An Interview with Ms Rosser

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background. Where did you study, what course did you take?

I studied at the Complutense, and the only course available was Fine Art, and Fine Art I did! You didn’t choose a specific course within Fine Art straight away. It was a five-year degree: years one, two, and three were general, and then in the fourth year you chose a speciality. Some people didn’t specialise at all; they did a bit of everything. I leaned naturally towards painting, so I took all the painting subjects and specialised in that.

Why did you come to Runnymede in the first place and was it a difficult adjustment for you?

Do you want the truth?

Please!

The truth is: I was finishing my PGCE in Languages at Oxford. I went to lots of interviews to teach languages around Oxford and didn’t get any of them. Then this job became available - teaching Art, my actual subject - so I applied, got it, and it meant I could move back to Spain, which I desperately wanted. So no, it wasn’t a difficult adjustment. It was the best, the easiest adjustment of my life.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? This could be in Runnymede or outside.

My greatest achievement? Working so hard on myself that I can recognise my own behavioural patterns, understand them, and break them. I feel like I’ve created the life I want, not just the life that life handed me. I’m in control now, and that feels like an achievement.

And what's something we wouldn't know about you?

So many things. For example: I make delicious bread.

You do?

Yes.

Sourdough?

Sourdough, yes! I make my own sourdough, and I make bread and pizza. I’m a very good cook, and thanks to my brother, who studied to be a chef, I also have all the fancy equipment. When we cook together, we’re capable of proper high-end dishes.

And what are your other hobbies if you have any?

I weightlift and I box.

And how did you start doing those?

When my ex-boyfriend left me, I left the country on the same day. It’s true. I was devastated. I needed something to make me feel powerful, so I thought: muscles and punches.

Do you have any role models?

Yes - one of my best friends. She’s extremely intelligent, but you wouldn’t know it because she lives such a humble life. She lost her mum at 14 and has always been so strong and optimistic. When someone lives happily and with optimism, it’s easy to assume they have it easy, but actually it takes courage to choose optimism when life has thrown so much at you. She has a full-time job, a daughter, and is now studying her third degree because she loves learning. She always finds time. She calls me out on my nonsense and offers genuinely wise perspectives. She’s a mathematician, completely different from me, but I often ask myself, “What would she do?”

Have there been any challenges that you had to overcome?

When I moved to the UK it was, again, after a collapsed relationship. I wanted to continue studying because I was too afraid to enter the job market. So the next logical step was a PhD - I already had a master’s - but I was naive. My English wasn’t good enough, and my knowledge wasn’t where it needed to be. I spent months applying and studying, going to the library every day… and I didn’t get it. It was a huge rejection, especially for someone perfectionistic like me. After that, I started working as a teaching assistant in a local school and realised I was actually good at it. So I applied for the PGCE, became a teacher, and it was one of the hardest academic things I’ve ever done, but I graduated Outstanding, and my portfolio became one of the example ones for the programme.

Congratulations! Why would you encourage people to take your subject?

Because it’s a space where you discover what you have inside you - practical skills, yes, but also creative thinking. The creative process helps you understand life, problems, and situations. You develop something that is truly yours from beginning to end. You learn patience and persistence. And there is absolutely no way to cheat the system: you must go through every step.

What is the best part about teaching at Runnymede, and more specifically being an art teacher?

For me, freedom. The freedom to adjust the programme to what I think is best for students and to push them to achieve that. Also, the spaces we have: they inspire me and allow students to be inspired by the work of those who came before them.

Who is your favourite artist and painting?

I can’t choose a favourite, how could anyone? Different periods, different artists, so many possibilities. But from the pre-Impressionist era, I’d say Manet (not Monet!) because of the way he worked with myth and real people, and how masterful his technique was. And recently I visited Pompeii and was moved to the point of the sublime. Seeing frescoes painted thousands of years ago… It's like time travel. A bridge in time. You see the painting, but you can also imagine the process, even the brushstrokes. That moved me deeply.

Do you remember the first artwork or moment you ever made that made you think: “Wow, I might actually be good at this”?

Yes. Fourth year of uni in a subject called Projects. I had never developed a project in my life, unlike Runnymede students who start in Year 10! I painted something; my teacher said, “That is rubbish, start again.” I painted something else; he said, “Who are you trying to pretend to be? This is last century. Start again.” I was devastated. I went back to research. At the time, I was obsessed with jazz, soul, and electronic hip-hop, so I used my favourite musicians as a theme. I found a contemporary painter with very loose brushwork and tried that approach. I made my first portrait, my teacher said: “This is the way to go”, and two or three paintings later my confidence exploded. Everyone was praising me. I thought, “Maybe I can do this… and maybe I’m good at it.”

What is the biggest myth students believe about your subject?

That it’s “too much work” and “too difficult to get a good grade.” That’s not true. It’s only difficult if you don’t do the work. Art requires consistent effort. If you leave it for one or two weeks, that time is lost, you can’t cram Art like an exam subject. That’s the myth I’m trying to fight because it stops people from enjoying the subject.

Closing question. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

I’m sure that in 10 years I’ll have a group of students with whom we’ll create the next revolutionary art movement of the 21st century!

Cayetana Güell (Year 12)