Room 13 Summer School, Courses,  Painting Holidays and Artists Expeditions in 2008:

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There is more to Room 13 than meets the eye...

Room 13 was founded in 1994, but the ideas inherent in the project began in Edinburgh College of Art in the 1970s, and were developed and refined through artist-in-residence posts held by the project founder, Rob Fairley.

During his time as artist in residence with Highland council, Fairley worked closely with a number of primary schools and after the residency he was asked by the students to become artist in residence at Caol Primary School.

"Room 13 is a meritocracy that places visual literacy, the ability to think and the skills of visual expression at its heart."

The unspoken aims of Room 13 are the provision of philosophical and moral discipline and training through the visual arts and to maintain a state of intellectual and artistic development across all ages. At its core is a belief in the importance of each individual’s integrity, and the importance of the expression of that individuality.

"Its stimulus was exasperation at the lack of interest in teaching visual literacy as a general subject and the lack of interest in teaching the basic technical skills necessary to express ideas through visual imagery."

The teaching in Room 13 is unlike anything one is likely to come across in a primary school, or indeed a secondary school. Each Room 13 studio facilitates the work of young artists alongside a professional adult Artist in Residence. Simply by approaching children as artists and intellectual equals, Room 13 combines artistic development with the basic skills required to run a successful business, since each management team must meet the running costs of their own studio.

Each Room 13 studio is organised and run completely by the students themselves. An elected management team is responsible for the day to day running of the studio - this includes making sure the studio is stocked with materials, keeping the working environment & office in order, overseeing the cleaning and maintenance of equipment, dealing with correspondence & administration. The management team must also keep track of the finances in their own studio's bank account and make sure all invoices are paid. In Room 13, no adult is allowed to sign the cheques!

Room 13 is an open door to any student who is interested. It is not age or ability specific and there is no coercion. Students come because they wish to and stay for as long as they want. The only criteria are that they must negotiate their time off with their teacher and ensure that all classwork is up to date.

Slowly and organically Room 13 has grown from a one-day-a-week voluntary project ongoing between Rob Fairley and the children of Caol Primary, into a developing organisation that has an international reputation for creating high quality artwork and pushing the boundries in all forms of creative education.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of all those who have been involved with the project over the years, we have gained the support of many organisations and individuals worldwide and with that the Room 13 organisation continues to grow.