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.
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.
Jo Davis (Level 1 Art & Design Tutor)
Previous Education: Level 3 Extended diploma Art & Design
Destination: HND Art Practice
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.
Previous Education: The Academy of Kidderminster
Destination: University of Wolverhampton
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.
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.
Previous Education: Foundation Certificate in Art and Design
Destination: Independent practice
“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.
It is the 4 walls of reality.
The second year commenced with COVID 19 measures suggesting that we had been through the worst and that the educational landscape was returning to normal. And so, began, for many second years, the creative boot-camp of refocusing upon finding their creative pathway, exploring progression options and getting their work portfolio and exhibition ready. This was no mean feat, considering no-one could be sure what potential impact remote-learning and unprecedented assessment procedures may have had upon their social and skills development.
It would appear that the previous 18 months has made them into more curious and questioning individuals. Their return to studio has allowed them to embrace the physical space and access the materials, techniques and processes that ‘lockdown’ had denied them. Released from their confines, they had rediscovered ‘beginner’s mind’ and as the year progressed their work became more personal to them and showed us qualities we, and perhaps they, hadn’t seen before.
With so much of their educational time having been achieved through the medium of near-instantaneous digital communication and social media platforms, there has perhaps been a resurgence in the analogue. What is clear is that art students communicate most effectively through their creative practice. It is a sincere, insightful and effective language that society needs to experience again.
Martin Doyle, lecturer, visual arts
A-Level textile design encourages students to work with a wide variety of skills and processes across the fields of textiles, fashion and interiors. This includes printed textiles, constructed textiles, embroidery, fashion construction, weaving and fabric manipulation. Students are introduced to different techniques which they are then able to develop into personal outcomes. This can be clearly seen within the variety of imaginative outcomes produced by the students.
Learners are encouraged to explore both historical and contemporary techniques and to support their work with research into a range of suitable artists, designers, and trends. They are prepared for industry or Higher Education and all the students from this year are continuing their education by pursuing degrees in fashion and textiles or progressing onto the art foundation diploma course.
I hope that you find the work inspiring. I am very proud of what the learners have achieved this year, particularly due to the additional challenges that Covid has presented.
Clare Buchanan, A level Textile Design Tutor
A-Level Photography allows learners the opportunity to express themselves creatively while exploring ideas and concepts that are personal and meaningful. This is clearly demonstrated across the wonderful work created by this years A-Level cohort. I could not be prouder of the work and achievements made by each member of the Photography group.
Learners often choose issues within society as a means to connect their Photography to an audience. The course consistently challenges them to problem solve and improve both quality and concept as they progress. This ultimately prepares them for both industry and Higher Education.
Industry-standard software and equipment are embedded throughout the course to again support progression, exploring the Creative Cloud Adobe Suite with programs such as Photoshop and Lightroom for image editing, along with InDesign to create their stunning portfolios and project work. To allow for a deeper understanding of photography, learners are encouraged to work with both modern and traditional techniques such as darkroom and Cyanotypes. This 2-year programme builds theoretical and practical knowledge to allow our learners the creative means to express themselves through Photography.
I hope you enjoy exploring the work from this year’s Photography learners.
Simon Morris, A-Level Photography Tutor, Dudley Sixth
