Haworth Charitable Trust
The Haworth Charitable Trust has supported Fine Art education at the University of Salford since 2012, and we are extremely proud of our partnership.
Our aim was to provide the future artists of the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology with exceptional and informative experiences that enable them to experiment and perfect their practice.
Thanks to the generosity of the Haworth Trust, we have been able to introduce three new programmes: the Life Drawing Series, the Haworth Trust Undergraduate Scholarship, and the Haworth Figurative Art Graduate Scholarship Programme, to inspire our students to pursue traditional skills and improve their technical proficiency.
The Haworth Life Drawing Series
Drawing not only provides a foundational discipline for students on a range of creative courses at Salford but is a crucial means of communicating, recording, observing, and understanding the world.
The Haworth Life Drawing Series launched in 2014, providing students from the School of Arts, Media & Creative Technology with the opportunity to enhance their skillset and devote more time to drawing, painting and sculpture as they experiment with a variety of mediums, techniques and styles.
Haworth Trust’s generosity has enabled us to develop an annual programme which consists of 20 drawing sessions over two semesters, including two intensive workshops and an exhibition.
To deliver this programme effectively, we created a new drawing studio; purchased easels, drawing donkeys, drawing boards and clips; and invested in specialist plaster drawing casts and a new full-size skeleton to support an understanding of anatomy.
Many of our students come from socio-economically deprived backgrounds, so the ability to attend a class with the knowledge that all necessary materials are available is crucial to their development.
For an insight into the work our students create and their progression during the classes, take a look at this video.
Over the last two years, Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the lives of people around the world, but we have continuously strived to ensure our students have the best possible experience at university: find out more about our response to Covid-19.
To ensure the safety of our students, staff, and models during the pandemic, we have adapted the delivery of the Life Drawing classes. Whilst we began the 2020/2021 academic year as normal, delivering the classes from the New Adelphi building, only eight students were able to attend alongside a lecturer and model.
However, as the country went into another lockdown, our team made the decision to deliver the classes via our virtual learning environment, Blackboard Collaborate, to ensure our students were able to continue their learning.
Our lecturer, students and models worked from their homes and we opened a Padlet – virtual pinboard tool – on Blackboard Ultra, which acted as a virtual studio wall and allowed students to share the work they created during class and receive/provide feedback.
To maintain the integrity of our classes and models, we used a closed system on Blackboard to ensure only our students could access the content. We also published additional ‘rules’ for attending the classes which included working in a private space where no one else could view the screen and forbidding any screenshots or recording of the sessions.
Whilst virtual sessions flatten the perspective of a model, turning them into an image rather than a 3D object to be drawn, our students have produced drawings of a high quality, equal to the results seen during on-campus sessions.
Our students and lecturers have coped extremely well, and the digital classes have been extremely well attended as we were able to accommodate a higher number of students than on campus. The feedback from our students has also been extremely positive as they were able to carry on learning and developing their skills.
Despite the difficulties, the virtual sessions have given us a route of progression for the future as the creation of a hybrid model – live classes on campus and digital sessions – will allow us to welcome many more students onto the programme.
As students are able to return to campus, they will have the opportunity to collect any materials they need, such as sketchbooks and paints, to continue developing their skills over summer and/or keep for the next semester.
We are also delighted to announce that the Life Drawing Exhibition and Prizes will go ahead in June 2021! There has been an open call for submissions from anyone who attended the classes this year, and the best pieces will be shown via an online exhibition on the University’s Windows of Opportunity (WOO) site here.
The Haworth Life Drawing Exhibition & Prizes
As part of the Haworth Life Drawing Series, we also offer students the opportunity to gain professional experience by participating in an annual exhibition.
Students not only display a selection of their work but have the chance to win a monetary prize to travel and study excellent pieces of art in major museums and galleries across Europe.
With thanks to the Haworth Trust, over ten students have been awarded one of these life-changing prizes.
Sam
Sam was awarded 1st Place Winner in May 2022 - we look forward to updating you on their country and galleries of choice very soon.
Olga
Olga was unable to travel due to Covid-19 restrictions, but used the award to purchase the finest quality oil paints and said: "It was a great pleasure for me to try a new approach, to express my thoughts through oil painting. It also gave me the confidence as an artist and pushed my practice further as a painter".
1st Place Winner 2020
Aleksandra
Aleksandra travelled to Vienna and is "so grateful to the Haworth Trust because the trip would never have happened without your financial help. I also want to thank you for creating a space where I could grow as an artist".
1st Place Winner 2019
Richard
Richard travelled to Berlin, "a cultural trip that broadened my horizons and helped me ... to do lots of artist research for my studies".
1st Place Winner 2018
Lauren
Lauren travelled to Amsterdam and returned "feeling refreshed and inspired with set goals ... as I have further developed and improved my own practice, abilities, and techniques as well as a new-found confidence" and went on to study on Erasmus at the Accademia di belle Arti in Macerata, Italy.
1st Place Winner 2017
Steph
Steph visited Rome and felt "so lucky to have had this opportunity. It has inspired me to travel more and see as much art as possible in the flesh as well as inspiring my art practice ... there is no substitute to seeing art in person and to see work as the artist intended it to be seen".
1st Place Winner 2016
Hazel
Hazel travelled to Paris and "would like to offer my sincerest thanks to the Haworth Trust for enabling my amazing trip to come true. I am so grateful for the experience".
1st Place Winner 2015
The Haworth Trust Undergraduate Scholarship
One of the biggest hurdles for our undergraduate students is finance, and those who come from low-income backgrounds often struggle to buy basic materials such as canvas, stretchers, pigments, and mediums.
The Haworth Trust Undergraduate Scholarship was established in 2020 to support students working in a traditional or figurative discipline to improve the quality of their work. The Scholarship is available to students in Level 5 or 6 and includes a mentoring meeting with BA (Hons) Fine Art Programme Leader and Haworth Trust Life Class Tutor, Chris Clements, and a monetary award to purchase artist quality materials.
For the 2020/2021 academic year, five Salford students were awarded one of these scholarships:
The Haworth Figurative Art Graduate Scholarship Programme
The Haworth Trust also support and fund The Haworth Figurative Art Graduate Scholarship Programme, a 12-month scheme managed by the University of Salford Art Collection.
The programme launched in 2018 and was established to support Salford Graduates in the crucial yet difficult first year after graduation; the scholarship provides artists with the means to rent studio space or purchase the necessary resources to experiment, take risks and produce work of a high standard.
Artist Ovie was the inaugural recipient of The Haworth Figurative Art Graduate Scholarship Programme and used the award to rent a studio at Mirabel Studios in Manchester. Ovie benefited greatly from the experience, building up a network of contacts over the year where he gained a true sense of direction as an artist.
Ovie's work often incorporates his African background, integrating contemporary African art and culture into the international art scene. His first solo exhibition, titled “Melodies of Life” was held at Chuck Gallery Manchester in May 2019.
Helena, 2021
Ethan, 2020
Tayiba, 2020
Amy, 2019
We would like to thank the Haworth Trust for providing our students with incredible opportunities - your generosity not only enhances their student experience but inspires them to achieve their dreams.