Fine Art students are encouraged to take part in, and initiate, live projects, both as part of their formal learning, but also as additional opportunities to enrich their practice and experience.
Here are some recent projects.
Fine Art Degree Show 2011
The 2011 Fine Art degree show, Exit, showcased final year students’ work. An exciting range of sculpture, painting, installation, lens-based and performance works received excellent public feedback and reviews.
Read Joanna Mayhew’s review of the show
Example of a final year student blog
The Broomhill Lido Project
As part of exploring drawing in a broader context the Fine Art students have been exploring the idea of temporary artworks in site specific environments.
Focusing on drawing as an implement to record time the Level 4 students were invited to to use alternative methods to document interventions in a different way to making marks on paper. Students were shown slides of the Broomhill Lido and introduced to artists who also work in this way. They had a week of thinking about a concept and to build ideas and were equipped with the necessary materials to make their work. Forty Fine Art students worked on the site, some worked in small groups, others individually.
The trustee Christine Dobson of the Broomhill Lido met the group and introduced the space. Christine is keen to promote and build a campaign to reopen the Lido. Coming from a Fine Art background her understanding and approach to the student work was open and generous.
For more information about the Broomhill Lido please visit: http://www.savebroomhillpool.org/ |
Flood Tide
Flood Tide is an organic, collaborative project between Ipswich High School for Girls, composer Dr. John Eacott, UCS and Northgate High School. The partnership is inspired by John Eacottʼs composition Flood Tide – a musical sonification of the tidal flow of the River Orwell.
Over the last year, students from the partnering institutions have produced work in response to Flood Tide and its themes, in subjects as broad as music, visual arts, film, poetry and geographical mapping. Fine Art students from UCS will be working on-site at Ipswich High School for Girls to make a gigantic drawing of a Thames Barge. This idea has been developed from a trip travelling down the River Orwell from Ipswich to Felixstowe. 'Relics' from the making of the work will be presented in the University's Waterfront Gallery.
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The Drawing Room
Over the course of a week, the first year Fine Art students made a three-dimensional drawing installation of the drawing studio in the Arts Building at University Campus Suffolk. Each object, item of furniture and fitting in the studio was listed and then drawn life-size in black ink on paper. Large two and three dimensional drawings were produced in an exciting variety of styles.
Students then re-installed the drawing studio using their drawings for a site-specific installation at the former Ipswich Art School building in High Street, Ipswich, now a contemporary art space run by lpswich and Colchester Museums.
The Drawing Room installation was exhibited from March to May 2011 and was the first public exhibition for many of our first year students. Their work received wide public and press acclaim as part of The Class Of... exhibition.
Art on the Prom
For two consecutive years Fine Art students have been commissioned to make site- specific work as part of Art on the Prom in Felixstowe in September. In 2010, three second year students and one final year student collaborated to make Home From Home an interactive installation on Felixstowe beach that celebrated the Suffolk coastline and reflected on the tradition of bringing domestic items to the beach and beach huts. The event was attended by thousands of visitors over the course of one day.
A new group of students are developing site-specific work for Art on the Prom in 2011.
St Clements Hospital
Students were invited to respond to disused spaces in St Clement’s Hospital, Ipswich through photography, drawing, video and painting. Students considered both the physical and psychological aspects of the space to produce a variety of works that were exhibited at UCS and in a new building of the hospital.
Artists Access to Art College (AA2A)
Since 2005, the Fine Art Department has supported professional artists to realise ambitious and ground-breaking new work through Artists Access to Art Colleges (AA2A). This is a national initiative that allows artists access to studios, workshop and technical expertise at Higher and Further Education institutions in England.
The AA2A artists contribute to a vibrant network of creative studio practice. Their presence at UCS allows our students to gain first-hand knowledge of different artists’ approaches and offers additional formal and informal opportunities to discuss contemporary art practice. UCS has offered AA2A artists the opportunity to show in the Waterfront Gallery at the end of their tenure.
Vacant 52
Four second year Fine Art students initiated an artist-led project, Vacant 52, in lpswich in December 2010. Their first project transformed a disused shop into a vibrant art space for one night only that included music, installation, painting, video and sculpture.
Opening Doors and See Another Side
One Fine Art and one Photography student curated the inaugural exhibition Opening Doors in June 2011 as part of an internship and exhibition opportunity with Prettys Solicitors. This exhibition was then followed by the See Another Side exhibition which opened at Prettys Solicitors in December 2011. The intern curators organised a group show of current students and recent graduates and this is a rolling internship programme.
For more information please visit: www.artatprettys.wordpress.com|
Salthouse Hotel Commission
Since 2009 the Fine Art Department has worked with the Salthouse Hotel on Ipswich’s Waterfront to offer current students the opportunity to develop a new ambitious public work that is funded by the hotel. Two recipients of this commission, Angela Dow-Wright and Michelle Bowden used this opportunity to develop their professional profile, as well as develop their work as part of the Professional Practice module.
Coming up...
East to East
Fine Art staff are currently developing a national and international research project, East to East that examines how artists reflect on the particular landscape, histories, migrations and climate of the east coast. An innovative programme of interdisciplinary projects is in development including studio exchanges, a touring exhibition and a national conference.
St Clements Church
Forthcoming Fine Art practice in drawing and intervention.