Psalter lane art college - the end

[Yog Sothoth]

Well what a happy/sad day!

Me and The White Rose had a wander up to Psalter Lane saturday afternoon to find the place pretty quiet; a few visitors, a few students dismantling their work, and folks setting up for the party in the evening. After taking a few pics, we went down the road to Sheffield Pride and had a great time there , before wandering back up th the art college, which by this time was filling up with people; students, staff and ex-of both.

 

There was a hog roast, a vegetarian food stand, two bars serving two real ales and a real cider (at decent prices!), an art auction and DJs, one of whom was Jerry Dammers of The Specials, who played a great set of ska, reggae and soul, even though a lot of the students didn't seem to know who he was.

 

It was a bit like a wedding reception to start off with, nobody dancing, everyone standing and waiting for someone else to, so The White Rose said 'sod this!' and got up to dance. I was up soon after. Funny, this great music being played and the only people dancing a couple of 40-summats, while all the art students stood around, too cool to dance!

 

Eventually though, the dancefloor filled up and by the time we left at midnight, it was rammed. It was meant to finish at 12.30 so I hope we didn't miss too much, but we were getting tired after a long day and we were also a bit drunk.

 

Congratulations to Jeff, the organiser, and thanks to the great Jerry Dammers. It was sad to leave there for perhaps the last time...

[the white rose]

couldn't have summed it up better myself yog.

 

and i re-met, for the first time in 30 years, skip who was a fellow student in '77 and the photographer responsible for my first ever photo-shoot, snogging another student, tim - you can see these pics either on my blog article, RIP Psalter Lane Art College 1843 - 2008 or on the Psalter Lane Art College facebook group which already has almost 40 members and i only set it up at the weekend! please spread the word about it because ex students are already starting to upload pics of their work...

 

whilst remembering and cherishing memories of the past (and assembling an archive of photographs from psalter lane, which the facebook group is just one small part of i hope) i think it's important to look forwards to the future now.

 

the art students will be located bang in the middle of sheffield's bubbling cultural industries quarter, the CIQ, and much as i treasured my time at psalter lane, i believe, quite honestly, that in the current climate, the students' presence in the heart of the CIQ will be good for sheffield's artistic future. there is so much going for sheffield, artistically now, imo this is one of its most creative periods in recent years - we've got the indy showroom cinema, not only a great cinema but also host to the largest international documentary film festival in the UK, sheffield docfest, as well as host to sheffield adventure film festival, ShAFF, we've got the workstation which is a hub of creative businesses, the site gallery with its fantastic facilities and brill cafe, we've got the fabulous sheaf square fountains with its cutting edge design, the wonderful mosaic water feature near sheffield hallam uni main entrance and SHU students have got the landmark hubs building for their union, plus the art students will be right next door to the rutland arms with its traditional interior and beautiful beer garden, when open one of the best public houses in sheffield!

 

and not only all this, but SHU is now getting a fashion design course, and dame vivienne westwood has just been up here to open one of her exhibitions at the fabulous millenium gallery! (and what a great night that was!) - and dame vivienne is bascially the queen of art, right? (along with princess tracey (emin) ) so...sheffield is in a great place right now, and here's to the future as one of the UK's most important artistic cities.

[the white rose]

of the pics i took of the final day, ive posted my faves in this blog entry but the entire set are on a flickr set here.

[P.Johnston]

Hiyas. My name is Peter Johnston from Belfast and I'm an ex-Psalter Lane Fine Art student (in experimental film and video) from 1984-85. (I had the nickname Seamus... for some reason). I was hoping you lovely folks on this site might be able to help me get back in contact with some of my fellow film students from that year. I took a year out to go sell posters in the States and ended up not getting back to finish my degree in Sheffield. I worked with Jamie Fry (ABC Martin Fry's brother). Barry Callaghan was my tutor. Please advise.

 

FYI - After many journeys I finally finished a BA (twenty years later), then MA and am just finishing a PhD in Film at Queen's Belfast. Check out my current projects 15SecondFilmFestival.com and MediaZoo.ie

[fling]

Hiyas. My name is Peter Johnston from Belfast and I'm an ex-Psalter Lane Fine Art student (in experimental film and video) from 1984-85. (I had the nickname Seamus... for some reason). I was hoping you lovely folks on this site might be able to help me get back in contact with some of my fellow film students from that year. I took a year out to go sell posters in the States and ended up not getting back to finish my degree in Sheffield. I worked with Jamie Fry (ABC Martin Fry's brother). Barry Callaghan was my tutor. Please advise.

 

FYI - After many journeys I finally finished a BA (twenty years later), then MA and am just finishing a PhD in Film at Queen's Belfast. Check out my current projects 15SecondFilmFestival.com and MediaZoo.ie

 

Seamus, sorry Peter.

A good idea would be try the alumni section of SHU website.

 

http://www.shu.ac.uk/alumniconnect/

[Steptoad]

I didn't go to Psalter Lane Art College, But I wish I had. I lived just down Psalter Lane and used to love seeing the sculptures outside the college.

 

Any hoo, I found this little piece on how the colleg looks now.

 

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=50826&highlight=Psalter+Lane

[carus9000]

i worked at psalter for 3 yrs on security, and the place was fantastic, the staff and students it was like a little family.

 

unfortunatly the place to refurb was a money pit and shu ploughed money after money into the place. one of the biggest problems with this site was the amount of asbestos in the building. the place is covered with it from the risers to the boiler rooms even the workshops had it around pipe lagging.

 

shame really but great memorys

 

rip psalter

[Jason210]

I left the UK in 2000 to live in Sweden, although I come back from time to time. I was last there during summer 2012. Drove out to the Peak District and on the way back decided to take a detour along Psalter Lane to look at my old Art College. It was gone.

 

I did not know it had been closed, so it came as a shock to me to see it razed as I drove past. I was there in 1986/87 on the Foundation Course. Trevor Faulkner ran it then, along with another guy (Mike?). I also remember Ed Meyer, the eccentric Art History lecturer we had. There was Scottish teacher I remember, Myra, but the rest are just fading faces. I really enjoyed being there for that year, and made some good friends there. I'm sorry it's gone.

 

As a footnote, prior to that, I had attended Stocksbridge School Sixth form, and some of the A levels I was studying were at Stocksbridge College, both the main building on Hole House Lane, and also the Annexe on Carr road. Now also gone - main building demolished, annexe converted to flats. Sad.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Jason210

[Jeffrey Shaw]

But the Psalter Lane site is still there, awaiting redevelopment as it has been for a long while.

Sheffield Hallam University said this in June 2012:

 

We are writing to keep you up to date with the development plans for the former Psalter Lane Campus. You may have attended the open event at the Salvation Army last month or have spoken with us directly, in which case you will be aware of the proposed plans drawn up for the site which have been amended and developed further as appropriate in light of feedback. In summary the development includes 62 dwellings which will be a mix of 2 bedroom flats and 3 - 5 bedroom houses. The accommodation is not aimed at students and retains the original Bluecoats school building in the design. We have achieved sustainable homes code 3 which is very positive and we are preserving the majority of trees on site as well as creating new gardens and shared green spaces. Overall, we believe this represents an exciting development, which complements the surrounding area.

 

We have now submitted the proposed plans for the former Psalter lane Campus to the planning department for consideration. You can see these at http://publicaccess.sheffield.gov.uk/online-applications and the planning application number is 12/01660/FUL.

[Jason210]

It's the Art College I'm being sentimental about, not stone walls.

 

It was a special feeling being there - I'd just left school and suddenly there I was amidst all these artists in this wonderful leafty suburb, seperate from the main campuses in a world of our own. Unique staff, unique lecturers, uniques students, and a unique atmosphere.

 

The preserved old building will be nothing more than a shadow of a a reminder of what was once there, something I can point out to my children and say, ok, that was once part of the old art college I went to. It doesn't mean very much!