salvador Dalí. An exhibition on the extraordinarily complex life of the model/photographer

Lee Miller Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, Lady Penrose (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977), was an American photographer and photojournalist. She was a fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris, where she became a fashion and fine art ...

was also featured in the Gallery together with original works by

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and

Roland Penrose Sir Roland Algernon Penrose (14 October 1900 – 23 April 1984) was an English artist, historian and poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art and an associate of the surrealists in the United Kingdom. During the Second World W ...

Music

In July the college holds the

Chilingirian Quartet The Chilingirian Quartet is a British string quartet. It gave its first public concert in Cambridge in 1972. By the time the quartet celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022, there had been various changes in the line-up. However, it has continued t ...

Summer School for string quartets with concerts performed by the tutors and pupils.

Chilli Fiesta

Chilli Fiesta is an annual three-day festival celebrating the chilli which has been held at the college since 1995. The Fiesta features stalls, demonstrations and entertainment. The Chilli Fiesta is no longer available at West Dean College, as 2018 was the last one hosted there, and there will be no more

West Dean Gardens

The award-winning West Dean Gardens surround the West Dean Estate in the South Downs. Head Gardener Jim Buckland and his wife Sarah Wain restored the Gardens after they suffered severe damage in the 1987 and 1990 storms. The Gardens have been awarded an English Heritage Garden Grade of II*. West Dean features a restored walled kitchen garden with 13 Victorian glasshouses. Robin Lane Fox in the Financial Times said "West Dean has a large walled kitchen garden whose standards are wonderfully high. Greenhouse after greenhouse smiles with top-class plants, fruit and rarities." A key feature in the Gardens is the Edwardian

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

, designed by

Harold Peto Harold Ainsworth Peto FRIBA (11 July 1854 – 16 April 1933) was a British architect, landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France. Among his best-known gardens are Iford Manor, Wiltshire; Buscot P ...

. The

Arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

has the grave to

with the carved memorial stone by

John Skelton (sculptor) John Stephen Skelton MBE FRBS (8 July 1923 – 26 November 1999) was a British letter-cutter and sculptor. Skelton was a nephew of Eric Gill and was first apprenticed to his uncle, shortly before Gill's death. He continued his training under ...

. A visitors centre was completed in 1995. The building, which includes a gift shop and restaurant and adjoined by terraces and gardens, was designed by

Christopher Alexander Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander (4 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an Austrian-born British-American architect and design theorist. He was an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His theories about the nature o ...

and colleagues. The building's exterior walls are constructed of brick, local flint, and concrete."England, the West Dean Visitors Centre". ''Building Living Neighborhoods''. Accessed 26 February 2021

/ref>

References

External links

West Dean, The Edward James Foundation
{{Coord, 50.9062, -0.7757, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Education in West Sussex Educational institutions established in 1971 Art museums and galleries in West Sussex Museums in West Sussex Gardens in West Sussex Adult education in the United Kingdom