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.”

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.

The show continues until the 15th December 2011.

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.

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

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.

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.

This means that CSAD will provide core materials for the undergraduate programmes and will carry the costs of essential visits. Students will be expected to pay for specialist and additional materials, for example where a student elects to use something exceptional in their work for their final show in the third year.

It is understood that most students will choose to bring their own hand tools, cameras, laptops and personal equipment to aid their individual development as artists, designers and architectural design technologists. CSAD continues to encourage this.

Michael Dan Archer These works are about the interaction of sculpture and drawing. Some of the drawings precede the making of the sculpture, testing ideas, some are retrospective, analysing what has happened in the making of the sculpture. They explore the interaction of concepts , visual thinking, ie. drawing and 3 dimensional form. The drawings and sculptures are samples from different groups:- some are exploring ideas for sculptural installations such as the towers and underground boat, some are ideas and tests for individual sculptural forms and finally some are drawn (in 2D and 3D) from sites that are inspiring current sculptural exploration such as the series of drawings of the interior chambers of the Red Pyramid at Dahshur.
A theme running through much of my work and highlighted here is of a sense of mystery or enigma, often concerned with ancient or uncanny places.

Nigel Talbot The work displayed in this exhibition is an anastylosis of both the word and school of Twmpath. Wherever possible the original materials have been used but at times the closest facsimile to the original has been used. The process of reconstruction is by no means complete and this display must be considered as a fragment of evidence.

Reader in Aesthetics Dr Clive Cazeaux will be giving at talk on the role of metaphor in art and science as part of an evening of art–science debate from 6.00 p.m., Wednesday 2 November, at BayArt Gallery, Cardiff Bay. The evening is in conjunction with the Translation: From Bench to Brain exhibition by Rhys Bevan Jones and Julia Thomas, and part of the week-long ESRC Festival of Social Science.

Other speakers on 2 November include Dr Ian Jones (MRC Centre) on the link between creativity and mental illness, and Dr Andrew Bartlett (Cesagen) on the labours of Big Science. The evening event will be accompanied by a free wine reception. Booking is not essential but please contact Simon Read at Cardiff University for more details, and to give an idea of numbers. BayArt Gallery is at 54 Bute Street, Cardiff Bay, CF10 5AF. For further information, click here for a link to the Genomics Network website.

ASL commented on the project, ‘Whilst Howard Gardens possesses a strong spirit and culture of art and design, this is predominantly to do with the people, their passion and the way in which they occupy the buildings rather than the buildings themselves. At Llandaff, we have the opportunity to improve and refresh the identity of CSAD, and reinforce the School’s reputation.’

The creation of a new home for CSAD will unify the School’s courses and research in Fine Art, Making, Ceramics, Textiles, Graphic Communication, Architectural Design and Technology, Illustration, Product Design, as well as the history and theory of art and design.

CSAD is now developing a detailed brief for the architects, beginning with a consultation exercise with student representatives. It is planned that the new building will be open for the start of the 2014/15 academic year.