Shelterbox exhibition by BA(Hons) Drawing Students

BA(Hons) Drawing students from all years are exhibiting work during February and March in the Shelterbox Visitor Centre, Truro.

Course Coordinator & Senior lecturer Isolde Pullum says, ‘The students were very moved by their recent visit to Shelterbox. I think it really hit home to many of them the importance of an immediate response to an emergency situation. The idea to make drawings that could raise money came from them, and the theme of Temporary Housing seemed broad enough to encompass a range of different approaches and ideas.’

‘Also in the exhibition are The History Box drawings, which aim to capture the passage of time by including elements of change and movement within the same drawing. A drawing, unlike a photograph, has the potential to encompass time passing by the artist’s reaction to changes. The staff and students really welcome this opportunity to work with Shelterbox and hope it can be the start an ongoing relationship.’

 

All the drawings on display can be bought, some for as little as £10 each, with all the proceeds going to ShelterBox.  Visitor Experience Assistant Ellie Howell-Round says, ‘This is very generous of the Drawing students, and the artworks are fascinating and thought-provoking. Everyone can empathise with the people that ShelterBox helps, as we all fear extreme weather and appreciate the importance of safety and shelter.’

First Year BA(Hons) Drawing – A Pop Up Exhibition.

The first year BA(Hons) Drawing students transformed their studio to create a pop up exhibition, curated by John Howard, Associate Lecturer. The exhibition was held in the drawing studios and featured over 100 drawings from the students’ first term of work and covered a wide range of subjects and artistic techniques.

The students worked together to prepare the space for the exhibition. First year student Maria Meekings felt that this process shifted the collective vision from viewing their work as practice pieces, to viewing the pieces in their own right and she was excited to get feedback on her work. “Being able to present work to fellow practitioners and the wider public is gratifying in that it helps you understand that as an artist you are part of a community and that your work exists in a context of both other pieces of art and as something which others can take pleasure or interest in, and not merely as art for its own sake.”

The exhibition also prompted discussion among the students about what they had learnt during this first term of immersion, their response to each-others’ pieces and the aspects of the course that they had most enjoyed so far. Maria says “Being able to explore a variety of techniques and viewpoints has been quite fascinating and useful I feel to understand myself as an artist and the work I want to produce. I think that the understanding in many ways is just as important as the work I’ve produced, if not more, as that is part of my future while each piece finished is automatically assigned to my past.

Reflecting on the process of drawing, Senior Lecturer Peter Skerrett considers that it can be a very introspective activity. “Having the opportunity to share this practice with a wider audience enables the students to see their work from a critical distance, almost like encountering it for the first time. This increases their ability to understand their own and their colleagues work from a more critical and reflective viewpoint.”

Isolde Pullum, Course Coordinator for BA(Hons) Drawing, was impressed with the students’ professional manner and the way in which they worked together to put the show up in a very short space of time. She was also delighted with the quality of the drawings produced so early in the course, during which time they have created work on location during study visits to Tresco on the Isles of Scilly, The National Trust’s Trelissick, Trebah Garden and Paradise Park wildlife sanctuary. They also visited ShelterBox in Truro to prepare for an upcoming project for next term.

There will be more opportunities for the students to develop their professional practice and to exhibit their work, as future exhibitions are planned for the Fox Café on the Falmouth Campus.

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Falmouth School of Art Intensives – Summer 2017 in Pictures

Last week we held our Falmouth School of Art Summer Intensives 2017.  Three strands took place this year; abstract painting, figure painting and observational drawing.

We had another really successful year packed full of fantastic work by a great group of practitioners.  We really enjoyed hosting this again and please do take a look at the wide range of work produced in the gallery below.

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Short courses this summer – Falmouth School of Art Intensives

Falmouth School of Art Figure Painting Intensive

Applications are now invited for the Falmouth School of Art Intensives, our popular summer courses for artists, practitioners and art educators.

Taking place 3-7 July at our Falmouth Campus, we’re again offering a choice of 5-day ‘Intensives’. All are studio-based and provide daily input from specialist tutors including some of Cornwall’s leading artists.

Abstract Painting will be led by artists Simon Averill and Mark Surridge, who created and have delivered this stimulating course together for the last two years. Guidance will be given as participants explore a wide range of strategies, ways of thinking and processes for making abstract work.

Figure Painting, devised and delivered by artists Ashley Hold and Jesse Leroy Smith, promotes skills development and experimentation through daily practical and contextual workshops. Participants work from the life model throughout the week.

New for 2017 is Observational Drawing, delivered by Falmouth School of Art’s Drawing team who have diverse skill sets and expertise. Starting from the rich qualities of Falmouth’s coastal environment, the course is structured around practising observation skills in the field, capturing images from surroundings and building on those findings in the studio.

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If you’re looking for some time and space to develop or reinvigorate your practise this summer, find out more on our website – www.falmouth.ac.uk/fsaintensives. We’ll leave you with the feedback of previous participants…

“The intensive week reinvigorated me and I came home refreshed and ready to start new work.  I have lots of interesting threads to pick up on and gained new insights and ideas.  The tutors were brilliant and helped and suggested in very subtle ways that were completely personal to each participant.  It was exactly what I was looking for and I can’t wait to get working in the studio.”

“It has given me the motivation to pursue my work with greater commitment and energy and also to look more at the work of other artists, both current and historical.”

“The space allocated to us was truly fantastic and this generosity of space enabled us to expand into experimentation, which would otherwise not have been possible.” 

“There was so much that was memorable.  The beautiful setting of the campus and excellent facilities, the superb studio space, great tutors giving excellent lectures, a wonderful group of artists to be among, the social events and superb guest speaker were all wonderful.  Mostly I loved the time and space it gave me to think and work without distraction, but help and support from my fellow artists if I wanted it.”

“I loved the experience.  I was touched by all your thoughtfulness and kindness – the extra events you laid on for us.  I found the tutors’ input sensitive and supportive at all times.”

“The best thing I have done for years: It was like a creative vitamin injection. My practice traveled a very long way in a short space of time.”

 

 

 

 

 

Observations – drawings by Falmouth School of Art Staff

Observations – an exhibition of drawings by staff of Falmouth School of Art

Reflecting the ways in which observational drawing, often combined with memory, imagination and invention, informs a range of practice.

Selected from an open submission by staff of Falmouth School of Art’s courses, staff exhibiting are: Gemma Anderson, Claire Armitage, Simon Averill, Neil Chapman, Jane Chetwynd, Mark Foreman, Glad Fryer, Becky Haughton, Ashley Hold, Phil Naylor, Isolde Pullum, Jesse Leroy Smith, Mark Surridge, Roger Towndrow, Virginia Verran, Lucy Willow and Gillian Wylde.

  

02-12 February, Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm, the Project Space, Falmouth Campus – open to the public

BA(Hons) Drawing on the Isles of Scilly

For a number of years, first year BA(Hons) Drawing students have had the chance to visit Tresco in the Scilly Isles. Here they explore the landscape, the beautiful gardens and the surrounding area for inspiration. Megan Fatharly, a first year student, talks about her experience of the trip.

The trip was very early on in the course, but this gave us all the chance to bond and learn from each other. I think for many of us, me included, we were daunted by the idea of drawing outside for a lot of the time. However, since coming back from the trip, this is something I try to do frequently as I really enjoy it! We were set tasks and then let loose on the Island to go and explore and document the landscape.

Throughout the week we were set drawing tasks which challenged our way of thinking and made us work outside our comfort zone. This included a collaborative project, where we captured the landscape in 360 degrees, working in one medium. It meant talking to each other and communicating our ideas so that the drawing was a success.

While we were there we also got the chance to meet Theo Crutchley-Mack, a recent graduate from the course, who is currently doing a residency on the Island. It was great to see what opportunities come from doing the degree. Seeing his work was really inspiring and I’m sure motivated a lot of us to look into residencies after completing our degree.

On the Friday we were all invited to the private view at Gallery Tresco on the Island, where current second and third years have work on display. It gave us the chance to see how an exhibition was put together and displayed. Despite all the work being so different, the whole show was a great success and you could tell real thought had been put into how each work was shown.

I know everyone who went had a great experience. The trip was a real once in a life time experience and I’m already trying to find a way to go back! A huge thank you to Isolde Pullum, Phil Naylor and Peter Skerrett for making it so fantastic!

Below are some more pictures from the trip. We were very fortunate with the accommodation that was organised for us, too! Such a great trip, where I learnt a lot and got the chance to meet more of my course.

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.

Drawing the Museum

First year BA(Hons) Drawing students and tutors Isolde Pullum and Peter Skerrett spent the day at the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, drawing from the Rashleigh Collection of rocks and minerals, as well the museum’s other collections.

Student Emma Abel said, ‘It was fascinating to view the fossils and rock specimens and also the reconstructions of the settlements.  Most interesting was the rhinoceros tooth. It’s great to have a drawing resource like this just a train ride from Falmouth.’