Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools - an interview with Eileen Cooper RA

Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools - an interview with Eileen Cooper RA

20 February, 2012
by: Tom Jeffreys

Ahead of the Premiums exhibition this March, Tom Jeffreys talks to Eileen Cooper, the first woman Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools.

The appointment of Tracey Emin as Professor of Drawing back in December may have garnered most of the media attention, but there was arguably a far more significant decision announced a few months earlier: the appointment of Eileen Cooper RA as the first woman Keeper in the 243-year history of the Royal Academy Schools.

“It was a huge step for me to take,” Eileen tells me in the Schools' famous Life Drawing Room, as we sit on the same semi-circular benches once occupied by the likes of Turner and Constable. “Fortunately,” she continues, “this is such a unique place and I think it's still very artist-led. So you can still do this job and put your practice first.”

The Keeper, elected from among Royal Academicians, is responsible for the Schools for a period of three years, and Eileen is right to use the word unique. Not only is the institution the only three-year postgraduate art school in the UK, but it is also completely free, with funding coming from sales at the Royal Academy's annual Summer Exhibition, as well as admission fees to other exhibitions, fund-raising activities and contributions from Friends and Patrons. “We're passionate about that,” Eileen enthuses, “and we have the backing of the academicians to keep it free.”

This is because, in some ways, the Schools are at the very heart of the Royal Academy, not just physically, but in terms of priorities too. As Eileen puts it, “the Schools are central to the whole ethos of the Academy. Earning funds through exhibitions to support the next generation is absolutely essential.” The result is impressive competition for places – 600 applicants for just17 each year – as well as “fantastic tutor-student ratios” and, importantly, independence: “we don't have to jump through the hoops of validation that so many of the other art schools do.”

Eileen's role since taking over has therefore been one of stewardship rather than radical change, but there are still elements where she is making her mark. The most high profile of course has been the appointment of Emin, alongside Fiona Rae as Professor of Painting and Richard Wilson as Professor Sculpture. These decisions represent the kind of vision that Eileen has for the Schools, both in terms of process – “They're my appointments but I work very much with a team.” – and in terms of the elevation of women. “Perhaps the Academy has really been a male club,” she ponders, “not for the past 20 years but before that it certainly was, and women were in the minority. It's completely changed now. It's still not 50/50, but women have a much bigger voice here now.”

Eileen's vision for the Schools is also very skills-based – something that finally seems to be coming back into London's art schools. Having previously been Head of Printmaking, Eileen is an advocate of workshops for students. “I think that good technical staff help people to do ambitious and better work,” she explains. “We've got very ambitious students, but sometimes they don't have enough experience or understanding to make some of the things they want to make. So we run a broad range of workshops to try and help them achieve their vision.”

This emphasis on the hands-on is tempered by an understanding of the importance of meeting students half-way. “You can't go in and simply enforce the things you're interested in,” she says, “that's ridiculous! The greatest thing about teaching is that you're constantly learning. That's why I keep on – it's not just what I can say to them, it's just as much what they can say to me.”

This nuanced approach has its first public outing this March, in the form of Premiums, a two-week long exhibition of work by second year students from the Schools. For the first time, the exhibition will take place not in the Royal Academy's Sackler Galleries but round the back in the rather sumptuous surroundings of 6 Burlington Gardens, until recently home to Haunch of Venison and Christie's Museum of Mankind. Eileen is taking the opportunity offered by a change in venue to shift the emphasis of the Premiums exhibition.

In the past Premiums was fairly closely curated by the Keeper and the head of second year, but this time Eileen believes it should be “a chance for us to let the students have much more of a direct involvement in curating it themselves, doing work which is a little bit more site-specific to the building.” To that end, Eileen emphasises that while a whole team of staff are involved, it's “more of a student-led event”. She's also enthusiastic about keeping room for spontaneity and experimentation. “I'd like it to be less about finished work,” she says”, “and maybe more about works-in-progress. It should be an opportunity for students to try new ideas out.”

It's certainly an amazing opportunity for students to exhibit their work in such surroundings. It's also a great opportunity for the public to view (and buy) works by some of the most exciting young artists in the country, artists whose careers will no doubt benefit from the intelligent stewardship of Eileen Cooper.


Premiums 2012 is at the Royal Academy from Friday 2nd to Thursday 15th March.

Images credits l-r: Eileen Cooper; Marie Von Heyl (part of Premiums 2012)

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Tom Jeffreys