From David Hockney to James Dyson, some of the world’s best-known artists and designers have studied or taught at the Royal College of Art. Now the RCA has launched a new exhibition about its 175-year history.

I visited the free show yesterday and was amazed at the breadth of work on display, from a real Porsche designed by RCA graduate Matthias Kulla, to David Hockney paintings from the 1960s, sculptures by Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, and a boat designed by James Dyson while he was still a student at the college.

I liked Gavin Turk’s blue plaque stating “Gavin Turk, Sculptor worked here”, which he famously exhibited in an empty studio for his degree show, and Tracey Emin’s The Perfect Place to Grow, a shed on stilts with a peephole that visitors are encouraged to look through.

Two of the most memorable artworks were a big cat made from coat hangers by David Mach (pictured above) and a sculpture made from plastic dolls’ heads joined together at the neck by Jake and Dinos Chapman.

I left feeling inspired and excited by the creative buzz at the RCA, and almost wishing that I could become a student again.

The Perfect Place to Grow: 175 Years of the Royal College of Art is on until 3 January

An exciting new exhibition has opened at the Royal Academy of Arts dedicated to the world of modern sculpture and the influence of key works on more recent British artists and pieces.  

Modern British Sculpture is the first exhibition in 30 years to focus on British sculpture so it is essential viewing to sculpture fans as well as novices like me. 

I was amazed at the range of sculptures included.  There were fantastic early works which included sculpture from Native American, Indian and African traditions which influenced later designers. 

My highlights include Damien Hirst‘s Let’s Eat Outdoors Today complete with a rotting cow’s head and swarms of flies, as it is so intriguing and disturbing.  I loved the simplicity of Henry Moore‘s Festival Figure and the fabulous and stylish Pelagos by Barbara Hepworth – it would look wonderful in my living room!

There is a huge replica of the Cenotaph in Whitehall, which is magnificent and an incredible tribute to the popular and well-known modern British sculpture.

The show gave me a new appreciation and understanding of sculpture and the Royal Academy of Arts displayed the exhibits in a clear and beautiful way.

Modern British Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts until 7 April 2011. Book tickets

The year kicks off with Modern British Sculpture, the first exhibition for 30 years to examine 20th-century British sculpture. “It’s a long overdue exhibition,” said curator Dr Adrian Locke. The show will feature Hepworth, Moore and Hirst alongside Jacob Epstein, Richard Long and Anthony Caro.

March sees the opening of Watteau’s Drawings: Virtuosity and Delight, dedicated to the French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). Watteau’s subjects included theatre actors, rural labourers and children. He also created sensual depictions of nude women.  “It will be quite a sexy show,” promised Kathleen Soriano, the Royal Academy’s director of exhibitions.

Eye Witness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century opens in June, showing the work of Hungarian artists who left their home country to make their names in the fields of photojournalism, fashion and art photography. The display will include 200 photos from 1914 to 1989, ranging from rural scenes to war photography and radical fashion pictures.

Degas Dancers, featuring Degas’ famous paintings and sculptures of young ballerinas, is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Curator Ann Dumas (who was responsible for this year’s Van Gogh blockbuster) hopes the show will alter people’s perceptions of Degas. Although known for his pretty pictures of dancers, Degas was a forward-thinking and experimental artist, who was “well aware of and sometimes actively involved in” early developments in photography and film, said Dumas.

The focus will turn to Russia in autumn 2011, with the opening of Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935. This exhibition will look at Russian avant-garde architecture during a brief but intense period of design and construction, with photos showing how the drive towards a new socialist society brought together radical art and architecture.

As well as these highlights, there’ll be the usual Summer Exhibition and RA Schools Show in the summer, and a series of exhibitions in the Architecture Space, including “something rather unexpected from Will Alsop,” according to Kathleen Soriano.

For more details visit www.royalacademy.org.uk