I wanted to show the rich texture in my images and the depth of nature growing within the empty, destructed buildings. This is because I wanted to incorporate the life of nature in my work, which is shown in my images by seeing the gradual growth of plants surrounding the buildings inside and out.
The abstraction and texture used in my images is the result of experimenting with techniques and colours around this idea – the colours popping out of these images wanting to catch the eyes of viewers, allowing you to place yourself in the environment as you are exploring it yourself in the beauty of nature taking its space back.
Abandoned buildings are a feature of our urban landscape which represent a post-industrial era of abandoned factories. These buildings have a history and a story behind them. It’s like I’m showing an historic landmark that has been standing for years, where the communication has been made accustomed to this and has allowed nature to grow and die around inside and out, year after year. The beauty of this can shout at you.
For my FMP, I wanted to create pieces which looked like they were created on a professional level. Bringing out as much detail and making the item as attractive as I could. Exploration was key to this as colours, backdrops, focal length, and aperture all change the appearance of the items that I photographed.
I felt that it was important to stick to tech as well, that way I could keep some consistency between my shots. It is also because everything important now seems to revolve around tech, so it’s important to keep with the times.
With my final project, like most others, I wanted to raise feminist issues within my images. Although aesthetically pleasing photographs are enjoyable, often based on their superficial beauty, I aim to create photographs with meaning behind them. From the title, I have created contemporary art-based photographs.
In the image with Megan, I wanted to convey the censorship of the female chest compared to that of a male. To explore irony, I intentionally censored a woman’s nipples, replacing them with a man’s to show how differently they are “viewed” in society.
In the image with Mia, I created a narrative, of a woman who has run away or escaped her wedding to show that people are whole on their own. That they do not require another person to be seen as complete. I wanted to show people as art in their own right.
In the image with Caitlin, I wanted to showcase how women in particular can embrace their natural bodies, without it being sexualised.
In the image with Emily, I collated all my ideas within the theme of “Don’t Touch the Art” because I wanted to show a person as a natural art form. I really wanted to display my love for the individuality of people.
The final image idea was created very late into the project and is related to the recent American law system trying to dictate what women do with their bodies. This photograph is in protest of that, I wanted to use this last photograph to really empower female identity.
A main inspiration for this series is Ellen Von Unworth and how she captures women, through a female gaze, as opposed to viewing them as objects to consume. Unworth’s photographs are full of empowerment, which she evokes within the audience seamlessly.
This project has aided me in my preparation for university and extended my photographic study to a new style. I want my work to be empowering and expressive, but also allow people to understand me more as a photographer, and as a person.
Automotive photography is all about showing the subject’s variation and character through the image, by visiting numerous car shows I was able to piece together a project that displays both my passion and skill.
Ranging from Bicester all the way to Donnington, I have travelled the country finding people who share my passion and so I am able to show my love to fellow students, staff, friends and family. After many long, hard and stressful months of planning, booking, organising, shooting, editing, uploading and printing, this is my Final Major Project.
‘Violet’s Pirates’ is the name of my creative business. Named after my daughter who was born prematurely, the business is the unity of my past, present and hopeful future
I propose to run workshops in healthcare settings that help give the parents and siblings of premature babies the reassurance that they are not alone. When a child is born prematurely, they need to be kept in an incubator, which means the natural urge to hold and cuddle them is limited. Memory dolls can help with the mental anxiety this separation can create.
I have developed my business by combining the skills learnt from many years of employment in the textile industry with the experience of being a parent of a premature baby. I know how stressful a time this can be, and my dream is to help other families who find themselves in a similar situation.
I aim to teach other parents and siblings affected by premature births how to make their own memory dolls. This will not only help occupy the long days spent in hospital wards and waiting rooms, but also provide them with the opportunity to learn a new craft.
The workshops are though not only about making the dolls because they will also provide a safe space for families to re-connect with one another, discuss how they are feeling and try to solve the many practical problems that having a child in an intensive care facility may create.
Violet’s Pirates will also provide opportunities for other people such, as healthcare professionals and social workers, to attend workshops and offer further practical and emotional support to families going through what is a traumatic experience. I am certain of the positive impact my business would have and am applying for funding to start delivering workshops as soon as possible.
Josie Smart
I am hoping to start my own creative business ‘nude.prints’ which will sell urban style clothes and accessories. The garments will all be designed and hand crafted by me, inspired by abstract and line art.
Fashion is something I’ve always been into, but I never previously thought I could create my own brand. I have been excited to see my ideas develop this year and the concept for my business grow.
I hope to make a range of different t-shirts that I can sell through Instagram, Etsy or my own website. Eventually I would like to expand my designs into a range of colours and styles and sell other items such as bags and accessories.
Designing my fashion brand has meant making sure my illustration ideas are on trend. Fashion is a very competitive business and in 2021 streetwear has become one of the most popular trends. This is where I am aiming my clothing brand, as I feel there will be significant interest in what I’m make.
Buying something made by an independent artist gives more meaning to the clothes you wear. Most people also like to have things which are unique, and I want to generate that feeling of exclusivity with my brand identity.
My business will focus on an age range from 18-28. I have picked this age range because typically when you get to the age 18 you start to explore in the fashion industry and become more confident with bolder fashion choices.
Art is something I have always had a passion for, but I realised I needed more experience in the business side of things and this qualification has helped me towards my goals.
2 months from now I aim to be selling my t-shirts and bags online through Etsy, whilst advertising my brand Nude.prints through social media.
6 months from now I will have my own website up and running so that I am able to sell to a wider range of people.
I am passionate about my career in art and design and hope my business will be a success. I am currently working in the service industry but after a year I hope to be running my creative business full time.
It’s important to have ambition and ever since I’ve been financially independent, I wanted to run my own business. I enjoy creating something that I love doing and that other people also love.
You can look at my work on my Instagram account @nude.prints
Diana Waldron
Cathead is my creative business idea that I have developed on the Level 4 Creative Practitioner course. I have been inspired to try and do what I love for a living and that for me is origami and paper related art. I am now on a mission to make origami the next big craft making craze!
Paper folding has always helped me calm my nerves and I’ve wanted to show how it can become integrated more with seasonal events such as Halloween and Christmas.
Origami is fun but can get complicated quickly. Cathead Kits will have a specially designed pattern on the paper that makes it really easy to create origami animals and get professional looking sculptures fast.
My aim is for people to become confident enough to make ambitious and quality designs that decorate their home and create an amazing atmosphere. Cathead products will take the stress of folding and worrying if you’re doing it right. You can simply follow the instructions or watch one of my online tutorials.
A key product Cathead is large scale origami kits. Origami packs are often so small and fiddly, so I am developing large-scale screen-printed origami kits. Going big is the perfect way to inspire children and give new life to seasonal decorations and celebrations. You can even get everyone involved in the making. I am planning to launch Do it Yourself kits online and run regular workshops and online tutorials.
I have looked into how other businesses operate and understand now how it all works. I am confident in large scale origami and digital work and have begun to approach local businesses, either to run drop in workshops or sell my products in their gift shops.
Personally, the course has boosted my confidence. I have needed to look at the business side of running a creative business – pricing – sales, budgets etc… and now have much more confidence in my ability to make my creative business a success.
Our Level 1 Art and Design learners have worked on a range of exciting projects this academic year, from Natural Forms, Portraits and Mini Monuments. Learners developed a range of skills working in ceramics, digital illustration, print making and fine art practices.
Below is a select of work from our fantastic learners. We wish them all the best as they progress to the next stage of their education here with us at Dudley College of Technology.
Previous Education: Level 3 Extended diploma Art & Design Destination: HND Art Practice
Sensory Rooms
I was influence by Edward Walker’s lava lamps and initially of the “Psychedelic Movement” and the “Love Generation”. Lava lamps came about in the 60’s and It was the perfect light for modern times,
Walker declared: “If you buy my lamp, you won’t need to buy drugs because the lava lamps are meant to calm and relax people.
This video still screen shot is part of a project which was based on the role of technology in art & design. This is my FMP project, and the work is an illustration of projection utilising handmade lava lamps. The intentions here were to communicate sensory room experiences as an artist medium, for an audience with and without complex health needs, becoming a ubiquitous creative space that promotes the reduction of stress and anxiety. A safe environment where audience become participants, through the physicality of simply being present, interacting through simple movements.
Grace Gajsler
Previous Education: The Academy of Kidderminster Destination: University of Wolverhampton
Collaboration and Technology
The themes of my project are connections via the internet and creative remixes. Art viewers and critics have their own interpretations of artworks based on their experiences, ideas and tastes, and I wanted to explore my peers’ ideas and interpretations by creating remixes of original pieces I sent to them. This project is a collaboration of ideas from a variety of artists of different media and specialisms with the outcome of a diverse collection of work, and a collaboration between close friends through a personal and public digital connection.
Barbara Miller
One is Too Many
One is Too Many is an installation rooted in a body language crisis created by the use of filter apps that can manipulate and enhance an image to enable the ‘perfect appearance’. For many, this allows a filtered version of reality, one that is hard to find flaws in and that enables them to hide their own insecurities and imagined flaws. The installation is my response to bring about awareness to this practise and its links to a mental health illness known as ‘face and body dysmorphia’. The individuals that have this illness see a distorted image of themselves when looking in the mirror. This illness can lead to depression, self – harm and even suicide in young women. I found this evidence shocking and it was this that gave me the impetus to produce this artwork.
The installation was inspired by Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’ and Elaine Shemilt’s “Doppelganger. Two artists that challenge socio-political and feminist issues as part of their practise.
My intention is to confront the viewer and challenge this practise that pressurizes young women to conform to society’s obsession with beauty.
The main brief for this project was that it should be conceptual, where the idea involved takes precedence over the aesthetics of the final piece.
One of the principles of conceptual art is to break away from consumerism and capitalism and to achieve this I used paper in all my experiments; Paper is a low grade and throwaway material. My experiments involved trying various drawing techniques, making face masks and distorting images to suggest human fragility. It was through this process of experimentation that ideas emerged.
My aim through my installation is to invite the viewer to interact by questioning, connecting and interpreting and to evoke feelings about gender inequality and to realise that the true cost of beauty is not through money but through the cost of women’s mental wellbeing.
Steve Sheasby
Previous Education: Foundation Certificate in Art and Design Destination: Independent practice
Word Room
“Word room” is a concept that is intended to reflect many individuals’ state of mind given the current worldwide Coronavirus pandemic.
Never in living memory has our society faced such a threat to our personal freedoms and mental well – being, I therefore wanted to create a concept that captured some of these anxieties.
So, I started to think of our living spaces and how we felt about them pre – pandemic, i.e., places of refuge of safety and places where we could relax and rest.
Our living spaces are almost like the spaces that occupy our heads, a private space where our true self exists.
So how has the pandemic affected our true self spaces?
It has made us fearful of acting in the ways in which we are so used to in today’s society, it has threatened our very mortality, and it has filled our heads with words that would have meant nothing in the past. Words that now fill us with caution, distrust, and fear.
Our worlds have been forcibly shrunk to the spaces in which we live.
