Articulation Alumni Network
Our growing network for over 450 former Articulation Prize participants
About
The network works in partnership with alumni to create professional development opportunities including work experience and professional training. It is also a social group with alumni events taking place in the National Gallery as well as in other institutions across the country.
At the National Gallery
Articulation alumni have been invited to take part in National Gallery programming including writing the Picture of the Month, delivering Members’ talks, and taking part in panel discussions. Alumni are now planning upcoming seminars and workshops across the country.
Below you can watch alumna Temi talking to the audience at the 2024 Grand Final about her Articulation experience:
Alumni Day at the National Gallery
Every summer, alumni come together for an annual Alumni day which includes a tour and introduction to an art space and art professionals. This is a social day for alumni to get to know each other as well as gain access to art professionals and different elements (perhaps unknown) of the art world. In July 2024, alumni gathered at the National Gallery and had tours of the collection as well as going behind-the-scenes into the Conservation Department and also into the Research Centre where they met conservators, archivists, and curators. Alumni also had the opportunity to give feedback in shaping the future of the Alumni network.
During the evening, some alumni gave public gallery talks as part of the Friday Late.
Alumna Femi delivered a poetic response to the public on Giampietrino’s ‘Salome’ as part of the Friday Late programme. Part of her response is transcribed here:
"I look to Salome, arms spread ready to receive our shared joy, only to be met with a look of horror as she stares at the head cradled on the platter like waxed fruit. She turns to me, slowly, gently, a disturbed confusion dancing across the wet glaze of her eyes. She holds the platter by the tips of her fingers as though it were scalding hot, palms pulling away from its joints. She knew what she had asked for, what she had been given, but only now do I see that she hadn't understood what it had meant. Gripped in hand and hanging from dark curls, the severed neck drips, weighted and sharp, each drop a ringing cry cutting through the silence."
Art Friends of Cambridgeshire
Image: Craig Clunas (left) speaking with Temi Erinle (right)
Alumna Temi Erinle (2020, V&A) spoke on Exekias’s 'Attic Black figure Amphora, 540‐530 BC', which was followed by Craig Clunas, Professor Emeritus of the History of Art, University of Oxford who spoke on 'Doubts about Modern Art in China: A Tale of Two Xu'.
All the proceeds from the event were donated to Articulation.
Alumni supporting young voices
Alumni support and encourage peers to take part in the Articulation Prize by presenting at online sessions, giving Prize participants feedback and tips during online mentoring sessions and helping to facilitate Discovery Days held in their local museums and galleries.
3 blocks
Picture of the Month
Two alumni were asked to choose an image from the National Gallery collection and write a personal response. Picture of the Month is the National Gallery’s oldest continuing programme, beginning in the WWII.
Read alumna Catherine’s response to Rubens’s ‘Roman Triumph’ – October 2023
Read alumna Nicole’s response to Murillo’s ‘Infant Saint John with the Lamb’ - July 2022
Summer on the Square
Multiple alumni gave talks and worked the National Gallery’s summer programme – Summer on the Square. This included working with children, families, and also delivering gallery talks on artworks.
The Bell Carpet
Alumni were invited to by The Girdlers' Company to visit their famous Bell Carpet. Alumni were greeted by former National Gallery director, Neil MacGregor OM, who spoke to alumni about this masterpiece of weaving and its international heritage. Out of this, alumni will take this experience forward, planning seminars and workshops around carpets, international artistic transfer, and the meaning of textiles. This will inform National Gallery programming.
Alumni stories
Read what some of our Alumni had to say about their experience of the Articulation Prize:
"The Articulation Prize was a catalyst for my subsequent studies in Art History. While at university, the opportunity to work on Discovery Days was invaluable experience. I learnt so much about facilitating conversation and encouraging close-looking and confident delivery. The opportunity to assist on these Discovery Days with no prior experience (and a lot to learn!) was a rare and valuable opportunity which gave me the confidence to continue engaging in gallery-based education and helped me get my current job at the National Portrait Gallery."
Beatrice Dallas, Articulation alumna
"I never felt as if I was a natural public speaker, but through talking about art and having the encouragement of the Articulation team, I was able to build a foundation of confidence when presenting. Four years later I am now in a job that involves a lot of presenting and talking to people. Before Articulation this would have been unimaginable!"
Articulation alumni