Artist Mary Evans has been appointed the new director of Slade School of Fine Art in London, succeeding Kieren Reed who has been in place since September 2018 and will leave for a sabbatical.
Evans will join from her current position as leader of the undergraduate fine art course at Chelsea College of Arts, University Arts London, and has also taught at Central Saint Martins. A solo exhibition of her work, titled GILT, is currently on show at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town.
In a statement, Evans said: ‘It will be a privilege to work in an environment that offers a transformative education to emerging artists, where students and staff can express themselves and take risks in an increasingly equitable environment at this important moment when diverse knowledges are relevant and necessary.’
Evans will be the first Black director of Slade. The school has had a turbulent few years following student protests over studio space during the COVID-19 lockdowns, a 2021 student demonstration called #sladeoccupied, and a published independent report stating that ‘Slade’s recruitment panels are not sufficiently diverse and recruitment processes are not consistently applied’.
Evans will take up her new role on 4 October 2023.
