Young Art is now in it’s 36th year
Here Fernanda Herford, who helped organise the first YA exhibition, tells us the story of how it all came together and how it has grown over the last three decades...
In the beginning there was a London Ladies Committee (which eventually became Young Art) raising funds for cancer research. They were planning to have a Halloween party in a dreary room decorated with children’s pictures to cheer it up. It was suggested that a more interesting idea would be a children’s art exhibition and I persuaded the RCA to rent the college coffee bar area for this exhibition. Caroline MacAdam Clark judged the paintings and 120 were exhibited.
The Rector of the RCA at the time, Sir Jocelyn Stevens, heard about this from his granddaughter who was exhibiting and gave Gallery 1 to the first Exhibition, which is one of the galleries at the RCA that YA still uses 30 years later. He also gave the children chocolate biscuits, a tradition continued today with a donation from McVitie’s.
The exhibition was such a success, raising £2,000 in 1990, that it continued on an annual basis. It grew and grew with the number of schools, judges and pictures exhibited gradually increasing every year. New Committee members also joined, some of whom still help today.
In the early days Prof Ken Howard RA became a judge; his wife had recently died of cancer and he has supported YA most of the 30 years as patron, judge and generous donor. Other judges have included Prof Humphrey Ocean RA who has been a wonderful supporter over the years and attends every year always spotting young talent and very insistent we give his endorsement to the young exhibitors. Prof Sir Christopher Frayling, the then Rector of the RCA, has been an enthusiastic supporter from the early days and still visits YA every year, awarding his own prize.