Blog updates!

Cardiff School of Art & Design now has a blog on its website, with the latest updates and news: http://cardiff-school-of-art-and-design.org/blog/

Textiles students give safety wear an artistic makeover

Bethie Helliwell, winner of ICE trophy

Students from BA Textiles have been recognised for their work inspired by protective clothing worn by civil engineers and people in the construction industry.

The students were asked by The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Wales Cymru to investigate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) materials and consider civil engineering as part of a three month long module. The results formed the basis of an exhibition at Llandaff Campus where ICE presented awards to the top six students.

ICE Wales Cymru Chairman Ian Davies said:
“I am delighted to present the ICE trophy and certificates to the students who participated so enthusiastically in this innovative competition. I have been fascinated by the variety of interpretation and have marvelled at the professionalism shown by the students.”

Dr Keireine Canavan Head of Textiles and Principal Lecturer at Cardiff School of Art & Design said:

“We have been delighted to collaborate with ICE. It’s been an excellent real life experience for the students to link civil engineering and the construction industry with art and design. The student outcomes are vital and exciting. Deploying PPE materials the students have used a wide range of textile techniques and their own creativity to reinterpret the look of PPE gear. This has culminated in a wide range of very positive design outcomes.”

The winner of the ICE Wales Cymru Glass Trophy and £50 was Bethie Helliwell; the runners up were Sophia Griffiths and Rosie Holman, who each received £25; and Rebekah Thomas, Emma Golding and Justine Arnaud-Guerin were Highly Commended.

ICE Wales Cymru Committee member Matt Jones, who co-ordinated the project with the School of Art and Design, commented: “The quality of work produced by the students has been exceptional. They’ve clearly well researched civil engineering and been inspired by Personal Protective Equipment.”

Dr Cazeaux talks at ‘On Perfection’ symposium

CSAD Reader in Aesthetics Clive Cazeaux is giving a talk entitled ‘Leading Plato into the Darkroom’ as part of the ‘On Perfection’ artists’ symposium at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2-3 February 2012. Organized by WIRAD (Newport) Research Fellow Jo Longhurst, the symposium brings together international artists and writers to discuss how concepts of perfection shape our personal identities and social and political systems. Featuring new research, screenings, artist conversations and performance, the programme includes Julian Rosefeldt on his video installation The Perfectionist and Ray Müller, director of The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, on Hitler’s infamous propagandist. Tickets and further details on the Whitechapel website.

Dr Treadaway at Shorelines International Symposium

CSAD Reader in Creative Practice Dr Cathy Treadaway (left) helped organise the ‘Shorelines International Symposium’ with Elizabeth Kwasnik, the Museums and Galleries Officer for South Ayrshire Council and Alison F Bell, University of the West of Scotland as part of the Shorelines research project.

The symposium was held on 15th November in the Maclaurin Galleries, Rozelle House Museum, Ayr in conjunction with the Shorelines exhibition (12thNovember – 23rd December). Keynote speakers at the symposium included eminent psychiatrist Dr Iain McGilchrist, author of ‘The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World’ and international environmental artist Chris Drury. The symposium brought together an audience of researchers, academics and arts practitioners from around the world.

Howard Gardens Gallery

Currently showing at the Howard Gardens Gallery is an exhibition of the work of Michael Dan Archer and Nigel Talbot.
Running through Michael Dan Archers work is a theme of mystery or enigma, often concerned with ancient or uncanny places. Nigel Talbots work displayed in this exhibition is an anastylosis of both the word and school of Twmpath, and he describes his exhibit as ‘a fragment of evidence’.

The show continues until the 15th December 2011.

Shorelines exhibition opens

On Saturday 12th November the Shorelines exhibition was opened at the Maclaurin Galleries, Rozelle House Ayr, Scotland by Dr. Helen Bennett, formerly Arts Council Scotland. This exhibition of paintings, prints, photographs and textiles is the culmination of a four year research project investigating collaborative creativity led by Dr. Cathy Treadaway (below right, with Dr Bennett and Alison Bell, left), Reader in Creative Practice at CSAD and the Scottish artist Alison F Bell.

The exhibits are a response to five coastal locations in England, Scotland, Wales and Australia, and result from two research field studies and three artist residencies.

Alumni success

CSAD Fine Art Alumni Luke Jerram is currently featured in Wire magazine for his work which converts a seismogram of the devastating earthquake that took place in Japan in March into a 3-D-printed sculpture. Read more on the Wired website.

2011 Fine Art graduate Jesse Holcroft has landed a dream job on the amazingly successful Grand Theft Auto 5 project as a Games Analyst.

Congratulations to Luke and Jesse.

image: Luke Jerram

New MAs launched

CSAD is launching three new research-preparation MA programmes, set to question and explore the impact of art on science, ecology and philosophy.

The three programmes are:

• MA (Art & Design) Art and Science
• MA (Art & Design) Ecologies
• MA (Art & Design) Philosophy

The MA in Art and Science explores the philosophical, historical and practical dimensions of art/science collaboration and interdisciplinary. Students on the programme will be asked to look at questions such as ‘what is bio-art?’ or ‘does art ever do more than illustrate science?’

MA in Ecologies focuses on the capacity of art and design to transform the contact we have with others. It covers environmental questions of sustainability, landscape and place, and philosophical questions of alienation, property and selfhood.

The MA in Philosophy offers some of the most stimulating and influential ideas about art, design and sensory experience. This MA promises to generate discussion, proposals, challenges, artefacts and situations which will alter and expand what it means to think, make and experience.

Placed eleventh in terms of research power in the UK, after the RAE 2008, CSAD aims to make a difference in its fields of art, making, design and architecture through its research and scholarship.

Its degree awards at Bachelors and Masters level are designed to inspire students and foster their development as independent learners and capable people and CSAD’s research degree opportunities are planned to enable its research students to meet their full potential

Speaking about the ne MA programmes, Dr Clive Cazeaux, Head of Research degrees at CSAD said: “These three new programmes offer really exciting opportunities for students. All three will combine theory and practice, and run in full-time and part-time modes, with cross-fertilisation between the programmes as well.”

The new CSAD MAs start in October 2012 and are open for recruitment now. For further information on all three programmes, click here.

Paul Granjon discusses ‘Oriel Factory’

A documentary by Chris Keenan about the process of CSAD staff member Paul Granjon‘s ‘Oriel Factory’ from start to finish. From an initial studio visit, to installation at Oriel Davies Gallery and performance by Paul Granjon at the opening event. With commentary from Paul Granjon and the ‘Factory Workers’.

Professor Stitt talk at Cardiff Museum

Creation Myth, Professor Andre Stitt
Friday 11 November, 1.05pm
National Museum Cardiff

As a schoolboy in 1974 André Stitt saw Joseph Beuys interacting with the public on the streets of Belfast. This formative experience had a profound effect on the young would-be artist. In his talk Stitt takes us on a personal journey through Beuys’ work, the current exhibition, the cult and mythology of performance art, and their relationship to his own arts practice.