This month, RickyNews spoke to the artist-in-residence at the Royal Masonic School for Girls (RMS), Lydia Smith, on her newest sculptures and what it takes to become a successful artist.
Multimedia artist Lydia Smith was initially invited to RMS to teach sculpture, before becoming the school’s artist-in-residence with a “community-driven art project” in mind. Alongside her big project, Lydia is eager to share her experiences as a successful young female artist with the next generation.
She explained: “Part of my role at RMS is to mentor the girls who are interested in doing art at university. I’m here to help the girls develop artistically, but it’s not just that. When I was their age, no one told me how to make it commercially – the public speaking, networking, social media, expenses – so I’m passionate about educating young artists on how to build a profile in the big wide world, especially the young women who are still facing a gender pay gap in the art industry.”
Whilst teaching her students about life as a contemporary artist, Lydia designed and built four outdoor sculptures inspired by the school’s values of ambition, perseverance, courage and kindness. She also enlisted the students’ help along the way.
“Courage and kindness are values that people don’t always think go together,” she mused. “But being kind is not a weakness – it’s a sign of strength and it takes courage. So one of the sculptures moves from angular to round, merging somewhere along the loop, like two different parts embracing each other.”
The sculptures were unveiled to parents, pupils and guests at RMS on Tuesday, March 19, as part of an exhibition titled The Values We Share. At the ceremonial event, Lydia commended two students for their dedication to the RMS sculptures and wished them luck in their future artistic endeavours.
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