Description

In July 1996, Edinburgh College of Art offered a Masterclass with the Italian-Scottish sculptor, Eduardo Paolozzi. He particularly wanted to run this course in his home city. Paolozzi was born in Leith, the eldest son of Italian immigrants. He left Scotland after studying at Edinburgh College of Art to pursue further studies in London and to establish an international reputation as a sculptor. Plans for two previous classes elsewhere had fallen through. The selection process chose 17 students with widely different backgrounds. Plunged into ten days of unconventional tutoring, each found widely differing responses. Paolozzi asked the members of the class to keep a diary of their time with him. Ann Shaw, a former journalist with The Glasgow Herald, documented her days and recorded scenes of chaos and progress. Her unabridged account is illustrated throughout with some of the photographs she took as the appointed 'official' class photographer. Paolozzi is seen as human, vulnerable, gracious and rude, inspiring and shy.