Croydon’s Unfairly Overlooked Artistic Heritage – And Equally Inspiring Present And Future

It’s not a major surprise to us that so many of the people who inquire about ISLAND’s available apartments to rent in Croydon are art lovers or even artists themselves; after all, if you’re a culture vulture, you could hardly choose a more stimulating and exciting place to live.

Living within the ISLAND tower places you a mere few minutes’ walks away from the extensive transport connections that will enable you to quickly discover London’s many world-leading art galleries and museums – from the National Gallery to Tate Modern.

But is Croydon an artistically interesting place in its own right? The answer is: yes! It might help, though, to know where to look...

One of the UK’s most celebrated art schools

Croydon School of Art was established in 1868 and can count among its former students such influential cultural figures as Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh and (more recently) The Great British Bake Off fame, the late Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and Turner Prize nominees Helen Chadwick and Sean Scully.

Today, the art school is part of Croydon College and offers acclaimed courses in such fields as art, design, fashion, music, media and the performing arts. So if you fancy becoming a famous creative yourself as a resident of Croydon, it’s not exactly the worst starting point...  

A renowned historic art collection

Like many local councils across the UK, Croydon Council has long had a forward-thinking attitude to art, as continues to be reflected in the Croydon Art Collection that now consists of more than 2,000 works – encompassing paintings, prints, drawings and sketches from down the centuries.

You can peruse many of the highlights of the collection on the Art UK website, which photographs and digitalizes the country’s artworks in public ownership.

Street art’s a big deal in Croydon, too

Croydon is continuing to develop its arty offerings in new and interesting ways in the 2010s, with a great example of this being the sterling work of RISEgallery with the Arts Quarter. This is a constantly expanding, community-focused project that has already seen artists make use of public spaces to show their work to a local audience, with the exact pieces on display changing every few months.

Many have even declared Croydon to be London’s new street-art epicenter, such as the fascinating abundance of murals, installations, and sculptures that can now be appreciated around the borough. Indeed, so successful has the scheme been, that many of the artworks – by artists such as Lauren Baker, Otto Schade, and David Hollier – have now been made permanent.

With an exciting artistic past, present and future, Croydon really does serve up almost everything to those who wish to immerse themselves in some of the most interesting urban cultural developments of the early 21^st century. Apartments to rent in Croydon such as those within our own ISLAND development could help you to make an ‘artier’ life a reality. 

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Created on Mar 8th 2019 23:42. Viewed 258 times.

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