Mayfield Ceramics exhibited in London

Schroders Private Bank has joined forces with St Leonards-Mayfield School to mount an exhibition of ceramics in the Bank’s City of London offices. The exhibition, which features the work of pupils working towards their GCSEs and A levels, will run for two months.

Mayfield has a reputation as one of the country’s leading secondary schools for ceramics, having won several national awards. A clear overlap exists between Schroders own core values – in particular, excellence, passion and innovation – and the physical and emotional investment made by the girls as they create their three-dimensional pieces. Recognising this, and the fact that opportunities for teenagers to display art beyond the school hall or library are few and far between in this country, the management team at Schroders extended the invitation to the girls to place their work before the discerning eyes of its staff and clients.

The 42-piece exhibition includes large scale animal sculptures, including a rhino’s head and penguin ‘family’; large, brightly-decorated plates with bird and floral motifs; constructed pieces inspired by architecture, such as Korean gate houses and the London skyline; coiled pots with smoked and burnished decoration; and even a tall, pierced lantern inspired by hip hop graffiti.

Andrew Topliss, Head of Ceramics commented: “Our ceramics students are not just taught the technical skills necessary to hand-build, model, decorate, glaze and fire. They are honing their ability to make judgements based on evidence and instinct; learning to overcome challenges by treading a path between an emotional response and an intellectual one; and developing the flexibility to make good a wrong decision or explore an unexpected opportunity. All good skills for a ceramics student, but just as valued in the workplace, which is why we were delighted to accept Schroders kind invitation to exhibit in their offices.”

Rupert Robinson, CEO of Schroders Private Banking, commented: “We were delighted to be able to offer Mayfield's students the opportunity to exhibit their sculptures at our London office. The response from both employees and clients has been overwhelmingly positive. The talent of the students has shone through in their work.”