Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College

The West Surrey College of Art and Design (1969-1995) then Surrey Institute of Art & Design, (University College) (1994-2005) was a leading art college in the United Kingdom. It merged with the Kent Institute of Art & Design on August 1, 2005 to form the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham and Rochester, now the University for the Creative Arts.

Evolution

The Farnham School of Art was founded in 1866. The Guildford School of Art followed in 1870. The two conjoined to become the West Surrey College of Art and Design in 1969. In 1994 there was a further merger with the Epsom School of Art, with the combined institution renamed the Surrey Institute of Art & Design a year later. These two former colleges formed the basis for the two main campuses of the school. In 1999, the college was granted university college status and took on its last name.

Until its 2005 merger it was the second largest specialist art and design institution in the country with the largest being the University of the Arts, London. A 3,500 yearly student intake was reached during its final years. As with that institution and the more restricted, typically established professional intake to the Royal College of Art, Surrey Institute gained degree-awarding powers independent of a university. As such it was degree validating partner to The Arts Institute at Bournemouth.

UCA has now sold the Maidstone campus at Oakwood Park to MidKent college and has completely withdrawn from the location. However the University still also either validates or provides courses at Maidstone Studios (TV production) and the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace.

Notable alumni

• Piers Baker, cartoon illustrator and creator of the comic strip Ollie and Quentin
• Jason Barker, Professor of Cultural Studies Kyung Hee University and film director
• Linda Barker, TV presenter
• Cecily Brown, painter
• Geoffrey Burnand, painter
• Davide Cinzi, cinematographer
• Jack Coutu, printmaker and sculptor
• Keith Devlin, Visual Effects Supervisor
• Michaël Dudok de Wit, animator
• Gareth Edwards, film director (Godzilla)
• Anna Fox, documentary photographer
• Andrew Gray, graphic designer
• Neil Haddon, painter
• Annabel Jankel, animator and film director
• Dominic Mitchell, screenwriter/playwright, creator of In The Flesh
• Morten Mørland, political cartoonist
• Grant Orchard, animator and director
• Anthony Pakrosnis, tambourinist
• Kim Papworth, advertising guru
• Tony Scrivener, painter
• Chris Shepherd, animator and director
• Suzie Templeton, animator and director
• Alan Thornhill, sculptor and former potter
• Darren Walsh, animator and director
• Doug Walshe, steadicam operator and DOP
• Mary Wondrausch, artist potter and writer
• Simon Bor, Sara Bor (née Hirst) animation directors & producers
• Kathi Käppel, illustrator and animation director
• James Self, Painter
• Lance Nielsen, writer and director, film and theatre
• Simon Basher, artist, illustrator and author
• Owen Bell, illustrator

External links

• University for the Creative Arts – official website