Illustration lecturer awarded prestigious Mount Athos Bursary

A senior lecturer in Illustration from Bath Spa University has received a grant to travel to Greece to visit the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos and record drawings and paintings.

Tim Vyner, from the Bath School of Art and Design, received the Mount Athos Bursary from the Royal College of Art (RCA). He will be making three separate trips to Greece over the coming year where he will record in paintings and drawings, the twenty monasteries and a selection of Sketes which will form a contemporary record of this unique location.

The culmination of the visits will be an exhibition of Tim’s art work at the Mount Athos Centre in Thessaloniki, and in London, as well as a printed portfolio book of the collection.

As part of the award, Tim will have the opportunity to live and experience a way of life unchanged for almost a 1,000 years.

He said: “It is a really exciting bursary to be awarded from the RCA, and a great privilege to be granted permission to work in such a remarkable place.

“Over the last decade I have become used to drawing and reporting on major sporting events where the pace of activities is frantic and the pressure to produce work quickly in large crowds is high. This project really appeals as it presents an opportunity to reflect on my current practice by visiting a series of 20 Orthodox Monasteries several times in a year, where the routine of life has changed very little.

“My first visit will be over the Easter break. When I return I am looking forward to telling the BA Graphic Communication and Illustration students I teach all about life in the Monasteries where I won't have access to most of the technology we all take for granted in our work. I still plan to take an iPad and use it as a sketchbook alongside traditional drawing, painting and print-making.”

Last year, Tim was The Times artist covering the London 2012 Olympic Games and captured the atmosphere of the Games for the newspaper on a daily basis. He used an iPad for his sketches and created illustrations in the lead up to the Games including the Torch relay as well as three daily illustrations throughout The Games.

The BA (Hons) Graphic Communication course is a challenging, critical and diverse programme to develop students’ individual ability to design and communicate visually across or within a specialist area. A wide range of careers are open to students including graphic design, art direction, illustration, animation, interactive media, advertising, motion graphics, photography, and publishing.