A FORMER Ridgeway School student has hit the big time in the art world after a successful exhibition with the Royal College of Arts.

Elizabeth Drury first found a love of art as a young child growing up in Wroughton.

Now, the 25-year-old has just completed a Masters in Fine Arts (Painting) at the prestigious university in London.

Specialising in large scale graphite artwork, Elizabeth accepted her MA from RCA Provost Sir James Dyson at The Royal Albert Hall during the college's Convocation Ceremony on June 30.

Afterwards there was a private viewing of her and other students' art at the RCA Battersea campus.

“From a young age I was influenced by my grandparents and my mum and art has been something I have grown up with and I brought it into my education when I was at school," Elizabeth said.

“Art was something I really enjoyed growing up and I didn’t know I could have a career in it at the time but luckily I had great support from my parents.

“I guess as time went on, being in education longer made me realise it is a real possibility and selling your work was a way of supporting yourself."

After completing art at GCSE and A Level, Elizabeth went on to Swindon College to complete a foundation course before securing a place at the University of the West of England to study BA Drawing and Applies Arts.

“I had a year out in Bristol where I built up my portfolio and I built a studio," Elizabeth added. "I applied for RCA and somehow managed to get a place and I was pretty surprised to be honest."

Drawing inspiration from psychology and the space of object interpretation and symbolism through the traditions of still life observation, Elizabeth was able to display four pieces of work at the private viewing and now has high hopes of forging a career in the industry.

“My drawings are about the psychology of space and the appreciation of objects and observation drawing – connecting the perception and symbols of objects with memory," she explained.

“I did a lot of work and research behind childhood objects for the pieces and that led me to think about symbols and memory.

“It was a really good viewing and I managed to sell some work.”