Congratulations Class of 2018!!

Wow! What a fantastic degree show. After all the hard work and energy that went into the conversion of studios into exhibitions over the last month – not to mention the brilliant achievement of having created the work itself – we hope our final year students are recovering from the celebrations marking the culmination of their three years of degree study.

To mark the end of the year, Falmouth School of Art hosts an awards ceremony; a chance for third year students to come together with their peers and tutors to reflect and to celebrate one another, before joining wider friends and family for the official opening of their degree shows. The Awards recognise Outstanding Achievement, Studentship and Dissertation in all our subjects; announcement is also made of the recipients of a raft of residencies arranged by Falmouth School of Art with external partners, to provide graduating students with further opportunities to test their work in public contexts and to network with other artists.

Thank you to all our students and tutors for making this such a celebratory occasion, and we hope you all enjoyed your evening and one another’s exhibitions as much as we did.

Here we share with you some scenes from our end of year awards and the degree shows opening – thank you for your support this year.

(Class of 2018 – please get in touch if you want a high-res version of your photo).

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Falmouth School of Art Student Awards

To mark the public opening of their degree shows, and the culmination of three years of study, Falmouth School of Art’s Falmouth Campus students gathered last Friday evening to celebrate with friends and tutors, before welcoming friends and family to their exhibitions.

Awards, residencies and bursaries were announced, and we’re happy to share snapshots from the evening with you…

Students gathering for the annual Falmouth School of Art Student Awards – lucky with the sunshine again this year…

Falmouth School of Art Director Ginny Button welcomes students with a glass of fizz!

Tanya Cruz, awarded the BA(Hons) Fine Art Award for Outstanding Dissertation. Tanya was also one of this year’s recipients of the Midas Award.

Head of Drawing and Foundation, Phil Naylor presents Sophie Bowen with the BA(Hons) Drawing Award for Outstanding Dissertation.

BA(Hons) Illustration student Seekan Hui received an award from Paper Rose Cards. She says “I’ve had such fun at Falmouth!”

BA(Hons) Drawing student Scarlet Standen received the John Howard Print Studio Bursary.

Printmaker and artist John Howard, also an Associate Lecturer at Falmouth University, generously provides a bursary giving 60 hours of taught access at his Penryn studio.

Head of Art Roger Towndrow congratulated Rob Davis on receiving the Transition Porthmeor Residency and the Spike Island Residency. Rob was also announced as a recipient of this years’ Midas Award.

BA(Hons) Fine Art student Demelza James was awarded a Transition Porthmeor Residency.

BA(Hons) Fine Art student Maddie Broad brought her piece The Disco Trolley, providing a soundtrack as students received their awards, and enlivening the campus throughout the evening.

Head of Drawing and Foundation Phil Naylor presents Minna Gawler-Wright with the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drawing.

BA(Hons) Fine Art student Ed Burkes was awarded the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Travel to Italy Award.

Julia de Graaf was presented with the BA(Hons) Illustration Award for Outstanding Studentship by Head of Illustration Nigel Owen.

BA(Hons) Fine Art student Polly Maxwell was a recipient of the Transition Porthmeor Residency

Head of Drawing and Foundation Phil Naylor presented Jonathan Koetsier with the BA(Hons) Drawing Award for Outstanding Studentship

BA(Hons) Fine Art student Lulu Richards Cottell was presented with the Peter Root and Mary Thompson Award. Mary’s brother Ben presented the award, made annually by the Peter Root and Mary Thompson Charitable Trust. Mary and Peter were Falmouth School of Art alumni, tragically killed whilst travelling in 2013. Lulu was also a recipient of the Transition Porthmeor Residency.

Head of Art Roger Towndrow presents Finbar Conran with the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art. Finbar was also one of the recipients of the Midas Award.

 

The full list of award, bursary and residency recipients…

The Midas Award 2016 | The Midas selection panel have chosen work by ten graduating Fine Art students for an exhibition at Newlyn Art Gallery in November, accompanying the 2015 winner’s solo show: Ella Caie, Tanya Cruz, Finbar Conran, Robert Davis, Joe Fenwick-Wilson, Nicholas Griffin, Zoe Pearce, Bharat Rajagopal, Isabel Ramos, Calum Rees-Gildea

The Peter Root and Mary Thompson Award | Lulu Richards Cottell | An annual award to support a graduating student in their professional development on leaving university. The award is sponsored by the Peter Root and Mary Thompson Charitable Trust, in memory of alumni Peter and Mary who tragically died in an accident in 2013

The Spike Island Residency | Robert Davis | A residency provided by and at Spike Island in Bristol

The Wilhemina Barns-Graham Travel to Italy Award | Ed Burkes | An award generously supported by the Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham Trust, open to students in their final year of BA(Hons) Fine Art. 

Transition Residencies | Part of the Fine Art Transitions Project which seeks to support graduating students as they enter the professional world. Both Back Lane West and Porthmeor are significant venues within Cornwall and the residencies provide the students with a special opportunity to extend their work beyond the course:

The Transition Back Lane West Residency | Ed Rowe, Isabel Ramos

The Transition Porthmeor Residency | Lulu Richards Cottell, Rob Davis, Demelza James, Polly Maxwell

The John Howard Print Studio Bursary | Scarlet Standen | Generously provided by celebrated local print maker John Howard, the bursary is awarded to a student of BA(Hons) Drawing, and provides 60 hours of taught access at the John Howard Studio in Penryn.

The Paper Rose Award | Seekan Hui (winner), Ellen Bennett (commended) | Award presented by Mark Jessett from G.F.Smith Paper.

THE FALMOUTH SCHOOL OF ART SPECIAL AWARDS

The Falmouth School of Art supports awards in Outstanding Achievement, Outstanding Studentship and Outstanding Dissertation in each of our degree courses:

Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drawing | Minna Gawler-Wright

BA(Hons) Drawing Award for Outstanding Studentship | Jonathan Koetsier

BA(Hons) Drawing Award for Outstanding Dissertation | Sophie Bowen

Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art | Finbar Conran

BA(Hons) Fine Art Award for Outstanding Studentship | Anthony Kenny

BA(Hons) Fine Art Award for Outstanding Dissertation | Tanya Cruz

Award for Outstanding Achievement in Illustration | Sara Hougham-Slade

BA(Hons) Illustration Award for Outstanding Studentship |Julia De Graaf

BA(Hons) Illustration Award for Outstanding Dissertation | Lucy Tomlinson

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.

Brian Cheeswright and Ed Hill: Two Painters

Brian Cheeswright and Ed Hill: Two Painters

2 October – 9 November 2014
The Gallery at Idea Store Whitechapel invites you to a joint exhibition by two painters Brian Cheeswright and recent Falmouth Fine Art graduate Ed Hill.

Ed Hill aims to make atmospheric paintings, imbued with an elusive mystery and warmth. The subject matter used to inform his paintings can vary; sketches from life, personal photographs and memories and painting history can all inform an idea. Cultural phenomena such as film, music, literature and comic books also provide inspiration. A recurring theme in his work is the allusion to far-away places, perhaps a memory from childhood, a personal depiction of a place or ‘thing’ once visited or witnessed, an experience or sensation. It could be a semi-fictional invention or a borrowed story from a relative. He is drawn to images which contain strangeness, humour and a tragi-comic element.

Ed’s recent exhibitions include ‘Paint Like You Mean It’, Interview Room 11, Edinburgh and ‘Test Space Open’, Spike Island, Bristol. Upcoming Exhibitions Include ‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries’, World Museum Liverpool/ICA London (2014), and ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’, Transition Gallery (2014). Ed was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2014.

London born painter Brian Cheeswright is taking stock of his output and pondering the curious geography of lines and marks and wrong turns he has mapped out for himself – adventures carried out in the living room of his Edinburgh flat. Cheeswright’s modest-sized figurative paintings are concerned with vulnerability, anxiety, and the idea of each man or woman as stuck on an island, tentatively sending out a message in a bottle or clambering into ramshackle rafts to try and reach each other. His cast of characters often originate in books or dreams, though increasingly he is turning towards his own childhood and adolescent biography for inspiration. Cheeswright’s style has lurched, back-stepped and stumbled between the expressive, the gestural and the romantic, the cynical and the absurd.

Brian Cheeswright (b.1978) lives and works in Edinburgh. Studied at Brighton School of Art, graduating in 2004. Recent exhibitions include, ‘Draw In’, St Margaret’s House, Edinburgh (2014), ‘Artworks Open’, Barbican Arts group Trust, London (2014), ‘Paint Like You Mean It’, Interview Room 11, Edinburgh (2014) and ‘Marmite Painting Prize IV’, various venues (2013). Cheeswright was the winner of ‘Marmite Painting Prize IV’ in 2013.