School of Art

Contact Details

School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk

History

The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth was founded in 1872 and its Museum established in 1876. In time the Museum outgrew its space and the material was devolved to individual departments who formed and developed their own collections: Art, Geography, Physics, Zoology etc. The Art and Crafts Museum was established in 1918 and administered by the Department of Art until the outbreak of the Second World War it was disbanded as a museum and the collections dispersed around college buildings or put into storage.

University College of Wales Building on the seafront, Aberystwyth.

University College of Wales Building on the seafront, Aberystwyth.




Whilst inventories were maintained throughout the 1950s and 1960s, it was not until 1978 that a College Collections Committee was formed as a Joint Council/Senate committee with responsibility for all collections. In 1984, the graphic art collection was housed in the purpose-built Catherine Lewis Gallery in the Hugh Owen Library and the Ceramics Gallery opened at Aberystwyth Arts Centre in 1986.

Catherine Lewis Gallery.

Catherine Lewis Gallery.



In 1993 the School of Art moved to the Edward Davies Building and formed the School of Art Gallery and Museum; four years later the Catherine Lewis Gallery and Print Room closed and the Graphic Art Collection was transferred to the School of Art. In 1998 the College Collections Committee was replaced by the School of Art Collection Committee when administration of the funds designated for the purposes of continuing the Art Collections was transferred to the School of Art.





 
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