Valerie Heinz (1942-48)

Press, 4 June 1982, Page 13

Valerie Heinz (1942-48)

"I still feel the shadow of Cecil Kelly around me when I am painting,” says Valerie Heinz, 34 years after leaving art school. Like Sutton, she believes the school's best legacy was the attitudes promulgated through its staff. "They were devoted teachers and they were also the leading Canterbury artists of the period — the best stuff at every exhibition was theirs. So they inspired their students.” .

The school generated enthusiasm for art; enthusiasm carried into secondary schools by students who, like Heinz, became teachers. “If you wanted to earn a living that was the only way of doing it,” says Heinz, who is head of the art department at Christchurch Girls’ High School, and who has painted in her spare time since going teaching. She regards her art school training as the basis of her career. The school was stifled by the war in the 19405. It. was isolated and there was a shortage of art books and materials.

After the war ended, Heinz says, changes in staff, struc-

ture, and students caused a gradual rejuvenation. An influx of former servicemen on rehabilitation bursaries who had “seen the world” brought their seriousness and experience.

“The school changed,” she adds. “It was still academic and conservative but there was movement forward.” But it was not until the 1950 s that the school’s outmoded traditions were challenged by a more secure, affluent generation of students. For Heinz, the school was a stepping stone to one of London’s leading art schools, the Regency Polytechnic.