AWARD-winning Bolton artist Gerry Halpin MBE is the new President of Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.

The former head of art at Rivington and Blackrod High School forged a reputation recording the beauty of the changing landscape of Rivington and the West Pennine Moors.

He is a popular Northern artist and last year won the Menena Joy Schwabe Memorial Award for An Outstanding Painter in the Royal Institute of Oil Painters annual open exhibition in London.

The Manchester Academy of Fine Arts has an illustrious membership which included L S Lowry and currently has 110 professional artist members from all over the north West.

Mr Halpin is more likely to be found these days sketching landscapes from a few thousand feet up. His newer work consists of looking at places where different geological aspects meet, “especially where the sea confronts land,” he said.

“Some of my most exciting work has been done while flying over areas in a light aircraft from Barton Aerodrome,“ he said. “ A real Biggles’ experience.”

Now, though, Mr Halpin is about to work with an aerial photography company in Bolton using drones for this overview. “I realised it would be so much more efficient, and it’s good to work with new technology,” he added.

Mr Halpin is looking to improve the profile of the Academy and its work, building on past successes. “We have a very vibrant arts’ scene in the region, especially in Manchester with the development at the Whitworth Gallery, new private galleries opening and the new home for Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre.”

MAFA already has strong links with Manchester Metropolitan University’s art department and has awarded prizes to final-year students there. Three students’ work was also included in the Academy’s latest exhibition at the Portico Gallery – “one of them was photography which was a first for us,” stated Mr Halpin.

He also wants to get more local businesses involved in art, both by commissioning individual pieces for offices and in supporting students with bursaries. “We need to help our students to ensure the future of art here in the north west,” he said.