Jane Allison

My earliest memory is of paint - blue powder paint drying in my baby brother’s gossamer-fine hair - and I wanted to be an artist from that moment on. This was encouraged by my mother , an artist herself, who kept me permanently supplied with a vast array of art materials and was blithely oblivious to any mess or spillages. Whilst art at school was dull and vaguely discouraged by the headmistress who made it very clear that, while art might be a very nice hobby, a more sensible choice of career would be preferable, I was immensely fortunate to be born at a time when there was still an art school in Guildford. Classes for children on Saturday mornings were run by artists , with no formal teaching qualifications who were wonderfully bohemian and tremendously inspiring. By the age of twelve I had graduated to evening life classes and from then on art school was inevitable!

I arrived at Chelsea School of Art at the height of the Punk era when the Kings Road was still full of independent shops and well before health and safety had removed all the character from art schools. In those days they took very few students and we were privileged beings with free paint allowances and parties with the tutors every Friday where the gin flowed an...

Chelsea School of Art - 1st Class BA Hons
Slade School of Fine Art - Slade School Higher Diploma (MA)