Cardiff School of Art & Design opened in 1865 as the Cardiff School of Science & Art with lessons initially taking place on the top floor of the Cardiff Free Library and Museum. In 1867 a distinct School of Art was formed, based on the Art Night School, with 65 young pupils aged between 9 and 17. In 1868 an older intake was accepted, of 50 'artisan' students between 17 and 25 years old. In 1966, a new six-story campus was built in Howard Gardens, Cardiff, with large studios facing north. The building was designed by the Cardiff City Architect, John Dryburgh. The School merged with other colleges in 1976 to become part of South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education. It is the oldest constituent part of Cardiff Metropolitan University. In 2013, Cardiff Metropolitan University put its 2.25 acre Howard Gardens campus up for sale with the intention of moving to a new site in summer 2014. The School now occupies a brand new purpose built building at the university's Llandaff Campus. This new building has extensive purpose built studios and workshops and includes the MIT FabLab, the Perceptual Experience Laboratory, the Schools Foundry and Ceramics facilities as well as its undergraduate, postgraduate and research studios and workshops.
About CSAD
Cardiff School of Art & Design was assessed as one of the top 40 destinations to study art and design in the UK by guardian.co.uk in 2010. , CSAD has eleven undergraduate programmes CSAD has eight postgraduate programmes. CSAD also offers doctoral research degrees leading to Research Doctorate and also Professional Doctorate and the MRes research training programme. CSAD has a number of partner colleges who deliver its Art & Design Foundation Diploma, HNCs, Foundation Degrees and a further BA on its behalf as well as close links with Ffotogallery, Cardiff and Cardiff University Medical School. It has research affiliations and study exchange agreements with numerous other UK, EU and International Universities. CSAD is affiliated with the Association of Commonwealth Universities, European University Association, and University Alliance.
Research
The school's Art and Design research is conducted through the Wales Institute for Research in Art and Design. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise the Art & Design panel rated 95% of the research submission as international standard, with 70% rated as either Internationally Excellent or World Leading. It is home to a number of highly regarded international standard research groups which range across the humanities, art, design and sciences as well as the Centre for Ceramic studies.
Cardiff Open Art School
The Cardiff Open Art School is part of the School, and runs classes in photography, ceramics, life drawing, printmaking and several other disciplines for part-time students in the Cardiff area in particular through the School's relationship with FFotogallery and tactileBOSCH, Cardiff.
Awards
In June 2010, the CSAD Summer Degree Show was voted the best in the UK for painting by Artists and Illustrators magazine. In 2009, CSAD won both a HEIST bronze award and a best publication award at the Association of Commonwealth Universities Annual Marketing and Communications awards.
Global Partnerships
Quality Assurance International together with Planet EDU offer a number of awards closely based on the Cardiff School of Art & design curriculum. These awards run up to diploma level in a number of centres across India. The School has exchange partners right across the world as diverse and far afield as Australia, California, Mexico, Reunion, India, South Korea, Egypt and Lebanon as well as Erasmus partners around Europe all of whom offer Cardiff School of Art & Design students opportunities for travel and exchange.
Notable staff
Evan Charlton, head of the Art School from 1938 to 1945.
Shirazeh Houshiary, junior fellow 1979-80. Turner Prize nominee in 1994
Glyn Jones, head of the School of Fine Art from 1972 to 2001. Credited with rescuing the 56 Group Wales.
Ceri Richards, head of painting during World War II.
Frank Roper, sculpture lecturer, later vice principal, from 1947 to 1973.
