St Clare's tribute to Michael Stanley (1975-2012)

Staff and students in the Arts Department were deeply saddened to hear the news of the death of the young Director of Modern Art Oxford (MAO), Michael Stanley.

Since joining MAO as Director in January 2009 Michael Stanley transformed this venue in our city. Patrick Reece (IB graduate 2010) edited a video of Michael Stanley speaking at the beginning of his tenure about his plans and ambitions.

He rejuvenated MAO and visits to exhibitions organized by him have borne fruit with our students. I think in particular of the Thomas Housego exhibition in late 2010 which inspired focus on large scale figure sculptures amongst our students.

This year's Internal Assessment commented: “The 3-D focus in candidates' work overall is to be commended. The students have benefited from a focused programme requiring them to investigate a range of media and techniques in year one and from exhibition visits, especially Thomas Houseago”.

Most recently our students have been stimulated by the Jenny Saville exhibition and are still working through their responses to this show.

September