MA Illustration: Authorial Practice – Exhibition Next Week!

We are excited to announce an exhibition taking place next week as part of the Cornwall Contemporary Poetry Festival.  Seeing Voices is an exhibition of illustration and poetry, celebrating recent work by students, alumni and staff of Falmouth University’s MA Illustration: Authorial Practice course.

The exhibition will open Tuesday 20 November – Saturday 24 November in the Upper Gallery of The Poly, Falmouth

All welcome to the private view which is taking place between 5.30pm – 7.30pm on Thursday 22 November, followed by Poetry Slam from 8.00pm.

The Venice Fellowships – Falmouth Partnership with the British Council

Venice Art Biennale 2017, Alicja Kwade – photo: Richard Christensen

Falmouth School of Art at Falmouth University is delighted for the third year to be a partner in the British Council’s Venice Fellowships. The programme is a unique opportunity for students, graduates and researchers to spend a month in Venice during the world’s most important art and architecture biennales. Working with others on invigilation and developing their own study and research, graduates receive an excellent grounding in engaging a professional, public and international audience with the British Pavilion, and develop teamwork, leadership and networking skills.

We will shortly be inviting our final year BA(Hons) Fine Art and BA(Hons) Drawing students to apply for a funded month-long Fellowship at the 2019 Art Biennale. Meanwhile, 2018 BA(Hons) Drawing graduate Hannah Berrisford has recently arrived at the Architecture Biennale for her month-long Fellowship, alongside others from disciplines including fine art, architecture, design, curation and anthropology. We look forward to hearing more about Hannah’s experience on her return, and asked her about applying and preparing for this opportunity…

“The Venice Fellowship is an opportunity to live in Venice for a month, working alongside the British Council, invigilating at “la biennale de venezia” and spending free time exploring the city, developing your practice within your own personal project.

The application asked questions about why you felt you were suitable for the event, and how your personal experiences would aid you in your time out there. I was also asked what sort of work I wanted to produce in my own time, following their theme of “freespace”. I was a student of the Drawing degree, and had chosen watercolour as a medium to specialise in. I wanted to continue developing my skills as a painter in Venice, so I interpreted freespace as an investigation of the relationships between the buildings of Venice and light, and how that would translate in my watercolour paintings.  

Architecture Biennale 2018, British Pavilion, (c) British Council

Two of us on the Drawing degree were selected for an interview – there was no competitive atmosphere, only genuine “good luck”s. Because I am living in the South West of England, and the interviews were being hosted in London, the British Council were excellent and offered me a Skype interview. I had done quite a bit of research about past Biennales just in case they wanted to test if I had done any background research, but they themselves explained a brief history of the biennale, which was nice. It felt like they were wanting me to succeed in the interview and were very open. I responded to all their questions with similar answers to what I had included in my first application. I also mentioned how the themes I wanted to explore in Venice tied into my dissertation topic.

A mandatory induction involved two days in London, meeting other fellows and the groups we would be travelling with. I was placed in the final group to go to Venice – October 24th to November 26th. There are 10 of us in this group, and a significant age range and a diversity of artistic backgrounds. Even though we were all from an academic institute, everyone seemed to be studying a different branch of art varying from architecture to interpretive dance.

The weekend was centred around seminars that discussed the exhibition we would be invigilating. We were offered advice about finding accommodation and about interacting with the public. The groups got into teams and we met one another properly; it was during this time that people began sparking ideas about flat sharing/renting, as well as discussing individual research projects and when it might be appropriate to help one another. Another teammate and I have decided to flat share whilst we’re in Venice, staying close to another two teammates also flat sharing. This way, friendships will get a chance to grow, and as we’re all artists, we will have opportunities to bounce ideas off one another, helping our own projects develop.  

Even though I’m entering a biennale centred on Architecture, drawing and painting buildings is actually one of my weakest skills. I threw myself in at the deep end, to force myself to address this problem. I didn’t want to arrive in Venice and begin the project with zero architectural experience so, over the last month, I have been engaged with the “Inktober” challenge. To merge this challenge and my own personal project, I decided to relate each day’s title to an architectural theme. Forcing myself to create works like this every day has helped me feel a little more prepared for the work I’ll be creating during my time in Venice”.

2017 Fine Art graduate Abbie Hunt wrote a piece for us about her experience spending a month as a Fellow at the 2017 Art Biennale.

Associate Lecturer Virginia Verran: Showing in London

Virginia Verran, Associate Lecturer on BA(Hons) Fine Art is showing two large paintings in Rules of Freedom, curated by Rosalind Davis, at Collyer Bristow gallery in Holborn, until 19 February 2019.

Virginia Verran’s paintings suggest other-worldly battlefields and virtual warzones that show the traces of action and process, of a personal world of invented motifs and symbols. Multiple perspectives, aerial scanning and surveillance, lines and motifs track back and forth between nodes. These paintings and drawings utilise signs and symbols that work at a percussive, graphic level, sitting on the surface of ungrounded spaces, adding celebratory, playful and dark undertones. Drawing has played an important role in this layering of information, bringing across to the paintings an intuitive language. Rhythm and gentle light, exuberance and complexity of information are necessary components, giving way, to darker elements of disruption. Impermanence is alluded to via ‘encampments’, equally working as lumps of colour, existing alongside more permanent structures. Striped ‘ladders’ pass through like conveyor belts and metaphorical ‘toy’ bombs are plugged in at the edges. All represent threats to general security and stability. Fluidity and control are Verran’s primary focus.

 

Virginia Verran was born in Falmouth and has taught Fine Art since 1990. She is an Associate Lecturer on Falmouth’s BA(Hons) Fine Art course, and also teaches at Chelsea College of Art and Design.

In 2010 she won the Jerwood Drawing Prize and this year her entry in the 2018 John Moores Painting Prize is titled ‘Black Star’; a large piece measuring 6ft x 5ft6ins.

She lives in London and works in her studio in Bethnal Green.

Fine Art Senior Lecturer Neil Chapman – recent practice.

Dr Neil Chapman, Senior Lecturer in BA(Hons) Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art, was recently among contributors to a Speculative Art School event.

The Speculative Art School is a public programme of free talks, walks, discussions, workshops, study sessions and sonic explorations that explore provisional territories in past, present, and future thinking. It was curated by Sarah Bowden who runs the Hardwick Gallery in Cheltenham.

Neil contributed a written piece specifically for The Speculative Space; the event provided a public opportunity to browse a  compilation of speculations and proposals submitted by some of The Hardwick Gallery’s favourite thinkers in a form of independent group study.

Dr Neil Chapman is an artist, writer and researcher. His current work explores material textual practices, artists publishing, art/philosophy interdisciplinarity, questions concerning visuality, collaborative method, the evolution and politics of art-research.

 

Linda Scott: Illustration research and my teaching practice

Linda Scott, Senior Lecturer on BA(Hons) Illustration, has recently returned from Northern Portugal, where for the fourth year running she has had a paper accepted by CONFIA, an Illustration and Animation Conference hosted by the University IPCA. Here she talks about the importance of her continued research in Illustration to her teaching of Falmouth’s undergraduates.

‘CONFIA is unique in being one of the few conferences of its kind dedicated to the subject area of illustration. The range of themes within the broader subject, however, is eclectic, and researchers present topics that range from social, political and cultural themes to the more technical and methodological aspects of illustration and animation.

The research I have undertaken over recent years has been fundamental in deepening my appreciation of and understanding of the important role illustration has in the communication and dissemination of challenging themes. Participating in international conferences has exposed me to a range of perspectives and Illustration practices previously unconsidered and the knowledge acquired is invaluable within my teaching practice, which covers both studio based teaching and theoretical dissertation supervision. Sharing my evolving knowledge of the subject with students has lead to stimulating conversations and often reciprocal sharing of books about challenging themes, which currently is an area many students are reflecting upon.

My own research pathway is currently driven by political, ethical, environmental and philosophical analyses of illustration, from historical and current perspectives. In particular I have explored the role that illustration and arts activism might play within the field of bird conservation. My starting point for that was a trip I made to the hunting grounds of Malta with a group of artists, illustrators, musicians and film makers headed by documentary maker Ceri Levy; I had previously participated in a group exhibition collective known as ‘Ghosts Of Gone Birds‘, which showed its first exhibition in the Rochelle Gallery in London.

In recent years, I have been drawn time and again to uses of Illustration as a vehicle for powerfully communicating challenging themes. My presentations at CONFIA over the past four years have included themes embracing climate change, the use of illustrated picture books to teach philosophy and critical thinking skills to primary aged children and in July 2018, my presentation focused on the challenging themes of Colonialism and Imperialism within illustrated books, as viewed through a ‘post colonial‘ lens.

In November 2017 I travelled to Nancy, France to make a presentation at ‘Illustrating Identyties‘, a conference hosted by the University and conceived of with founding members of The Journal Of Illustration, an important peer reviewed publication. The theme of this presentation was about challenging themes within children’s picture books and included subjects such as death, domestic violence, feminism and environmentalism.

My own exploration of the importance of the role Illustration plays in illuminating challenging concepts, ensures I can encourage my students to continue to deepen their own relationship to the practice of illustration and the understanding that it can be a powerful tool for social , political and cultural change’.

 

Drawing staff and students present at Symposium

Artist, drawing researcher and lecturer in BA(Hons) Drawing Dr Joe Graham, and some of his Falmouth School of Art students and alumni,  presented papers and workshops at The Embodied Experience of Drawing event at The Drawing Symposium, Plymouth.

The event responded to the increasing proportion of artists in the South West working in performative drawing practice. It gathered contributors, to acknowledge and interrogate this movement and to discuss ideas around the future of drawing research, philosophy and practice.

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Dr Joe Graham discussed his paper The Utility of Drawing: Drawn and Withdrawn.  “This paper sketches a nascent ontology of drawing, one that uses Heidegger to explore the idea that drawing is a fundamentally useful type of thing for those who draw. Within this understanding however, the utility of drawing appears withdrawn, so to speak. It requires being ‘drawn out’ (freed) when drawings are viewed for some purpose – as pictures, diagrams, maps, plans or other forms intended for use.”

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Image: Aleksandr Chotilovskij

Kayleigh Jayne Harris, a recent graduate from BA(Hons) Drawing at Falmouth University, primarily focused on the identity of line within contemporary drawing practices. Her paper  Drawing line through performance: does the drawing live as an immaterial trace, a material document, or both, through the experience of line? explored whether performative acts be identified as a form of drawing, through the acknowledgement and experience of the lines generated during and by gesture.

Bhuvaneshvari Pinto a current student of BA(Hons) Drawing and Ralph Nel (Alumni) presented a joint workshop Drawing as a Tool in Cultivating Awareness – A Workshop in Observational Drawing.  The workshop explored the idea that observational drawing nurtures mental stillness and sharpens our awareness of ourselves and our surroundings.

Video with kind permission of Stuart Bewsey

Recent Practice: Drawing Lecturer Dr Joe Graham

Joe Graham Lecturer on BA(Hons) Drawing was among the contributors to ACTS RE-ACTS,  an annual laboratory of performance, new media, workshops, lectures, discussions, events and installations.

This year Acts Re-Acts, at Wimbledon College of Art, took the form of an intensive two-day laboratory of selected performances, exploring the borderzone between Theatre and Fine Art.

Other contributors included: Eleanor Bowen & Jane Bailey, Henry Bradley, Greig Burgoyne, Angela Hodgson-Teall & Miles Coote, Richard Layzell & Bruce Barber, Jozefina Komporaly & ZU-UK & guests, Robert Luzar, Melanie Menard, Lucy O’Donnell, Ken Wilder & Aaron McPeake, Alex Reuben, Lois Rowe & The Haptic Collective, Aminder Virdee.

 

Falmouth School of Art lecturer Joe Graham is ‘in conversation’ with artist Lucy O’Donnell, March 2018.

SCOOP: 3rd Year BA(Hons) Illustration Students Published !

Four 3rd year BA(Hons) Illustration students – Lucy Rivers, Katherine Harris, Jasper Golding and Sam Hinton – have had their work published in SCOOP magazine, ‘The Human Body’ issue.

The students made an industry visit to London in April 2018 and the industry connection was made with Luana Asiata, Creative Director & Designer of SCOOP magazine. All the illustrations were then completed whilst studying at the Falmouth School of Art .

Scoop is a magazine aimed at 7 to 12 year olds that publishes all forms of story, told by the most fantastic authors and illustrators and designed to inspire and nurture a love of reading. William Boyd in The Guardian called the magazine ‘A transforming experience.’

Illustrator: Lucy Rivers

Illustrator: Jasper Golding

Illustrator: Sam Hinton

Illustrator: Katherine Harris

 

Falmouth School of Art student exhibition at Porthmeor Studios, St Ives

Following a month long residency at the historic Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, six second year BA(Hons) Fine Art students are opening their studio space to the public for an exhibition of their resulting work.

Olivia Brelsford-Massey, Holly Doran, Sofia Fernandes, Samuel Morris, Sophia Rosenthal and Edward Spencer were selected for the opportunity of a month long artist residency at Portmeor Studios. With the cost of studio hire and a materials bursary funded by Falmouth School of Art, the residency will provide these students with an invaluable experience of working within a professional studio culture.

As well as being home to acclaimed contemporary artists, Porthmeor Studios has a long history of prestigious inhabitants. The studio provided for this student residency – Studio 5 – has perhaps the most compelling heritage of any artists’ studio; it appears to have been constructed around 1895 for Olsson’s School of Marine Painting, but is best known as the studio used for 50 years by two of the most influential painters of their generation – Ben Nicholson, followed by Patrick Heron.

The residency is delivered by Falmouth School of Art in partnership with Borlase Smart John Wells Trust, as part of a series of residencies and professional practice opportunities offered to students studying BA(Hons) Fine Art at Falmouth University.

The exhibition will feature an Opening Evening on Saturday 28 July between 5-9pm, and continue with two further days on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 July between 10am – 5pm.

Tracing Granite – In Search of a White Cross

Beth Pinner graduated from BA(Hons) Fine Art in 2017. Toward the end of her studies, she applied for and was awarded the Groundwork Field Trip Residency; a five-day field trip visiting granite quarries in the south west as part of a team of academics and artists, led by Dr. David Paton. The residency was part of the Groundwork project and Beth’s place was funded by Falmouth School of Art. Beth shares her experience of the residency…

Image courtesy of Beth Pinner

‘The opportunity to take part in David Paton’s field trip, ‘Tracing Granite – In search of a White Cross’, arose when I was completing my studies of Fine Art at Falmouth University earlier this year.

Image courtesy of Beth Pinner

My art practice had developed alongside an interest and very basic knowledge on geology in Cornwall. Heavily influenced by the surrounding coastal landscape, I became fascinated by the dramatic textures and formations found in the open rock faces where the land met the sea. I was fixated on the notion of an entirely wild landscape, sculpted by nature, and made sculpture and print work surrounding these themes.

It was this (slightly obsessive) interest in rock that led me to gain a place on the 4-day residential field trip, alongside geologists, stone masons, archeologists, artists, writers – an eclectic mix of people from across the country who met, mostly for the first time, at a National Trust bunk house near Helston. With the bunk house as base for the next three nights we undertook a tour of granite quarries across Cornwall, moving to a second bunk house for the final two nights to extend the reach of the trip. Over the duration, our group fluctuated in size as people joined at various stages and quarries to share their own accounts of living and working with granite. Hearing their stories gave a more personal sense of place and insight into how granite in the south west has shaped and influenced individuals lives for generations.

Out of the eight that we visited, only two of the quarries were still in use. The six others were disused and at various stages of reclaim by nature, some so far overwhelmed that, to someone with little knowledge of quarrying like myself, any previous narrative of human interference was hard to comprehend at first. There weren’t any clear differences between the man-made rock face and the naturally formed rock face that I thought I might see. On reflection, however, the quarried sites have become increasingly obvious as man-made. If these rock faces were at the coast one wouldn’t think twice about them being naturally sculpted, but here, in land, they felt out of place, and purposeful.

Image courtesy of Beth Pinner

Having never visited a granite quarry (or any quarry) before becoming involved with this trip, I had no idea what to expect from the four days. Everybody’s enthusiasm to share knowledge fueled a want to learn more, and I have come away feeling truly inspired. Not only by the awe-inspiring places that we visited, but by all of the people that have been involved.

At the time of applying back in June, I hadn’t imagined how helpful this opportunity would prove to be in re-inspiring a desire to move forward with an art practice after university, and by connecting me to some amazing people who I now look forward to working with more in the near future. There are some great things to come from ‘Tracing Granite – In search of a white cross’ and I for one can’t wait to see them all unfold.’

Industry-focused trip for first year Illustrators in London

BA(Hons) Illustration students visiting Artworks

BA(Hons) Illustration are currently undertaking their first year London trip, including industry visits to the following: The Artworks Illustration Agency, Us Two Games Ltd, Pete Fowler, Egmont Press, Human After All, The Folio Society, Arena Illustration Agency, Dorling Kindersley, Macmillan Childrens Books, Harper Collins, and Walker Books.

The trip also includes the annual London Illustration Forum of guest speakers; this year Alice Dunseath, Neil McFarland and Pete Fowler.

Follow the trip through the Falmouth Illustration Blog.

Falmouth Alumni exhibit in London

Falmouth University Alumni, who are all part of the Krowji community in Redruth have come together for an exhibition titled ‘Krowji’ in the Beside The Wave gallery in Primrose Hill, London between 09 – 29 September 2016.

The eight painters, all Falmouth alumni are:  Imogen Bone who studied BA(Hons) Illustration and MA Art & Environment; Kerry Harding who studied MA Fine Art; Alasdair Lindsay, Amy Albright, Lizzy Bridges and Elisa McLeod who all studied BA(Hons) Fine Art and Siobhan Purdy and Joanne Reed who studied the Foundation here.

Krowji (Cornish for workshop or shed) is an up-cycled grammar school in Cornwall’s former industrial heartland and provides an invaluable workspace for hundreds of creative businesses since 2005.  Krowji is Cornwall’s largest creative hub and provides studios, workspaces, offices, cafe, meeting rooms and more.  The community at Krowji includes painters, jewellers, furniture makers, ceramicists, textile artists, web designers, theatre companies and musicians.

Beside The Wave was established in 1989 in Cornwall, and is one of the best known and well established contemporary art galleries in the County.  The London gallery is Beside The Wave’s second space, which opened in 2015.

For further details about the show and to view/purchase works online that have been selected as part of the exhibition see the Beside The Wave website.

Fine Art Alumna talks about life after Falmouth and her upcoming solo exhibition

Colouring Out by Millie Laing-Tate

After finishing my BA(Hons) Fine Art degree in Falmouth last summer, I have spent much of the last year travelling around Italy and Peru. The impact these adventures have had on me has proved invaluable, directly inspiring 2 site-specific installations and continuing to affect my ongoing practice.

‘Loop’ Wool and wood

I have been lucky enough to spend the last 4 months in my own studio for the first time and it is the results of this challenging and fun experience which make up ‘colouring out’, my first ever solo exhibition.

‘5:2 (the blue one)’ Fabric painted wood with stones

It is the exciting possibility of change which underpins all of my work, connecting it to the unstable nature of the world around us and challenging us to question what we see. Not confining myself to a particular medium or category allows for a level of unpredictability and surprise, two things I feel are very important both when making and viewing art.

untitled felt-tip and fabric on wood

By crossing boundaries between painting, sculpture and installation I have been trying to find ways of incorporating both my innate love of form and aesthetics with my intrigue in conceptual art. I have been making work which can be touched and moved by the viewer as well as some pieces with a more specific social commentary in response to the current political climate in Britain. Guided by my intuition, surroundings and ongoing interest in abstraction, I’ve been exploring the potential of using all materials in the creation of art.

‘Democratic (in)stability’ Ink, bubblewrap and wood

Millie’s next show opens next Saturday 24 September until Friday 30 September, open daily from 10am until 5pm.  The show takes place at Redearth Gallery, Tiverton, Devon.  Redearth Gallery is situated in a beautiful tranquil waterside location at Bickleigh, right next to the famous Bickleigh Mill, EX16 8RG. The studios are easy to get to with good parking.

‘Different aspirations, Shared destination (21st Century British Politics)’ Acrylic on toilet roll

‘7:3:1 (the green one)’ Fabric on painted wood with buttons and stone

Fine Art Alumna installs piece at Lyme Regis Arts Festival

Camilla Laing-Tate, who completed her BA(Hons) Fine Art degree at Falmouth in 2015 is continuing to exhibit her work throughout the Country.  Camilla’s latest piece has been installed as part of the Lyme Regis Arts Festival 2016.  ‘Wrapt’ is located at Leper’s Well on the Riverside Walk near the Town Mill and will be there until the end of September 2016.
Camilla has kindly provided us with some words and images about her latest beautiful installation piece.

“Directly influenced by this site and its origins, the materials reflect the nature and ‘fabric’ of the building that stood here hundreds of years ago. Once a 14^th century medieval hospital, all that now remains is the well which was used solely to supply water to the patients, many of whom suffered from leprosy.”

“Growing and breathing, the trees act as the pillars around which everything is wrapped and suspended, highlighting the important role they play in our everyday lives.”

“Stitched bedsheets and blue lias stone reference both interior and exterior features of the hospital. Placed in a new context, they morph into one another to form a reinvented structure which crosses the border between the well and the river, forming a link between the two separate water courses.”

“Connected by primary colours and string and left open to the unpredictable elements, the materials highlight the fragility of our shelters and question our attempts to make them secure.  Unattached and moveable elements heighten this sense of instability and allow for the possibility of change and reconstruction, whereby the old can be transformed into the new.”

 

New commission by Gillian Wylde at Arnolfini, Bristol

The ‘Moving Targets’ summer season at Arnolfini, Bristol (29 July – 11 September 2016), celebrates the 40^th anniversary of Punk.  ‘Resist Psychic Death’ opens in Gallery 1 at the Arnolfini on Friday 12 August, an expanded exhibition inviting audiences to question and discuss the history and future of punk.

The Day The World Turned Day-Glo, Gillian Wylde, 2016

 

The exhibition includes a new commission by Falmouth School of Art Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Gillian Wylde. The commission, ‘The Day The World Turned Day-Glo’ includes effervescently discordant video works, collaged with corrupted image and text; it takes over Arnolfini’s foyer and overflows into the Café-Bar and Bookshop.

‘The Day The World Turned Day-Glo’  is open 11am-6pm daily for the duration of the Moving Targets season, entry free, donations welcome.

The Day The World Turned Day-Glo, Gillian Wylde 2016

Gillian Wylde makes performative work for video and installation. Central to her work is a critical engagement with technologies, language and the mediated. Processes of appropriation, petty arrangement and post-production are constants through most of the work like maybe a savage smell or hairy logic. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally including; Transmodern Live Art Action Festival, Baltimore; Videotage, Hong Kong; Alytus Biennial, Lithuania; Tao Scene, Norway, Experiments in Cinema, Albuquerque and CCA Gallery, Glasgow. Recent work includes: ‘Enflamma Diagra’ a collaboration with Neil Chapman ICA, London, ‘Snakes&Funerals’ a collaboration with James S Williams and Emily Jeremiah for ‘Queer The Space’ CCC, London and ‘Inna-deno pudenda membra’ an essay published in ‘The Interior’ by Eros Press.

The Day The World Turned Day-Glo, Gillian Wylde 2016

Theo Crutchley-Mack at Gallery Tresco

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack | Towards Teän, 72x50cm, Acrylic, Ink, Spray, Graphite on paper, 2015

BA(Hons) Drawing alumnus Theo Crutchley-Mack will this month exhibit 10 new works from his residency on Tresco Island.

Last summer, Theo was awarded the Tresco Prize for Drawing, an award created by Lucy Dorrien-Smith, owner of Tresco after she was inspired by Theo’s work during the Drawing course’s study visit to the island.

Of his new work, Theo says, ‘the residency was a rare opportunity to spend 100% of my time focusing on drawing and painting, which resulted in a very productive month. Tresco is somewhere that I can see myself returning to many times in the future. The seamless tropical landscape pushed my work to a new area, which is evident in this series”.

Theo’s work can be seen 16-23 July, at Gallery Tresco, and more of his work can always be seen on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/theocrutchleymack

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, Apple Tree, 76x55cm, Acrylic, Ink, Spray, Graphite on paper, 2015

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, Eastern Isle, 77x56cm, Acrylic, Collage, Ink, Spray on paper, 2015

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, Enys Samson, 79x56cm, Acrylic, Collage, Ink, Spray on paper, 2016

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, New Grimsby at Dawn, 75x52cm, Acrylic, Collage, Ink, Spray on paper, 2015

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, The Blockhouse, 59x39cm, Acrylic, Collage, Ink and Spray on paper, 2016

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, The Road Makers, 42x42cm, Acrylic, Ink, Spray on paper, 2015

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, The Scillonian, 67x52cm, Acrylic, Charcoal and Ink on paper, 2015

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, Through Trees, 52×46, Acrylic, Ink, Graphite on paper, 2015

(c) Theo Crutchley-Mack, Towards Round Island, 68x47cm, Acrylic, Collage, and Spray on paper, 2016

 

 

Upcoming Exhibition: Becky Haughton, Senior Technician

Becky Haughton, Senior Technician for the Falmouth School of Art will soon be exhibiting a selection of screen prints and photo etchings in the Picture Room at Newlyn Art Gallery.  Becky’s screen prints explore the landscape through the layering and morphing of drawings.  The exhibition will run from 01 – 30 July 2016.

There is an opening night on Thursday 30 June from 6.30pm which also marks the start of the summer exhibition across both Newlyn and the Exchange Galleries by artist Imran Quereshi, who will also be giving an introduction to his work at the opening at 7pm.

The Picture Room at Newlyn Art Gallery shows changing exhibitions of work for sale by some of the region’s most recognised artists.  The Picture Room offers the opportunity to purchase paintings, prints and drawings with the profits from sales made directly supporting the Gallery’s education and exhibition activities.

Fine Art student project – ‘Perception Filter’ @ The Bunker Project, Penzance

1st and 2nd year BA(Hons) Fine Art students recently took part in a 3-week residency project in partnership with the Exchange Gallery in Penzance.

The artists – Abbie Hunt, Alberta Shearing, Ella Squirrell, Charlotte Macias, Dan Bethell and Anastasia R James – made work in response to the former Telephone Exchange in the basement project space of the Exchange Gallery, which was open to the public 10-12 June.

Photos taken by Mercedes Kemp.

Falmouth Illustration students visit agencies in New York

 

It’s that time of year again – our third year BA(Hons) Illustration students are currently in New York, showing their portfolios. 48 students have a breathtaking schedule of 30 visits underway, including to The New York Times, Penguin Books, Harper Collins and The Wall Street Journal, which has commissioned a number of Falmouth students and graduates in recent years.

To read about the visit, follow the courses’s blog, – https://falmouthillustrationblog.com – where posts are being added throughout the week.

Foote Notes

Technician and Alumna of Falmouth School of Art’s MA Illustration: Authorial Practice, Emilia Wharfe, talks about her involvement at this year’s Truro Festival…

‘This year, Truro Festival decided that it needed a Cornish mascot, and who better than Kernow’s beloved Samuel Foote. For those who don’t recognise the name, Samuel Foote was a playwright, satirist, nonsense writer and all-round prankster born in Truro – and the first ever stand up comedian!

I felt flattered when the Festival organisers approached me about doing a timeline in his honour, although terrified at the sheer size of the project.

We set out to achieve three boards, each 4ftx6ft, each towering over the kids as they interact with individual elements of the boards. I used different mediums: for example, cyanotypes to create the timeline skyline running along the bottom of the boards, inks and watercolours, and finally Adobe software to vectorise elements, so as to keep their quality of line.

Inspired by the series Horrible Histories, I had a lot of fun working on a project about such a bizarre man. It allowed me to return to ideas and theories of Nonsense that I studied during my MA and to generally paint using my funny bone.

The boards will now continue to tell the story of Samuel Foote throughout Cornwall over the next few years, visiting as many local schools as possible.

‘I had now found my first friend,’ said Tove Jansson, ‘and so my life has begun.’ I thank drawing for giving me this feeling and I thank Truro Festival for letting me share it to a larger, diverse audience. My work will continue, like Foote, to focus on the more nonsensical elements of life, using these ‘moments’ as metaphors, to create work that is at once surreal, playful and thought provoking’.

Emilia Wharfe
www.emiliawharfe.com

Plague of Diagrams at The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London

Falmouth School of Art Senior Lecturer Neil Chapman and Course Coordinator Gillian Wylde were among contributors to Plague of Diagrams at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. The exhibition and programme of performances, talks and discussions concerned the relationships between diagrammatic practices and thought in different disciplines. In particular, the event explored the function and use of diagrams in art as expanded diagrammatic practice beyond the graphic presentation of information.

Contributors: David Burrows, Rachel Cattle & Jenna Collins, Neil Chapman & Gillian Wylde, Ami Clarke, Richard Cochrane, Andrew Conio, John Cussans, Benedict Drew, English Heretic, Nikolaus Gansterer, Joey Holder, Dean Kenning, Christoph Lueder, Stine Ljungdalh, Adelheid Mers, Mike Nelson, Paul O’Kane, David Osbaldeston, Plastique Fantastique, Patricia Reed, John Russell, Erica Scourti, Andy Sharp, Kamini Vellodi, Martin Westwood and Carey Young.

Watch now on YouTube: Click here

Design competition success for Fine Art student

One of our Third Year BA(Hons) Fine Art students, Jake Booth, has won the national Student Volunteering Week t-shirt design competition.

Jake commented about his award: “It was great for my design to be picked for the official SVW t-shirt, the design is very different from my usual art work and used my new skills in Indesign.  It’s nice knowing that something I had designed was being worn across the UK by students doing great volunteering work.”

Jake’s t-shirt design was worn by hundreds of volunteers across the country for The Student Volunteering Week.

Jake with his winning design

 

 

 

New York exhibition for two Fine Art Alumni

Two of our BA(Hons) Fine Art alumni have just held a very successful exhibition Derailer Derailer in New York.  Amy and Oliver Thomas-Irvine’s exhibition opened on 11 December 2015 and finishes today, 8 January 2016.  It has been rated by ARTLIST as one of the top three must see shows this week in New York.  Amy and Oliver will be returning to their studio in Cornwall soon.

Derailer Derailer consists of a series of duplicated forms, focusing on “ojbects as witness” and minimalist architecture/sculpture, reminiscent of utilitarian structures built for physical use.

 

 

BA(Hons) Illustration head to London

Falmouth’s BA(Hons) Illustration students are currently in London for a series of visits, including: Faber & Faber, Sparks Studio, Human After All, The Guardian, The Telegraph Magazine, Penguin Books, Egmont, Oh Comely Magazine, Walker Books, The Folio Society, The Artworks, Transworld, Nobrow, Tate Publishing and Dorling Kindersley. 

Students are also looking forward to the course’s annual Illustration Forum, held at The London College of Communication. This year’s speakers are Olivier Kugler, Jonny Hannah and Aude Van Ryn.

Don’t forget to follow the Falmouth Illustration blog, where you can see more pictures from the trip so far and keep up to date with news from the course.

 

Fine Art alumni and students present work at Art Book Fair

Graduates and current BA(Hons) Fine Art students presented work at Counter – the Plymouth Art Book Fair last weekend. The event was held at contemporary art venue Karst.

The BLNT (Better Luck Next Time) Kollective – recent Fine Art graduates – Graham Taylor, Camilla Robinson, Sophie Malpas and Ida Asadi: https://twitter.com/B_L_N_T |  http://www.sorethroatsliberation.blogspot.co.uk  |  www.sophie-malpas.com   www.camillarobinson.tumblr.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Keiken Collective – 3rd year Fine Art students Tanya Cruz & Isabel Ramos and recent graduates Alice Ellis-Bray, Hana Omori and Jess Pemberton: http://keikencollective.tumblr.com | https://twitter.com/Keikenart

Artist Simon Fujiwara leads seminar for Fine Art students

Following his lecture to a packed house the night before, Simon Fujiwara, Falmouth University’s Visiting Professor of Art, led a seminar of a group of second and third year BA(Hons) Fine Art students. Second year students Jo Clarkson and Rachael Coward share their responses to that session.

Simon Fujiwara by Anna Partington (Cartel Photos)

Jo Clarkson, Student, 2^nd year BA(Hons) Fine Art

In the past I have thoroughly enjoyed three of Simon Fujiwara’s talks at Falmouth  and also visited his solo exhibition at St Ives so it was a real pleasure to meet him in person.

It was a unique experience.  Kinda like a cross between an art tutorial, careers guidance and group counselling session – guided by a captivating, yet pointed and penetrating, storyteller, highly skilled in investigating and revealing!  All in 2 hours! It was quite intense.

I left feeling I am my work, I must choose my truth/fiction carefully, find my purpose, investigate further, filter, edit, refine, play and enjoy!

From his comments in his previous talks I also reckon Simon’s Mum would be a very interesting and fun person to meet!

 

 

Rachael Coward, Student, 2^nd year BA(Hons) Fine Art

The discussion began with the physical means of artistic process, and what defines an idea as worthy of further artistic endeavour…

Does the world need this work? And do the processes involved in making the work affect the balance of the world?

We ourselves as artists are starting points. We are flawed in that we cannot examine every aspect of our lives; it would become a full time occupation in itself which could easily become obsolete as technological advances outdate our work. We are, in effect, vessels; information passes through us, and it is up to us to filter and process it; ultimately finding a way to operate in the information-rich world we now inhabit. From this we can conclude that the notion of ‘the self’ becomes an empty idea, as we are in fact agents for work, engaging and encouraging ideas that come from outside sources.

However the interplay of ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ affects how our work is received; and it begins with the claim of being an ‘artist’. Without this self-proclamation, the outside world would not react to us, and it is only because of that statement that the outside world acknowledges what we make as ‘art’.

But does this label of ‘artist’ need to be visible? Do we identify as artists through our appearance? In some circumstances the ‘look’ of a person can occupy a space as much as a piece of work; but is this the point, or should we as artists remain invisible? This idea of uniforms or costuming revolves around the idea of ‘belonging’. We as humans understand the safety behind a unified group of individuals, yet we are ‘lost’ in our own sense of visual identity. Outer appearances don’t directly link to beliefs or attitudes anymore; therefore anyone can look like an ‘artist’. But when we consider something ‘lost’, we must also consider them when they are ‘found’ – from this deliberation of two passive states, the conclusion was drawn that even if we are lost, it isn’t a bad thing. Quite often when we are lost is when the most exciting or unexpected things happen.

An artist is a factory. Part of the whole process of making art is coming to conclusions within ourselves, and using means of communication to present these conclusions to an audience.

We can play with the world and also take part in it.

Falmouth Fine Art London 2015

Falmouth Fine Art London 2015, at London’s Embassy Tea Gallery, London, presented work from Falmouth School of Art’s BA(Hons) Fine Art degree show. The work was selected by art critic and curator Sacha Craddock and curated by artist Jesse Leroy Smith.

Lucy Bainbridge, Gallery Director at Embassy, spoke of how impressed she was with the standard of work on show, liking the exhibition to an MA rather than a BA showcase.

Exhibiting artists were: Elin Barker | Maisie Blackburn Scott | Yasmin Brain | Beccy Bray | Mair Cook | Alice Ellis Bray | Rebecca Eley | Janne Erlandsen | Sean Fergus | Ross Gamble | Jessie Giudici Mumford | Katherine Glynne Jones | Joanna Hulin | Salli Louise Johnson | Lauren Kent | Nicola Kerslake | Aimee Labourne | Adam Langer | Sophie Malpas | Hana Omori | Paul Pilgrim | Nick Popham | Darren Ray | Camilla Robinson | Andy Ross | Freddie Strickland | Jacob Theobald | Anna Karin Waara | Gareth Wilde.

Falmouth Illustration at New Blood Graduate Showcase

The D&AD New Blood Graduate Showcase was held this week. BA(Hons) Illustration’s Nigel Owen and Sue Clarke set the show up earlier in the day in what can only be described as tropical conditions. The Falmouth stand was up and looking good just after lunch giving staff and students a chance to have a look at other stands. The overall standard is very good this year with what seems like more illustration on show than in previous years.

The private view kicked off at 6pm and almost immediately industry clients began to show interest in the work on show by Falmouth students. Well done to all the students that attended for their professionalism.

Room to Room Exhibition at Trelissick House

On Wednesday 13th May 2015 a new exhibition opens at the National Trust’s Trelissick House, Feock, of work by second year BA(Hons) Drawing students from Falmouth School of Art.

Lecture by Tate Britain’s Dr. Chris Stephens

Booking is now open for the next Falmouth School of Art lecture, by Tate Britain’s Head of Displays and Lead Curator of Modern British Art, Dr. Chris Stephens.

Book tickets: The Falmouth School of Art Eventbrite.

Reflections on the Spike Island Residency

2014 BA(Hons) Fine Art graduate Ed Hill was awarded the Spike Island Residency, following his studies. Here he shares with current students of the course his reflections on the experience…

Working at Spike Island for three months allowed me to continue the momentum of working post graduation. In my case, this meant painting.

Ed Hill’s Spike Island studio space

The Residency studio was big and situated among other artists’ studios. After moving timber, paint, canvas and stretchers into my space, I shared the studio with three other recent graduates. With 24/7 access, you are free to come and go anytime, day or night. I enjoyed the access to a wood workshop – where I made stretchers, (there is also a metal workshop and plenty of room for larger scale projects).

The atmosphere was very professional, and it was a realistic and beneficial experience of a totally independent way of working outside of art school. I made paintings for a show, and without the studio, facilities and space it would have been much more challenging to do so.

‘At the beach (after Mr and Mrs Andrews)’ 100x100cm, oil on canvas

If you are hoping to carry on working on art projects after graduating, and if you are serious about being artist, the residency is something to aim for – it will provide space, facilities and an opportunity to continue momentum in an art environment at a time when it is increasingly hard to do so. I recommend applying for the residency.

Edward Hill, Standing on a Rock

Ed Hill was one of four Falmouth alumni selected for the 2014 Bloomberg New Contemporaries which, having toured to Liverpool and London, will be on display at Newlyn and the Exchange Galleries from 21 March – 30 May 2015. You can see Ed’s work as part of that exhibition. Ed was also the recipient of The Falmouth School of Art Purchase Prize 2014 for his Bloomberg-selected piece Standing on a Rock.

The Falmouth Illustration Forum: Hidden Agenda

20 March 2015, Falmouth Campus, Falmouth University

Now in its thirteenth year, this internationally renowned event – organised by Falmouth’s MA Illustration: Authorial Practice – is open to guests nationwide.

This year’s speakers are again high profile practitioners from both illustration and publishing: Dan Fern (Professor Emeritus RCA), Anna Bhushan and Mireille Fauchon (both well-known illustrators), John Vernon Lord (Professor of Illustration at Brighton) and Max Porter (Senior Editor at Granta Books).

French novelist and poet Raymond Queneau, founder of the Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle (Oulipo) wrote that [Oulipian] authors are ‘rats who build the labyrinth from which they will try to escape.’ Creativity thrives when it is subject to constraint; the Hidden Agenda Forum is interested in the hidden structures that creative people bring to their practice. These may be the straightforward structures of a working day, or more complex mathematical or temporal frameworks used to underpin a large-scale work.

This year’s forum has an underlying literary theme; all the speakers have been involved in the interpretation and production of classic works of literature, including explorations of the formal properties of Haiku, Ted Hughes’ Crow, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, The Bagvad Gita, Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda and Finnegan’s Wake.

Existing artworks offer ways into creating new ones; the Hidden Agenda might be the approach taken by the writer or illustrator when interpreting these existing works.

Tickets are available from the University’s online store, priced at £20 for the day-long event, with a special price of £10 for alumni of Falmouth’s MA Illustration: Authorial Practice.

Falmouth Illustration Blog – follow now!

Don’t forget to follow the Falmouth Illustration Blog, this week blogging from the BA(Hons) Illustration trip to London – giving a fascinating insight into the students’ many and diverse industry meetings. Also read about today’s Annual Falmouth / LCC Illustration Forum, speakers including one of the country’s leading reportage artists, Lucinda Rogers, international award winning illustrator Mark Smith and truly innovative animator Cyriak.

Visits to Nobrow and The Artworks

Senior Print Technician exhibits in New York

Bianca Cork, Printmaking Technician in The Falmouth School of Art, was recently supported by the School to attend the 2014 Print Week in New York, where her work had been selected for the exhibition Somewhere and Nowhere at the International Print Center…

The IFPDA Print Fair

I was recently given the opportunity of attending and exhibiting at the 2014 Print Week in New York. During Print Week, galleries around the city host lectures, exhibitions and openings focused on printmaking and its vitality as an artistic practice.

One of the highlights of the week was the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Print Fair, which featured around 90 exhibitors presenting fine art prints. The show was hosted at The Park Avenue Armory – part palace, part industrial shed – a breathtaking venue in which to view comprehensive and dynamic print works both past and present.

(c) Bianca Cork, Graving Docks, 2014. 68 x 95cm. Original print in a series of 4. Monotype, relief print, screen print.

The Autumn Exhibition at The International Print Center New York (IPCNY) opened during the week of my visit. The exhibition consisted of fifty projects by different artists, selected from over 4,000 prints.

The aim of the show was to promote the greater appreciation and comprehension of fine art print. The work I exhibited within the IPCNY was entitled Graving Docks. It is a study of Falmouth dockyards, combining a range of printmaking processes including mono-type, relief printing from heavily etched steel plates and screen-printing from hand drawn positives.

Whilst in new York, I viewed the collections of many galleries and attended relevant private views; and as well as IFPDA and IPCNY, visited The Met, Guggenheim, MOMA, Pace Prints, The Old Print Shop, New York Public Library, Wave Hill and Paula Cooper Gallery. I engaged with artists, collectors and curators and saw other printmaking studios, which were insightful and gave me a good feel for what is relevant and popular within contemporary printmaking.

I saw the printmaking process used in conjunction with new technologies, processes both traditional and non-traditional merging. This is an exciting way of working and I aim to encourage others to approach their printmaking experimentally. Printmaking doesn’t have to be limited to a 2D surface; my trip showed me prints exhibited within any number of surfaces, including paintings and sculptures.

Now that I have returned to Falmouth, I am looking forward to collating and imparting all that I have seen and learnt.

• www.biancacork.com
• For more of Bianca’s photographs of printmaking and New York: Instagram
• Printmaking at Falmouth: Facebook

Before joining The Falmouth School of Art staff as Printmaking Technician, Bianca studied at Glasgow School of Art and The University of Brighton, and completed her MA in Fine Art Contemporary Practice at Falmouth in 2012.

‘Scope’ – BA(Hons) Drawing exhibit in London

BA(Hons) Drawing students recently exhibited at the RKB Gallery, London.

BA(Hons) Drawing at R K Burt Gallery, London

BA(Hons) Drawing at R K Burt Gallery, London

Isolde Pullum at The Mall Galleries, London

(C) Isolde Pullum

BA(Hons) Drawing Senior Lecturer Isolde Pullum will have two works featured in The Discerning Eye exhibition at The Mall Galleries, London, from 13 November.

This annual exhibition is the principle activity of The Discerning Eye, an educational charity established in the UK in 1990, to encourage a wider understanding and appreciation of the visual arts and to stimulate debate about the place and purpose of art in our society, and the contribution each one of us can make to its development.

Of her exhibited work, Isolde says, ‘These drawings are part of a large series of works on paper made from chance starting points and experimental surfaces.  People, animals and ambiguous spaces are recurrent themes and although narratives can easily be found, they are just a by-product of the process.  The joy of making these drawings is never knowing what’s going to happen and who or what will appear’.

Born in 1962, educated in Southend and Cornwall, Isolde has worked in industry and education, written books about ponies and taught at Falmouth School of Art since 1986, most recently on the BA(Hons) Drawing Degree. Isolde’s drawing practise is broad, encompassing the detailed recording of natural subjects and an extensive series of drawings based loosely on the phenomena of pareidolia.  Her current research interests explore the interface between drawing and writing.

The exhibition will be open to the public from Thursday 13 November until Sunday 23 November at The Mall Galleries, London SW1, 10am-5pm daily. Admission is free and all works are for sale.

Show & Tell Exhibition by BA Drawing student

Sophie Glover, a Falmouth BA(Hons) Drawing student is exhibiting a new drawing as part of the Just Us Collective exhibition exploring the theme of ‘show and tell’.  The Private View is on 30 July at 6pm in Shoreditch, London.

 

BA(Hons) Drawing exhibition – ONE-TWO-DRAW!

BA(Hons) Drawing, which has its first graduating cohort this year, hosts an exhibition of first and second year student work in Falmouth this week.

Late opening (6-9pm) on Friday 13th June, will coincide with the opening of the Falmouth School of Art’s Degree Show, which will include work on display at the Falmouth Campus at Woodlane by our final year students in BA(Hons) Drawing, BA(Hons) Fine Art and BA(Hons) Illustration.

The work of BA(Hons) Drawing students will also be exhibited in London at the RKB Gallery in Southwark from 27 June to 4 July.

3rd year Illustration students show portfolios to art directors in New York

Around 50 BA(Hons) Illustration students recently made the long flight to New York to soak up the atmosphere of one of the most exciting cities in the world and to show their portfolios of illustration to art directors from The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, BBH, JWT, Bernstein & Andriulli and many more. This annual trip is one of the highlights for the Falmouth course’s final year students, who find the Falmouth name to be very well known at some of the most prestigious agencies and publications in New York.

Head of Illustration, Nigel Owen, kept us up to date with words and plenty of pictures as the week unfolded, via the BA Illustration Blog

Charles Hively reviewing portfolios in Brooklyn

 

Thursday night at the Standard Beer Garden

‘Drawing a Presence’

BA(Hons) Fine Art student Ryan Joucla is exhibiting some of his recent work in the exhibition ‘Drawing a Presence’ which opens at Newlyn Art Gallery this week. Ryan is a third year student whose practice includes drawing, film photography, and collage and is concerned with the notion of place and landscape. 

Ryan’s drawings exhibited at Newlyn are taken from a body of work called ‘In Passing Series’.  These drawings display an in-between world, the landscape that we view maybe no more than in-passing depicting the experience of moving between two places. They capture a transition; displaying the in-between place between memory and reality. He uses a personal narrative as an illustration to describe this physical and emotional shift, finding the use of charcoal and erasure to be rewarding process for recall. By considering these nondescript spaces and exploring the aesthetics he questions their banality and his relationship with them, hopefully finding some degree of belonging and identity within my new landscape. 

The exhibition Drawing a Presence at Newlyn Art Gallery (9/5/14 to 12/7/14) asks what is it like to be a young person living in Cornwall, whether born and raised here or just stopping off for a short time? Drawing a Presence is a snapshot of what it’s like to be a certain age, at particular time, in a specific place. It  is a rare opportunity for artists between the age of 15 and 25 to present their work in a public gallery. Curated by Falmouth based Elle Sambrook and Henry Osman, themselves within that age range, this exhibition invites visitors to Newlyn Art Gallery to view Cornwall as seen by a new generation of artists. The focus is often in contrast to the archetypal image of Cornwall, with alternative landscapes and details often overlooked. Drawing a Presence is the pilot of a four year project which invites young people to express what they feel about the county in which they live.

Guest Speaker – Graham Rawle

(C) Graham Rawle

Graham Rawle is an author, artist and designer based in London. His weekly Lost Consonants first appeared in the Weekend Guardian in 1990 and ran for fifteen years. He will be joining us as part of the Falmouth School of Art Guest Speakers series, to talk to students from all our courses about his work and practice.

Rawle has produced other regular series for the Observer, the Sunday Telegraph Magazine and The Times. Among his published books are The Wonder Book of Fun, Lying Doggo and Diary of an Amateur Photographer.

His collage novel Woman’s World, created from fragments of found text clipped from women’s magazines, won wide critical acclaim, described by The Times as ‘a work of genius…the most wildly original novel produced in this country in the past decade’.

Rawle’s reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz won the ‘Best Illustrated Trade Book Award’ as well as 2009 ‘Book of the Year’ at the British Book Design Awards. His latest novel, The Card was published in June 2012.

Rawle has exhibited widely internationally and given lectures about his work at educational institutions, museums, theatres, literary festivals, galleries, conferences, bookstores and cinemas. He teaches on the MA Sequential Design/Illustration at the University of Brighton, and was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from Norwich University College of the Arts.

Thursday 17 April 2014  – 5-6pm, Falmouth Campus Lecture Theatre

Artist Cornelia Parker – working with Falmouth Fine Art students

Renowned artist and Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker made her third visit to Falmouth University on 26 February, her second since becoming Falmouth School of Art’s Visiting Professor of Fine Art.

Cornelia revealed how she’s often played with the idea of ‘truth to materials’ – something of a mantra during her own art school days – influencing how we might read or interpret the most unlikely materials, from the charred remains of churches, to ink made from pornographic tapes.  

Dr. Ginny Button, Director of The Falmouth School of Art, introduced Cornelia to a capacity audience of students, staff and members of the public, and said afterwards “It was great to welcome Cornelia back to Falmouth. She always creates a buzz and gives us plenty to think about.” 

The following day, Cornelia gave a seminar for final year BA(Hons) Fine Art students.

Last summer, Cornelia spent several hours with graduating students in a crit of their exhibition at The Dye House in Peckham, London. Current third year students are sure to be looking forward to their crit with her at their London post graduation show in summer 2014.  

 

A Year of Success for Falmouth’s Illustrators

This has been a really successful year for our third year Illustration students and alumni. As well as some significant commissions that came out of the annual industry visit to New York, a number were successful in some of the major competitions. Notable were four students who were chosen to exhibit in the Serco London Transport Poster exhibition, held at the London Transport Museum. Finn Clark, who graduated in 2012, was the overall winner. His winning poster can been seen at Tube stations all over the underground. Well done to Elena Boils and Oliver Kellett who also were part of the exhibition.

Recent graduate Jim Boswell has been commissioned to produce illustrations for the Folio Society, and had success at D&AD New Blood: Best in Year – D&AD 2012 Illustration – Little White Lies.

Charlotte Trounce, who graduated in 2011 has, with BA(Hons) Illustration Senior Lecturer Linda Scott, recently been commissioned and subsequently published in the Dutch edition of Jamie magazine.

Illustrator Mark Smith recently visited to present his work to all our students. He had been due to speak at our London Illustration Forum, but had to pull out at the last minute, so we are very grateful to him for coming down to Falmouth.

Our third year students will shortly be attending a series of presentations on the subject of Business Skills, as part of our Professional Practice delivery. Themes will include ‘Business Start Up’, ‘Tax Issues’, and ‘Intellectual Property Rights’. Tp compliment this, three successful alumni (Owen Davey, Emma Dibben, Robert Fresson) will talk to students about how they have built their careers; second year students will also hear talks from these alumni, regarding their working practices.

Serco London Transport Poster Competition

Winning Design by Finn Clark

Work by Elena Boils

Work by Oliver Kellett

Week of Visiting Lecturers for Falmouth Illustration

BA(Hons) Illustration students have enjoyed a series of Visiting Lecturers, covering themes such as professional practice, editorial illustration, collectives, illustration agencies, life drawing, painting techniques, children’s picture book illustration, and a workshop in digital illustration and web site optimisation.

Successful local artist Tim Clarey worked with second year students, providing specialist advice to students interested in ‘wet media’, painting techniques.

Holly Wales is an established illustrator and academic working in the UK and US; she gave a fantastic presentation of her work to Level 3 students and then held portfolio reviews on the students New York portfolios. Emma Yarlett, a recent graduate of Falmouth who is already making waves in the publishing industry has just had her first illustrated book –  Sydney, Stella & the Moon – published by Templar Books. Her book that formed her presentation, and during her visit she looked at students’ portfolios.

We welcomed back Robert Fresson, another alumni. Fresh from his year at the Royal College of Art, Robert gave a demonstration of traditional Japanese Woodblock printing (Moku Hanga), normally associated with the Ukiyo-e artistic genre. This was a fantastic opportunity for students to witness such a specialist technique at first hand. Robert had spent 3 months in Japan learning this technique from a master print maker as part of his studies at the RCA.

Illustration third years visit New York publishers and agencies

Our final year Illustration students have just returned from a successful and exciting trip to New York. All set had diaries filled with appointments at New York’s top illustration agencies, publishing houses and design groups. Some visits were set up in advance using the contacts that tutors have built up over many years, such as the Illustrators agent Peter Lott at the prestigious Society of Illustrators and the children’s book publisher Holiday House. Students were given a warm and enthusiastic welcome and were offered honest and insightful feedback on their portfolios – important advice for their future careers. Other appointments were set up by the students themselves, including with Pentagram, The New York Times, Penguin and for some lucky students, the legendary designer Milton Glaser. The excitement of experiencing the industry first hand was palpable as the students met up in the evenings to discuss their meetings, and all were left feeling inspired by those who had seen them.

Student Hugh Cowling summed up his experience: ‘I have learnt so much from this week and feel that I really made the most out of it. I had 13 portfolio reviews so I have come back with my head full of advice and suggestions on how to improve my options for when I graduate.’

Illustration Alumni Visit

Students were recently visited by three of our most successful recent graduates, Emma Dibben, Owen Davey and Robert Fresson, as part of a Business Forum event. The day was a fantastic success, starting with a series of business related lectures and culminating in an afternoon of illuminating talks by by our visiting alumni.

Owen Davey is a freelance Illustrator. Well known for his children’s picture books, he has worked extensively within editorial and advertising too. In 2011, Owen won ‘Junior Magazine Most Promising New Talent Award’ for debut picture book, Foxly’s Feast. His clients include Orange, BBC, Microsoft, Persil, The Guardian, New York Times, The Times, The Telegraph and Jamie Oliver; his work has been published in every continent except Antarctica, including picture books in UK, America, Australia, France & China.

Emma Dibben has become well known for her splatters, fingerprints and splodges – you may recognize her work from a Waitrose Bag for Life! – a visual language she has carefully developed and which is now part of her trademark style. On graduating in 2004, with a First Class BA(Hons) Degree, Emma moved to Bristol. Commissions soon followed and saw her creating images for prestigious clients including Waitrose, The Guardian and the BBC. Whilst food illustration is a core element of Emma’s practice, she Emma also thrives on the challenge of editorial illustration, with commissions from the Guardian, Conde Nast and the Financial Times among others.

Flag enthusiast, artist and illustrator Robert G. Fresson has spent the last few years honing the usage of technical drawing tools and materials. He also has an inclination towards off-white papers, Ukiyo-e from Japan and CMYK colour separation. Humour is an important aspect of his work, and he has been quoted as saying (probably to himself), “while it is difficult for me to be seriously funny, I find I have an aptitude for being funnily serious”. His lifelong dream is to own a cabin in Novascotia, though conversely he currently lives on a boat on the River Avon in Bath. Robert has recently completed his MA at the Royal College of Art.

First Year Illustrators visit London

Our Level One study trip to London is a professional practice visit which enables students to meet some of the world’s top art directors, designers, publishers and agents. This year, visits included Transworld, Walker books, Nobrow, The Big Orange, Artworks agency, Debut Art, Dorling Kindersley and more. The visit included a very successful Illustration Forum day, held by Falmouth University at the London College of Communication (to whom we are very grateful). The forum featured three fantastic speakers: Nick White, Laura Carlin and Graham Rawle.

The White Cube Gallery

Ulla Pugaard at the Big Orange Studio

Finn Clarks winning Transport Poster

Outside the British Museum

Transworld Visit