EDITOR'S NOTE: Just as work commenced on the online exhibition Benches at 30, we received an email from John Bennett, an art teacher at London's St Thomas More RC School. John told us the Year 10 GCSE students were undertaking a Tom Phillips project using Benches and other postcard-based works as inspiration.

The project overview is as follows:

The pupils were firstly made aware of the painting 'Benches' and other related or similar works. A brief introduction to Tom Phillips' work familiarised them with these recurring themes in particular:

• Stencil lettering
• Colour catalogues / stripes
• Word paintings (e.g. 'Portrait of Cratylus')
• Use of postcards as source material
• Framing devices

Initially, the students practiced using the stencil lettering designs, either copying freehand or tracing them in order to produce overlapping text. This experimentation is important in GCSE coursework.

We thank Mr. Bennett and his students for taking Tom's work as inspiration, and for sharing them with <tomphillips.co.uk>.

tomphillips.co.uk  > >  Paintings and Drawings