Monday 27 January 2014

Where are they Now? - Rachel Sanderson

 
Guest blog post written by Rachel Sanderson, a TRC Fine Art student 2009 - 2011, now in her third year of her course. 


Rachel Sanderson
 
Fine Art (4 Year course)
 
University of Newcastle
 
 
At TRC I took the Fine Art endorsement and thoroughly enjoyed it!
I went straight onto the four year Fine Art BA at Newcastle University. I specifically choose Newcastle due to the structure of the course, with the dissertation completed in third year and the degree show in fourth year, and the fact that it has no separate schools of painting or sculpture, therefore there is no pressure to specialize in one media.
 
Unlike most art schools in the country Newcastle University looks after first year art students quite well, with tutors constantly popping into studios and specified project areas to begin with, therefore A level to degree was a steady progression, not a drop in the deep end! I highly value the teachers at TRC as they allowed me to explore my independence and recognized that I was highly motivated within my own ideas.
 
Currently I am in third year, and I have lots of ideas and dreams for what I want to do when I leave university! My long-term goal is to be able to show my work in galleries across the world, and to be a lecturer in a far eastern country such as Japan. Upon finishing at university I want to get a job in a college or university as an art technician, while having my own studio as well. I would also like to work in international schools across the world as a teacher and therefore train for a teaching certificate. My back up plan for if I don’t manage to find a job when I graduate is to go straight onto a PGCE, but I would really like to work for a few years first.
 
In 2014 I will also apply for the Daiwa Scholarship, which if I am successful in achieving will allow me to study Japanese in Tokyo for 19months fully funded, although most successful applicants have an MA and BA qualification, so I might be applying more than one year in a row!
In March I am going to Muenster in Germany on Erasmus to study in the art school for a semester.
 While at Newcastle I have been involved in a few outside projects such as the Darlington Festival of Thrift where I was paid to run knitting workshops for two days. I have also set up a University Knit and Knatter group that I hope to turn into a fully-fledged university society in September when I come back from Erasmus.
I have a blog called Rachel’s ArtPractice that I do post pictures of my work on but not as often anymore as I am crazy busy at university!
 
Rachels A2 coursework final piece

Rachels A2 Exam exhibition
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday 22 January 2014

University Interviews - Goldmiths - Design

We are asking students who have been on interviews for University courses to write about their experiences, this is the first one we have recieved back.

University: Goldsmiths, University of London
Course: Design
Student: Kesia (TRC Fine Art 2011 - 2013)
Interview Date:  Jan 2014


After receiving an Unconditional offer to study Design at Goldsmiths Sarah asked me to write a blog post about the interview process.
It is a three year course with ABB requirement at A-level. After applying it took about two months for them to reply with a portfolio interview date, they also requested that I write a 300 word statement on why I wanted to apply to their course. For my portfolio they asked I bring work from the past 12 months that show creativity, it did not specifically have to be design work so I took my Fine Art coursework.
When I arrived at the interview we were asked to lay out our work on a desk and then wait in a separate room whilst the interviewers looked though our portfolios. They left us in a room together to introduce ourselves and break the ice before our group interviews. When we were called back into the room the course leader had picked out one piece from our portfolios and we were asked to explain how we came about to make that piece and how it fit in with our projects. For mine he picked out my mock final piece which was a self-portrait which he asked me why I had chosen to age with varnish and coffee.
 
We were then asked to pick out our favourite piece from our portfolio and discuss it in the same way, for mine I chose my chine collé intaglio print as it was something no one else in the interview had experimented with and I felt this would make me stand out from the group. The interviewer also asked us questions such as ‘What do you think is the difference between Art and Design?’ and ‘Do you think it is important to try new forms of Design?’, questions where there is no correct answer, the interviewer would then argue the other side to see how you deal with being challenged.

After the interview we were taken on a tour of the Design department where we had the opportunity to ask questions to a 3rd year student.

The day after my interview I received an email from the man who interviewed me saying he was recommending to the admissions team that they offer my a place and it took 5 days for my official offer to come through on UCAS.
 
Well done Kesia from everyone in the Art Department at TRC!

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Where are they Now? - Ngaire Burston



Guest blog post written by Ngaire Burston, a TRC Fine Art student 2011 - 2013, all images are shown courtesy of Ngaire, thank you!
 
Ngaire Burston
 
University: University of Sheffield
 
 

I finished Fine Art in June 2013 and immediately took up my place at the University of Sheffield to study Landscape Architecture.

 Art at TRC gave me fantastic groundwork from which to build upon. Our lecturers constantly preach to ‘let go’ and ‘take risks’ something which makes me feel like I’m back in the art rooms with Sarah and Bev. I was a little apprehensive about the skills other people would have and how my work would compare but from the first day I realised I had nothing to worry about. Not only was everyone feeling quite similar, TRC had set me up with an ability to get stuck in and give it a go. First year is all about enthusiasm and commitment; you’re there to learn! Some people didn’t even do art at A level. In my A2 year I had some fairly crazy outcomes taking up whole cupboards with bits of wood and netting and ripped up prints sticking out all over the place.  This has really developed my work in the studio from finding materials for model making to coming to an outcome that’s much less obvious. I think one of the best things someone said to me was ‘if you could already do it you wouldn’t be here’ it sounds really obvious but it has really helped me to let go and have fun with my work.  



A trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park- this is like a brand new place after seeing it with our lecturers. It felt good when they took us the see the Deer Shelter and that was a major influence on my work at TRC.
 
Our course is split into 6 modules in the first year. We have to do reports, visual reports, a digital portfolio (using lots of different design programmes) redesigning areas based around briefs (we were given the area surrounding the arts tower where our course is based) and continually be practicing our drawing and design skills in sketchbooks. Now in the New Year we’ll be picking up Histories of Landscape and more design programmes. The first couple of weeks we were introduced to techniques, helping to speed up our drawing, drawing to scales, and generally just enhancing what we already could do. I currently have lectures for around 4 hours week but it really does vary if we have deadlines coming up it tends to be less whereas when projects and modules are being introduced we get more. We have 3 hours plus optional workshops in the IT rooms learning new software that feeds into our digital portfolio. The rest of the time is studio, we have one full day where studio is compulsory and we are guided by our lecturers. This helps to move our projects forward and we have one to one or small group tutorials to review our work and make any improvements (a lot like the ones at TRC). I love the atmosphere in the studio its relaxed and enthusiastic everyone has fun and seeing everyone else developing their work gives you lots of motivation and focus. There are around 50 people on my course so it’s pretty small in comparison to say the Architecture department but we all know each other really well and it is in fact the largest course in the UK for Landscape Architecture.



My model for the Arts Tower redesign we’ve been working on in Studio
 A big stereotype that so many people say to me is ‘Landscape Architecture? That’s just gardening!’ or “You can come and design my garden when you’re done.’ It’s so much more than that. Landscape architecture is designing space. A city centre, outside a train station, the campus of a university, the street you live on, parks and yes sometimes gardens. At Sheffield there’s the opportunity at the end of first year to choose BSc (the ecological route) or BA (the town planning route). Its an up and coming subject so many issues face the world the ever growing population and threat of climate change and lack of money to name a few and these are all challenges you have to bare in mind when designing and researching things that can adapt to whatever they face and have longevity. I cannot wait to see where it all takes me.
 
I stumbled upon Landscape Architecture, as a degree, when looking around at design courses I could do and immediately knew it would suit me. I visited Edinburgh, Leeds met, Gloucester, Kingston and Sheffield. When I finish (it’s a five year course to get your masters then 2 years in industry to be registered) I want to be a Landscape architect but there are lots of routes you can take, from going into management or even research. There’s also the decision of working for a local authority or privately. It is really encouraging when your lecturers are the ones who designed the London Olympic Park or the New York Skyline and their enthusiasm for the subject shines through. Sheffield may not be so far away but I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything, I still live away from home. It is a Russell group university the top in the country for my course so have no reservations that by staying close to home you are in some way doing yourself a disservice, I think the University of Sheffield’s ranking isn’t celebrated enough.

 

Our final day before Christmas- we had an exhibition of our projects so far and there was free beer!
If you want to know anything else about Landscape architecture this is a great website http://www.iwanttobealandscapearchitect.com I also recommend going to as many open days as you can seeing the studios and the city really helped me to decide if I could see myself happily spending 5 years there.

 Good Luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations Kesia!

A huge congratulations to Kesia Elliott, a former TRC Fine Art Student (2011-2012) who has just received an unconditional offer from the prestigious Goldsmiths University in London to study Design. Goldsmiths is a highly respected University with former graduates reading like a who's who of contemporary art;

Lucien Freud, Anya Gallaccio, Antony Gormely, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Tracey Emin,  Michael Landy, Sarah Lucas, Steve McQueen (Artist of recent 12 years a slave fame not the film star!), Cathy DeMonchaux, Julian Opie, Fiona Rae, Sam Taylor-Johnson (nee Sam Taylor-Wood), Mark Wallinger, Gillian Wearing and many many more.

After TRC Kesia took a year out to work before applying to university and will be setting off for London in September 2014.  Well done and keep us up to date Kesia!


Kesia's A2 Coursework final pieces

Kesias A2 Exam Exhibition

Monday 13 January 2014

Saatchi Schools Art Prize Entries 2014

This year we have decided to enter some of our fantastic work into the Saatchi Art prize for schools, more information about the competition can be found here:

http://www.saatchigallery.com/portfolio/

To see our Entries on the website have a look here, you can also see each individual entry on the website by clicking the students name:

http://www.saatchigallery.com/portfolio/SchoolInfo/Thomas+Rotherham+College/336.html

The competition can be entered by current students and students from the previous cohort, one student,  Naomi chose to enter her coursework piece from last year:





'Abandonment' 
130 (inc dropped fabric) x 137cm
Mattress, plaster, coffee and blankets

The piece was initially inspired by abandoned bedding I found amongst a field, which then lead me to the work of John Latham and Claus Oldenburg, with his floppy sculptures. Such inspiration allowed me to explore various compositions and techniques, however it was the abandoned landscape scenery’s, created by David Tress that truly progressed my work. By arranging the blankets on the mattress in a way which resembled a barren beach (that I had previously photographed) it presented abandonment in both individual lives and the outside world. The layering of plaster on top then added a rough and drained texture which was then enhanced via darker tones painted within the creases. Overall I feel this piece is truly successful in its message with the bedding illustrating abandonment in personal lives, whereas the resemblance to a Tress landscape portrays abandonment on a much larger scale. Not forgetting the unique texture and bleak colour pallet that also convey abandonment.
 
LukeEmmott


'Freeze Frame'

197 x 78 x 70cm
Burnt wood and glue gun
My piece is called Freeze Frame. It’s made from ordinary wood and I used a hot glue gun to join it all together. It’s approximately 2m tall and 0.8m Wide. The story behind it is that it’s based around the concept construction and destruction and seeing things for a second and the next it’s gone. I wanted to reconstruct a piece that would look like something we wouldn’t be able see as long as we want. Imagine an explosion of a shed but freeze framing the explosion. That’s the part I want to retell. I first built a ‘shack’ out of old wood found in skips then set it on fire, this the ‘destruction’ part of it. During this process I filmed the event as a time lapse which I would use later. After gathering the wood afterwards I used it to produce my piece, the ‘construction’ side. I then put the footage I got earlier over top of it linking and joining the two opposites together, destruction and construction.
 
‘Freedom In all its Innocence’


100 x 132 x 50cm
Video projected onto printed sheet (Video installation) Although this has been entered as a JPEG
My inspiration behind this piece was looking at the freedom and simplicity behind the innocence of childhood, which I feel has no limitations. The cottons prints onto the fabric in parts so sensitive and delicate in contrast to the bolder parts in other parts are placing emphasis on how as a child things do not have to follow an order or be succumb to restrictions. Filming the material blowing in the wind slowly, is showing the peace found in this freedom and lack of limitations that children have due to their innocence, and the materials freedom of movement is meant to draw upon this idea. Finally projecting this footage onto the sheet is then showing how as a child something can be so clear despite its lack of structure. In this installation I am attempting to remind people how limitless and truly free a child can be, despite the simplistic innocence that childhood gives you.

 


Abuse is Written All Over Your Face
 


162 x 110cm

Paper, electricians tape and biro

Throughout researching into the horrors of domestic violence and the different effects that it has upon not only the victim, but also their children, has truly shocked me. This inspired me to produce the 185cm x 130cm piece, to raise awareness about the situation. I used electrical tape to create the silhouette of the face. It is a household object that insulates, and binds objects together things that are broken. The image is an extreme close-up of the top half of the face, the mouth is omitted, symbolising the fact that people in these types of relationship often have no voice. The eyes have to tell the story as “window of the soul”. Across her face are thousands of words – stories about their abusive relationship, different excuses that they give to justify the situation, statistics, and the knock-on effects that it has for the whole family. This led me to the title “Abuse is Written All Over Your Face”. 




 


Untitled
 
50 x 50cm
Plaster
My inspiration behind this piece of work was looking at different shapes and patterns that are created within buildings. I began by looking at different properties within modern buildings, for example Charles street car park building in Sheffield. This building has lots and lots of squares which lay in different angles and positions mean that you see different parts of each square; I was very inspired by looking at this building. This sculpture which is 50cm X 50cm consists of lots of different shapes created by plaster and can be assembled in many different ways, as you can change the way that you place specific shapes, this is because I wanted to portray that the piece can have different properties from the different angle which you are stood. When you are stood within different angles you are then able to see parts of the shapes that you may not see from other angles for example the space inside of the full sculpture where there is space that hasn’t been filled. Also each and every shape is very different even if there is two of the same shape; with the plaster they all have their own individual qualities.

 


Ticking
 
29 x 39cm
Stitch and flower on paper
I was inspired by my Nan to create art all throughout my childhood which is why it felt right to include her within my work. My aim was to create a piece which portray her personality - she is a very positive character so I used photographs of her smiling. This piece is the size of A3; it's one photograph of her which I folded and scratched away at to show different layers and experiences she has had in her lifetime, a method inspired by Francis Bacon's development methods which were showcased in his book 'A Terrible Beauty'. John Stezaker was also a huge inspiration for this piece; I then layered the folded photograph on top of a different image taken at a slightly different angle to distort and obscure the face.  A main theme in this work is age and aging, I sowed a flower into the layered images to show natures decay, as the flower slowly got drier and drier within the process, as well as the aging of humans.



Untitled, 56 x 43cm



Lost Poetry
 29 x 36cm
Intaglio print on fabric
My piece is an A4 intaglio on a piece of fabric with a variety of earthy colours overlapping and blending with different areas of text. The concept behind the piece was the exploration of decomposition, more specifically, decomposition of a prose. A prose or a piece of poetry or text is carefully and delicately assembled, and I wanted to capture how a prose can then be destroyed, decomposed and pieced back together. I ripped up different photos I took of text and ripped them apart, piecing them back together to create the chaotic template for my intaglio plate. I used earthy colours to relate to the theme of decomposition, where something returns to the earth through decomposing. Different areas of shadowing and different angles of text give the piece depth, and it reminds me a lot of cobwebs, yet looking at it from another point of view gave me the idea for the title, “Lost Poetry”, where a poem or prose is lost and rediscovered, pieced back together to form something new and equally beautiful.




Untitled
 42 x 29.5cm
Pencil on paper
Inspired by the tonal work of Robert Longo I created this A3 tonal study of my Mum I used 3B and 4B sketching pencils to create more tone within the face to create an almost 3D effect. The main theme to my coursework was covert and obscured and I focused on age and distortion of the face, I chose to draw my Mum because even with age she is beautiful to me. Her eyes carry so much emotion in my drawing and I chose an image to draw from that carried emotion as my Mum is such a strong person and doesn't always show her true emotions. But the way she is represented in this image almost shows that she has a totally different side to her, the one she doesn't show and almost makes her look as innocent as a child. 

 


Distressed Domicile
 25 x 30.5cm
Acrylic paint on cardboard
The painting shows the broken-hearted negligence of forgotten spaces, which inspired me to paint this 29.7 x 21.0 cm, worn painting using a mixture of mediums; this includes varnish to create a decrepit surface with a mix of Acrylic paint and charcoal to add chiaroscuro. I manipulated the image to create a piece that retains the aged, architectural beauty from within, using the technique of layering materials and paint.
The concept derived from my Forgotten Spaces investigation, which is an architectural competition focusing on the possibilities of reviving abandoned spaces using the input of creative people’s ideas. My aim of creating this was to create a failed, distressed building to reinforce the suppressed memory of its energised past. I used a palette of monochrome colours to maintain a consistency into abandoned, muted buildings.




Holy War
 82 x 100cm
Acrylic Paint on cardboard
Inspired by the idea of religious conflict trapping people I have painted this 80cm X 100cm textured piece in acrylic paint. I began by looking at religion and conflict, looking at the concept of a Jihad or ‘holy war’. A jihad can represent both an external conflict or war and an internal one. The latter is what inspired me the most, and I have looked at how individuals are trapped by religion itself and from the conflict surrounding this. This painting is from a scan of my body pressed against the glass of a scanner inspired by the collaboration of Jenny Saville and Glen Luchford. I have mixed my background layer of paint with mud to create a textured piece after looking at the work of and being inspired by Anselm Kiefer and Eugene Leroy. Kiefer’s use of natural materials such as straw is what inspired me to experiment with this to create thicker paint. I finished the piece with a layer of French polish to marry together the different parts of the painting and to add another layer of entrapment.

 


The face in the shadows
 30.5 x 46cm
Intaglio on newsprint paper
My piece, entitled ‘The face in the shadows’, holds the idea that everybody has several layers behind them, with several meanings and ‘colours’. It’s like the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”, I tried to create a piece that if you was to peel away a layer, you would see the work in a whole different light. By literally peeling back some of the layers on my work I achieved a look that says ‘if you scratch below the surface you might find something more hiding away out of sight’. Giacometti heavily influenced me and brought me great inspiration through the use of his sketch work and paintings. I wanted to take his technique of delicate broken lines through to my intaglio printing In order to create a realistic face, not one that had a solid outline with the facial features drawn on afterwards. I admire Giacometti’s use of crosshatching and building up layers of lines as a unique way of creating shadows on the face, something that I found highly useful in the scratching process of my printing. I was also influenced by the work of Alexander Farto and the way he layers up his work to create depth and meaning, using his chosen background to his advantage. I really appreciated the way he carefully built up his work to his desired effect instead of rushing into it and running the depth he has achieved.

 


Untitled
 100 x 54cm
Plaster
Inspired by the theme of duplicating and overlapping I created plaster scaffolding poles which had an eroded feel to them due to the texture, but I included the aspect of subtlety so that the focus was on the natural destruction. The plaster makes the scaffolding seem pure and uncontaminated from rust, and they are very delicate which is opposite to normal scaffolding. I have overlaid them in a way that represents the assembly of scaffolding and shone a direct light onto them to create shadows. This contrast adds depth and contrasts the directions of the plaster poles and the shadows to make it seem like the patterns have been duplicated. I was inspired by the overlapping and meeting of scaffolding because the poles change composition from different angles, making it seem like part of the architecture. Idris Khan and Daniela Gullotta were my inspiration as they use the theme of distorting and overlapping to obscure the visual, whether it’s a painting or digital manipulation. These lines and directions that they create almost become part of the image itself, and they contrast with the detailed architecture in the background making both old and new work together in harmony to create a modern yet aged aesthetic.
 
 



Revive
 42 x 19cm
Stitch in photographs
When was the last time you stopped to smell the roses around you? As humans we are getting more and more dependent on advanced technology and losing our touch with the world around us; my piece represents how close we are to the nature that surrounds us every day, and yet most of us still need help to see it. Using photo manipulation inspired by Jon Duenas, I layered two photographs on top of each other, one of nature and one of a person. I merged both of the photographs together so much that there is no clear definition of what is the person and what is nature. I wanted to show how inside all of us lies something as innocent and fragile as what is around us. Being inspired by Maurizio Anzeri, I stitched on top of my photographs in a way in which I felt reflected the background of the photograph. Anzeri also has a really beautiful concept - adding something to a photograph to reinstate that which has been forgotten. This is what my stitching represents; pointing out the nature around us in a new way that cannot be ignored.

 


Untitled
 42 x 59.5cm
Paint and stitch on paper
The inspiration behind my piece of work was fairy tales and the idea of a fantasy world. When I began to look at fairy tales I realised that the characters are what make them captivating and original. My painting .which I have done using acrylic paints, shows a girl with rabbit ears, which expresses a sense of surrealism. My painting style has been partly influenced by Guy Denning, in the way which I have painted using big confident brushstrokes and encouraged accidents with the paint, as he said they are the “...source of greatest productivity”. I have also incorporated stitch into my painting, in a spiralling downwards sort of direction, to make my work more dramatic.




Obscured Faces
46 x 46cm
Paint and photographs on canvas
 

46 x 46cm
Paint and photographs on canvas
The idea behind this piece came from the work of David Schnell. His use of striking, vibrant lines and colours stood out to me and made me want to create a similar piece of my own. The concept of my work stems from the fact that although faces are an everyday occurrence, the people who we know best could still be hiding themselves from reality. I wanted to construct something that had a certain element of obscurity, which is why I cut photographs of faces into different pieces and then stuck them down in a random order, finally adding acrylic paint as a top layer to further heighten the sense of secrecy.

 
 


Broken Mirror
 42 x 29cm
Paint and stitch on canvas
This is a self-portrait in which I collaborated my studies of broken mirrors and the artist Maurizio Anerzi’s stitch work. The stich work exposes the undercurrent of feelings and atmosphere of the piece and denotes the emotions running below the surface are broken, volatile and very raw, while the face can be seen as an empty palette. In this piece I have used Acrylic paint on a canvas for the underlying background, using it to create a base for me to build the face upon while I used Oil paints to finish off the piece in a choppy style using strong lines of paint to build up the face. I painted this way to create detail and draw attention to different sections in certain places. I then sewed directly on the canvas with vibrant threads to highlight and deconstruct the painting in places, which when combined with this rough and solid style of painting connotes that even the plainest of appearances when scrutinised can be an explosion of colour and vehemence.

 
 



We're all in the gutter but some of us can't see the stars
Installation; Wood, paper, light
This piece is an instillation which consists of a body in a vulnerable position on the floor (which represents a homeless person) and then a house as the background (which represents a happy home to juxtapose against the body on the floor). The background is 130cm wide by 136cm tall and the body at the bottom is 130cm wide by 72cm length and this is to attract attention to the issue of homelessness. This installation is made out of different delicate papers to connote the fragility of homeless people and on these pieces of paper I got different people to write ‘what home meant to them’. These consisted of happy phrases such as ‘Home is where my family is’ and ‘Home is where I feel safe’. I used these papers on the house background to represent a happy home and then on the body at the bottom I wrote phrases and words which represent a homeless person’s life such as ‘Why does everybody ignore me?’, ‘Lonely’ and ‘Cold’. The concept of my piece was to raise awareness of the problem of homelessness in a unique way and to attract people to look at the installation because of its beauty, and then realise the serious meaning behind it.





Untitled,
102.5 x 73cm
Brusho ink and egg on board




Sudden Progression
12 x 16cm
Printed photographs
To start my piece is called ‘Sudden Progression’ my inspiration came from my visit to America and how the culture of America is separate to the region or the place but the country is united under the same flag. To represent this I have found three different locations in the USA one in Chicago one in LA and the other in Santa Fe. These three different places are totally different in the culture but certain things stay the same no matter where you are, such as the sun rises and sets. I have taken this into consideration and I have taken two pictures at similar times that is why the pictures are moderately dark. In one of my Images it is in black and white this is a play on words literally because it represents how things in America aren’t always black and white and to the surface sometimes you have to become part of the culture to fully understand the people. I then cut geometric patterns out of the back of these three pictures and I overlaid one over the other so that I would know how they look. I got this technique from an artist called Lucas Simoes.


Good luck everyone!!